🚀 Staff Engineer, Thera (NYC, in-person)
Thera is building the financial OS for modern SMBs. Payroll, payments, treasury, spend, accounting, and docs in one system that actually works end-to-end.
We're looking for a hands-on Staff Engineer to own the technical foundation in our highest-leverage areas and help us scale from "great product" to category-defining company.
This is not a sit-back-and-manage role. You'll be in the code, in the architecture, and in the room making high-stakes decisions daily.
📍 NYC, 5 days/week
Why this role exists
We have:
a product customers use
real workflows running through it
increasing complexity across payments, accounting, and ops
We need someone who can turn that into a durable, scalable system.
What you'll own
Architecture and technical direction across payroll, payments, and new products
Engineering execution on the hardest problems in the stack
Helping hire and tech-lead a small, high-quality team (starting ~5 engineers)
Decisions on security, reliability, scalability, and compliance in your areas
Tight partnership with product and ops to translate real workflows into systems
Roadmaps, prioritization, and actually shipping
What you'll build
Systems powering payroll and money movement
Products across Spend, Docs, Cash, and Accounting
Internal tooling that reduces manual work and errors
Infrastructure that increases velocity without breaking things
Your first 90 days
30 days
Get deep on the system, data flows, and constraints
Identify the biggest risks (payments, data integrity, scaling)
Ship a meaningful improvement on the spend product
60 days
Start addressing the highest-leverage technical gaps
Map out future builds across the roadmap
Begin influencing how we hire and level engineers
90 days
Set technical direction in your areas
Improve engineering velocity and reliability
Help build out our engineering in-person culture
About you
You've built and scaled real systems
You're still hands-on and like being close to the code
Strong systems thinker
You move fast and take ownership
Comfortable operating in a regulated environment
You've mentored or tech-led engineers before
Stack today: TypeScript + Java/Kotlin (flexible)
Not a fit if
You want a pure management role
You avoid ambiguity or messy real-world systems
You're not willing to be in-person in NYC
Why Thera
You shape the technical foundation in your areas
You work directly with founders
Your decisions immediately impact the company's trajectory
Backed by YC, 10X Founders, Zillionize, and Amino Capital.
More: https://www.getthera.com/principles
Skills Required
- Built and scaled production systems
- Hands-on coding and close to the code
- Strong systems thinking and architecture skills
- Experience with payments, payroll, money movement, or related regulated systems
- Comfortable operating in a regulated environment (security, compliance)
- Mentored or tech-led engineers previously
- Willingness to be in-person in NYC, 5 days/week
- Experience with TypeScript, Java, or Kotlin
- Ability to partner with product and ops and translate workflows into systems
What We Do
Thera is a financial technology company providing a comprehensive payroll and payments platform tailored for startups, small businesses, and global teams. It serves as a financial OS for modern SMBs, offering an AI-native ecosystem that integrates global payroll, treasury, spend management, and invoicing. The platform helps organizations streamline their financial workflows through automation, instant payouts, and flexible payment options for international compliance.
