# Staff Software Engineer - Protect

**Company:** [Plaid](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/plaid)
**Location:** Seattle, WA, New York, NY
**Role:** Backend Engineering
**Salary:** $208k – $274k/yr
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** Backend Systems, Distributed Systems, APIs, Data Products, Machine Learning, Jupyter, Spark, Tecton, Fraud Detection, Ai-Assisted Engineering, Linters, Production Debugging
**Posted:** 2026-08-19

> Leads the technical direction and hands-on development of real-time fraud intelligence systems, including scoring, attributes, APIs, and integrations. Requires 8+ years building scalable backend or distributed systems, strong product judgment, and close collaboration with data science, machine learning, and product teams.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Set the technical direction for real-time systems serving Trust Index scores and fraud attributes.
- Lead ambiguous, multi-quarter initiatives while remaining hands-on with architecture, production code, data investigation, and debugging.
- Learn customer fraud challenges and build solutions that address them.
- Identify opportunities in fraud detection, prototype risky assumptions, and turn validated ideas into reliable production systems.
- Collaborate with data science and machine learning teams.
- Navigate data landscapes, run Jupyter notebooks and Spark jobs, and develop in Tecton to deliver business impact.
- Lead AI-assisted engineering through automation, skills, linters, and code contributions across unfamiliar systems and repositories.
- Raise the technical bar through mentorship, design reviews, and hands-on leadership.

## Requirements
- Typically 8+ years of experience building and operating backend or distributed systems at scale.
- Extensive hands-on experience working directly in production codebases.
- Strong product judgment and ability to translate ambiguous customer problems into measurable deliverables.
- Ability to make principled tradeoffs between rapid validation and durable architecture.

## Nice-to-haves
- Strong opinions, conviction, and product taste.
- Experience building data or API products.
- Experience in the fraud domain.
- Experience or interest in building agentic systems.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Salary range: $207,600–$273,600.
- Equity and/or commission may be provided depending on the position.
- Comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, vision, and 401(k).

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