SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Plaid is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the technical direction of Plaid Protect's Trust Index system, which delivers real-time fraud detection and intelligence across a network of 12,000+ financial institutions. This is a hands-on builder role on a small, high-agency team working at the intersection of backend systems, machine learning, and product innovation.
You will own the architecture and implementation of low-latency inference systems, data integrations, customer-facing APIs, and feedback loops that power fraud detection at scale. The role involves leading multi-quarter initiatives while remaining deeply engaged in code, production debugging, and data investigation. You'll collaborate closely with data science, ML, and product teams to identify new fraud signals and translate research insights into measurable customer value.
Key responsibilities include: setting technical direction for real-time fraud scoring systems; identifying and prototyping new fraud detection frontiers; building reliable production systems from validated ideas; collaborating with DS/ML teams on data pipelines and model integrations; mentoring engineers through design reviews and hands-on leadership; and raising the technical bar across the organization through AI-assisted engineering practices.
The ideal candidate is a seasoned backend or distributed systems engineer (8+ years) with strong product judgment, hands-on coding ability, and the ability to make principled tradeoffs between rapid experimentation and durable architecture. Experience with data products, APIs, fraud domain knowledge, or agentic systems is valued. This role thrives in a fast-paced, shipping-focused environment that prioritizes demos over documentation and conviction over consensus. You should enjoy direct debate, fast feedback loops, and pushing back when process impedes progress.
