[Hiring] Software Architect @Fingerprint

Role Description

You will be Fingerprint's first dedicated Architect. You will lead cross-cutting architecture — how our systems fit together and where they need to go — working alongside the Staff and Lead engineers who already shape them, without direct reports. The mandate has three parts:

• Go deep: Build the end-to-end picture nobody currently has time to hold, identify where the platform will strain as we scale, and set the direction to address it.
• Raise the bar: Strengthen and extend our design review, API, service, and reliability practices so eight engineering groups can move fast without stepping on each other.
• Make it durable: Give cross-cutting architecture work consistent cadence, a durable decision record, and follow-through, so strong individual judgment compounds into platform-level outcomes.

You report directly to the VP of Engineering. That placement is deliberate — you need neutrality across groups so the standards you set with teams are adopted everywhere.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 3+ years operating as an Architect for a 100+ Engineering org.
• Track record of leading through influence.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems and high-throughput, low-latency backend architecture.
• Experience designing public APIs and SDKs at scale.
• Demonstrated ability to anticipate systemic risk and act on it.
• Exceptional written communication.
• AI-native by default.
• Architect for an AI-assisted org.
• Pragmatism over purity.
• Comfortable being the first in a dedicated role.

Requirements

• Own the end-to-end architecture.
• Identify systemic scaling, reliability, and cost risks across the pipeline.
• Set direction for API design and service patterns.
• Shape the roadmap for foundational initiatives.
• Serve as full-time technical lead across the engineering org.
• Partner with Engineering leadership and Staff/Lead engineers.
• Mentor Staff-level engineers on system design and technical writing.
• Build on existing design review practices.
• Codify and extend standards for observability, quality, security-by-design, and API evolution/versioning.
• Review and sign off on critical designs.
• Translate business trajectory into a multi-quarter technical strategy.
• Advise Engineering leadership on build/buy and technical risk.
• Lead AI adoption in engineering practice.
• Stay hands-on: prototype, write reference implementations, and dig into production.

Benefits

• Pay transparency based on function, level, and geographic location.
• Salary range: $177,000 - $240,000 based on location and experience.
• Final offer amounts determined by multiple factors.
• Inclusive work environment that embraces diverse backgrounds.

Company Description

Fingerprint empowers enterprises to detect and stop online fraud with the world’s most accurate device intelligence. We lead our industry with bleeding-edge identification capabilities and work on turning new ideas and discoveries in the fraud detection space into reality. Our customers range from innovative startups to leading enterprise companies, including Plaid, Dropbox, and Booking.com.

Fingerprint is a globally dispersed, 100% remote company. We were named on the 2026 Forbes Best Startup Employers list and ranked #803 on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. We have raised $77M and are backed by Craft Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, and Uncorrelated Ventures.