Lead Software Engineer

About the role

Current Employees of Happen Bank: Please apply via your internal Workday Account

Happen Bank (formerly LendingClub) is built around a simple purpose: to clear the way to help people turn intention into action, and action into financial progress. That means offering focused products, a frictionless mobile-first experience, and clear terms with no gotchas. Respect and fairness is part of our DNA, and that ideal shapes how we work, how we treat each other, and how we invest in our employees and our community. Join us in using data, bold thinking, and a commitment to innovation to help clear the way for millions of Americans to achieve more.

About the Role

Happen Bank is looking for a Lead Software Engineer to help design and build the tools and systems that make operations work faster, more reliable, and easier to scale, with deep backend ownership and enough front-end fluency to work across the stack when needed. In this role, you'll partner closely with Operations and Underwriting teams to understand how their work happens, then use that knowledge to design and deliver systems that simplify workflows and improve efficiency. You'll have real influence over the technical direction of the systems these teams rely on every day.

What You'll Do

• Own and deliver tools and services that improve operational efficiency, from design through production
• Build a working understanding of banking and underwriting domains so the systems you design fit and streamline existing workflows
• Make architecture and implementation decisions that balance speed, reliability, and long-term maintainability
• Apply sound security and data access practices by design, including how PII and other sensitive borrower and loan data is accessed, scoped, masked, and audited
• Identify opportunities to automate or streamline manual operations workflows, including the use of AI where appropriate
• Partner with Operations and Underwriting stakeholders to understand pain points and translate them into practical technical solutions
• Review code and designs across the team, raising the bar for quality, consistency, and security
• Troubleshoot production issues, lead root cause analysis, and implement improvements that prevent recurring problems
• Share context and mentor other engineers on the team's systems, domain, and ways of working

About You

• 7+ years of backend software engineering experience, and a bachelor's degree or higher, or equivalent combination of education and work experience
• Deep expertise building backend services in Java and Spring Boot, with strong command of AWS, and both relational and NoSQL data stores
• You take ownership of your work end-to-end and proactively identify ways to improve outcomes
• You're curious about the banking and underwriting domain and invest the time to understand it deeply
• You have a strong, practical understanding of how to handle PII and sensitive financial data responsibly
• You have hands-on experience using AI tools to accelerate your work and improve output quality, and you're comfortable sharing effective approaches with others while applying sound judgment around accuracy, security, data sensitivity, and where human oversight matters most
• You communicate clearly with both engineers and non-technical Operations stakeholders
• You're a strong backend engineer with enough front-end experience to pick up UI work when the problem calls for it

Nice to Have

• Experience with lending or banking domain systems
• Experience in a regulated or financial services environment
• Experience introducing automation or AI-assisted workflows into an existing team's processes
• Experience with data access controls, auditing, or security reviews in a regulated environment

Work Location

San Francisco

• The above locations are eligible offices for this role.
• The locations have been determined to foster in-person collaboration with this role's team or the related business lines.
• We utilize a hybrid work model, and our teams are in-office Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
• In-person attendance is essential for this role's success, and remote placement will not be considered.
• Happen Bank offers relocation, based on actual job level.

Time Zone Requirements

• Local hours (PT)
• While the position will primarily work local hours, Happen Bank is headquartered in Pacific Time and our ideal candidate will be flexible working across time zones when necessary.

Travel Requirements

As needed travel to Happen Bank offices and/or other locations, as needed.

Compensation

The target base salary range for this position is 190,000-215,000. The base salary of the role will be determined by job-related knowledge, experience, education, skills, and location. Base salary is just one part of Happen Bank's Total Rewards package. You may also be eligible for long-term awards (equity) and an annual bonus (which is based on company performance, employee performance and eligible earnings).

We're creating new financial services solutions for our members based on fairness, simplicity, and heart, and we treat our employees the same way. We offer a competitive benefits package that includes medical, dental and vision plans for employees and their families, 401(k) match, health and wellness programs, flexible time off policies for salaried employees, up to 16 weeks paid parental leave and more.

#LI-Hybrid

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