Software Engineer – Backend Python

EMPOWER OVERVIEW

Empower is shaking up an outdated financial system by providing real opportunity for our customers: the opportunity to get the cash they need, to access fair credit, and to change their financial story. Today, we’re helping millions of people find financial security through machine learning models that evaluate creditworthiness using a more inclusive lens and mobile-first products: Cash Advance, Thrive line of credit, and Petal credit cards. Tomorrow? Creating even more financial paths for our customers (and their wallets) to succeed. 

This year, Empower ranked #65 on Inc. 5000’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies list — our third year in a row cracking the top 100 — and was named by Forbes as one of the 25 Next Billion-Dollar Startups for 2024. Empower was also featured by Forbes on America’s Best Startup Employers list in 2023, and our Thrive line of credit product was named by Fast Company as one of 2022’s Next Big Things in Tech.  

Empower is backed by Sequoia Capital, Blisce, and Icon Ventures. Ready to grow your impact and accelerate your career? Take a look at our open roles — we can’t wait to meet you.

THE EMPOWER WAY

Great Expectations: We come up with bold, audacious goals for ourselves and go all out for impact

Owner Mindset: We give every employee latitude to act independently, make smart choices, and move the business forward

Spirited Debate: We love skeptics and seek counter opinions to challenge our personal assumptions and expand our view

Customer Obsession: We listen to understand, empathize, and create a memorable, rewarding experience for our community

Inclusive Collaboration: We believe diverse teams make the best decisions, and we strive to give diverse voices a seat at the table

No Jerks Allowed: We value our relationships and take the time to build trust and connection and communicate respectfully

WHAT EMPOWER OFFERS

Competitive salary

Generous equity package

Full healthcare benefits

Technology expense reimbursement

Work from anywhere

JOB DESCRIPTION

As a Python Backend Engineer, you’ll work on the engine that powers the Empower apps and business. You’ll engage with a collaborative, high powered team to develop solutions and lead product engineering on projects with a reach of millions. The solutions you’ll build will be robust, secure and easy to understand both for our users and your engineering peers. 

You’ll take end to end ownership of new features and product lines shaping work in early stages, building, deploying and running post deployment analysis to ensure we’re hitting our goals.

Empower is a remote-first company. We drive connectivity through regular company offsites. Travel for company offsites is expected at a minimum 2 times a year.

Responsibilities

– Write high-quality, well-tested server-side code that run smoothly in production and elevates the standards across the team

– Teach across the broader engineering organization to improve best practices and influence system design

– Lead complex projects, influence product design and make business vs technology trade-offs during all phases of the project lifecycle, consistently delivering on time

– Help other engineers on the team increase their productivity through mentorship, coaching, and unblocking

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor degree or greater within Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related subject

• 3+ years developing Web APIs within Python (Flask)

• Working experience with ORMs or SQL RDBMSes

• Working experience constructing and optimising RDBMS queries

• Working experience within the asynchronous programming model

At Empower, we hire for people that push themselves to understand others and seek out ways to challenge their personal assumptions. Our hope is that by fostering such an environment, we strengthen our business and relationships by putting people first. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workspace where everyone (regardless of age, education, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any personal characteristics) feels like they belong. Even if your experience doesn’t exactly match up to our job description, you should feel empowered to apply regardless!