Kickstarter is the go-to crowdfunding platform for creative projects across everything from film, games and music to art, design, and technology. Fueled by the support of our team, our mission to help bring creative projects to life has been a core tenet since our inception in 2009.
To date, we have helped more than 288,600 creative projects reach their funding goal with pledges totalling more than $9.2 billion dollars. We continue to be committed to the growth and success of not only our community, but our team as well. Rooted in shared values, Kickstarter sees team members as whole people, giving every individual the autonomy and space to participate in decisions that impact them.
We’re hiring a Senior Software Engineer (I) to join our Payments team. This role will help design and maintain systems that ensure compliant, efficient, and auditable global payments flows. You will bring specialized knowledge of VAT, HST, and GST to enable Kickstarter to operate confidently across multiple jurisdictions and to provide correct, transparent tax treatment for backers, creators, and the platform.
Senior Software Engineers (I) work with Product Managers (PMs), Product Designers (PDs), Engineering Managers (EMs), and other Software Engineers (SEs) to build, maintain, and retire features that enable the success of Kickstarter users. In this role, you will play a critical part in ensuring our payments systems are designed to handle complex marketplace tax rules, multi-jurisdictional settlements, refunds, and financial reporting requirements. You will strengthen the connection between Payments, Finance, Product, and Legal teams to deliver technically robust and compliant solutions that scale globally.
Senior Software Engineers (I) are individually responsible for complex tasks and bug fixes of great complexity that may take multiple weeks to complete, often requiring coordination and direction across multiple engineers. They work with PMs and EMs to clarify requirements and lead the technical design and execution of major projects that efficiently create value for Kickstarter users. Senior Software Engineers (I) also facilitate the development of teammates by pairing with and offering feedback to more junior engineers.
Candidates must be based in the United Kingdom for this role.
In This Role, You Will:- Write well-tested software that meets product, design, and operational criteria to enable the success of Kickstarter users.
- Design, implement, and maintain payment flows and services that are tax-aware, compliant, and auditable, handling VAT, HST, and GST requirements across jurisdictions.
- Collaborate with Payments, Finance, Product & Tech, and other teams to ensure tax data is captured and exposed properly for accounting and auditability.
- Identify and address regulatory and compliance risks within payments flows, ensuring tax management aligns with platform service tax collection and marketplace facilitator requirements.
- Build and maintain automated systems for correct tax calculation, refund handling, and reconciliation with payment service providers.
- Estimate task complexity and guide team execution of large projects, ensuring committed work is delivered on-time.
- Work with non-technical stakeholders to understand business challenges and then design, implement, and communicate about corresponding technical solutions.
- Identify and propose technical project opportunities and suggest process improvements to help the team perform and deliver better.
- Participate in group code reviews to ensure a high standard of quality for all changes to Kickstarter systems.
- Participate in the on-call rotation to ensure continuous availability of services to Kickstarter users.
- Pair with and provide growth feedback and mentorship to more junior teammates.
- You have practical experience designing or maintaining payments systems with VAT, HST, or GST compliance, settlements, and accounting/ledger data flows.
- You understand multi-jurisdictional tax rules, marketplace facilitator requirements, and tax reporting obligations.
- You can design robust, auditable payment flows that handle refunds, partial refunds, and fee routing correctly.
- You write well-tested, maintainable software and can break down complex or ambiguous problems into actionable work.
- You have the knowledge of, or willingness to learn, core Kickstarter technologies (Ruby on Rails, JavaScript/TypeScript, React, MySQL, GraphQL).
- You can communicate effectively with non-technical stakeholders to translate regulatory, product, and business requirements into technical solutions.
- You have prior experience in a payments, fintech, or marketplace environment and can navigate complex compliance scenarios confidently.
- A fully remote workforce with plenty of opportunities to get to know your colleagues
- 16 paid vacation days, 10 sick days, paid holidays, and a company-wide winter break between Christmas and New Years
- 25 volunteer hours each year to give back to your community
- 16 weeks of parental leave plus fertility/family planning resources
- Annual stipends including a Remote Working & Wellness Stipend of £2,349 (prorated) (prorated) each calendar year for expenses related to remote working, wellness, health, and fitness, and a £392 Role Development Stipend
- Kickstarter currently operates with a 4-day workweek, a model that aligns our belief in a healthy work-life balance and gives staff the space to be more than their work
- Incredibly talented and inspiring colleagues who know how to blend their creative endeavors into their work
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What We Do
Kickstarter’s mission is to help bring creative projects to life. We measure our success as a company by how well we achieve that mission, not by the size of our profits. That’s why we reincorporated Kickstarter as a Benefit Corporation in 2015.
Benefit Corporations are for-profit companies that are obligated to consider the impact of their decisions on society, not only shareholders. Radically, positive impact on society becomes part of a Benefit Corporation’s legally defined goals. When a company becomes a Benefit Corporation, it can choose to make further commitments. In our charter, we spell out our mission, our values, and the commitments we have made to pursue them.
