Tech Lead Software Engineer (Backend) - Identity Platform

Job Description

Square’s purpose is economic empowerment; since the company’s beginning, we have been helping numerous people start and manage their own businesses. During the pandemic, many small businesses struggled, as they scrambled to adapt to going online to reach their customers.

The Identity Platform team cultivates trusted relationships with Sellers and businesses across the globe and supports their growth by seamlessly connecting them to the Square ecosystem. We do this by providing authentication and authorization mechanisms and delivering solutions that safeguard access to data while providing account-lifecycle management and session security. We also provide platform solutions for onboarding Sellers to the ecosystem, which includes verification of identity and business data, regulatory screening, qualifying their activation for payment methods, and supporting identity management throughout the lifecycle with Square. We strive to build an Identity platform that empowers both teams at Square and an ecosystem of third-party developers.

This is a critical responsibility with huge challenges. Our services are in the critical path and we have to approach our problems from a global perspective. We work with many stakeholder teams at Square while navigating compliance and regulatory needs alongside technical and product ambiguities. We are looking for someone who is passionate about building scalable, resilient, and highly available systems and can help us continue to build out our Identity platform through its next evolution.

Responsibilities

As a tech lead on the Identity Platform team, you will:

• Play a crucial role in strategic technical direction setting that supports our mission by influencing roadmaps, architectural considerations, and platform cohesion.
• Raise the engineering excellence bar as it pertains to engineering practices, operational practices, and architecture/design reviews.
• Drill in where there are problems (operations, SEVs, unblocking stuck teams, technical challenges) and foster a culture of improvement.
• Oversee the delivery of strategic or complex initiatives by leading across teams and disciplines.
• Lead by example and foster a culture of positivity, psychological safety, and inclusivity within the team.
• Provide mentorship and share technical expertise with other engineers.
• Help maintain and improve the processes we use to manage our work.
• Participate in an escalated ONCALL rotation for high-impact SEVs.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of industry experience designing and building backend systems using Java or an equivalent language.
• A high degree of comfort and a track record of success in high-ambiguity problem spaces.
• Experience or familiarity with OAuth specification for public API access.
• A track record showing the design, execution, and successful long-term maintenance of complex distributed systems that require high throughput and reliability.
• Experience with customer-facing identity solutions (authorization, authentication, verification, or onboarding workflows).
• Experience leading complex technical projects, e.g., cross-team programs.
• A strong sense of customer empathy and an interest in influencing the direction of a platform.
• Excellent software engineering knowledge and the ability to provide technical mentorship and guidance.

Technologies We Use

• Java / Ruby / GoLang / Guice / MySQL / DynamoDB / Protocol Buffers / gRPC / JUnit / jOOQ / Redis / Kafka / git / Bazel / Zookeeper / AWS / OAuth / Temporal

Additional Information

Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S. locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Zone A: USD $239,600 - USD $359,400

We’re working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Square is a proud equal opportunity employer. We work hard to evaluate all employees and job applicants consistently, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible.

Perks

We want you to be well and thrive. Our global benefits package includes:

• Healthcare coverage
• Competitive compensation
• Retirement Plans
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Wellness perks
• Mental health
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time off
• Learning and Development resources

Curious about a benefit not listed? Ask our recruiting team!