Software Engineer

About the role

You will own the design and implementation of the core backend systems that power Column's banking platform, with responsibility for payments processing, transaction logic, and real-time ledgering. This role requires you to build and maintain direct integrations with the Federal Reserve and real-time payment networks, ensuring correctness and reliability at every layer of the stack. You will design and implement APIs, services, and data pipelines that both internal teams and external developers depend on to build financial products. You will drive improvements to system resiliency, scalability, and observability across our distributed architecture, leading platform initiatives in authentication, authorization, event streaming, and change data capture. The role involves writing code that operates close to the money, optimizing for correctness, performance, and fault tolerance in a regulated environment where system safety is paramount. You will partner closely with our CEO and cross-functional teams to shape the technical foundation of a company that moves billions of dollars per day. This is an opportunity to simplify the banking supply chain by removing unnecessary middleware and abstraction layers, creating a safer and more transparent infrastructure for builders.

Key facts

• Build and maintain the backend systems powering Column's core banking platform, including payments processing, transaction logic, and real-time ledgering.
• Own direct integrations with the Federal Reserve and real-time payment networks, ensuring correctness and reliability at every layer.
• Design and implement APIs, services, and data pipelines that internal teams and external developers depend on.
• Drive improvements to system resiliency, scalability, and observability across our distributed architecture.
• Lead cross-cutting platform initiatives such as authentication/authorization, event streaming, and change data capture.
• Write code that runs close to the money, optimizing for correctness, performance, and fault tolerance in a regulated environment.
• Uphold the highest standards for system safety in a mission-critical, compliance-sensitive context.
• Work within a lean team of engineers to deliver high-impact infrastructure on a strict timeline with clear ownership.
• Collaborate with product and engineering leadership to define technical requirements and execution plans for new capabilities.
• Implement monitoring, alerting, and debugging tools to ensure reliable operation of critical payment systems.
• Partner with security and compliance teams to ensure all solutions meet regulatory and audit requirements.
• Refactor and optimize legacy components to improve maintainability and developer ergonomics.
• Contribute to architectural decisions that balance speed, safety, and long-term operational cost.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to peers in the absence of formal management layers.
• You have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• You have 5+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating distributed systems.
• You have hands-on experience with programming languages such as Java, Go, or Rust, and you understand tradeoffs in performance and safety.
• You have experience designing and operating systems that interact with payment networks, financial messaging, and real-time ledgering.
• You are comfortable reading and interpreting complex system requirements and translating them into reliable software solutions.
• You have a strong understanding of concurrency, consistency, and fault tolerance in distributed systems.
• You have experience with infrastructure components such as message streaming, databases, and change data capture in production environments.
• You are comfortable working in a regulated environment where correctness, auditability, and compliance are non-negotiable.
• Experience with financial services infrastructure, banking APIs, or core banking systems.
• Familiarity with Federal Reserve payment systems and real-time networks.
• Contributions to open-source projects involving distributed systems or financial technology.
• Experience with compliance, audit, and regulatory workflows in financial systems.

This role is based in our Presidio office in San Francisco and follows a hybrid schedule. You will report directly to William, the CEO. The annual US base salary range for this role is $130,000-$250,000 + equity. Compensation packages at Column include base salary, equity, and benefits. New hire offers are made based on a candidate's experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers. We participate in the E-Verify program in certain locations as required by law.