Software Engineer, Distribution Platform

About Upstart At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence. As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 1,800 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress. We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you. If you’re energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we’d love to hear from you. The Team: Upstart's Distribution Platform team is developing innovative solutions and strategies that drive efficient and scalable marketing outreach, empowering us to effectively engage with our users while having a direct impact on Upstart's mission and growth. The team is responsible for some of our highest value distribution channels including digital ads, direct mail, and partner integrations. Our goal is to build an intelligent, unified system that learns, automates, and scales how Upstart engages with our customers on these channels. As a Software Engineer on the Distribution Platform team at Upstart, you will be instrumental in helping us create the tools and systems to target the right users with the right content at the right time. You will work closely with cross-functional counterparts in Analytics, Marketing, Machine Learning, and Product to create a scalable marketing platform that mobilizes Upstart’s owned channels to drive users to our products efficiently. How you’ll make an impact Work with cross functional partners including product managers, designers, machine learning engineers, analytics, and marketing managers to design and deliver high-quality products to be served across various marketing channels Design and build technology for serving marketing content to users in a scalable and efficient manner Make architectural contributions and decisions to improve the reliability of our software and maintainability of our code base Minimum Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Mathematics, or a related field (or its equivalent) + 3 years of experience Strong proficiency in one or more programming languages such as Ruby, Java, Kotlin, Python, or Javascript Experience building scalable APIs and microservices in a cloud-based environment (e.g., AWS, GCP). Experience leading small to medium sized projects over multiple months and/or multiple engineers Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to work in a distributed team Preferred Qualifications Experience working on systems that integrate with 3rd parties and/or ingest, store, expose large amounts of data Experience with SQL, data warehouses, or other database technologies Professional experience with digital advertising platforms like Google Ads or Meta Ads Professional experience working with Ruby on Rails and/or Kotlin Experience or interest in working wit…