Software Engineer

At January, we're transforming the lives of consumers by bringing humanity to consumer finance. Our data-driven products help financial institutions streamline their collections, offering borrowers straightforward and compassionate solutions to regain financial stability and control over their lives. We're not just expanding access to credit – we're restoring dignity and giving millions of people the chance to achieve financial freedom.

About the Role

January's engineering teams are scaling rapidly to meet ambitious technical challenges across borrower experience, client operations, and compliance infrastructure. As a Software Engineer, you'll own end-to-end delivery of meaningful features that directly impact how millions of people interact with debt resolution. Every feature you ship — whether it's personalizing payment options, streamlining compliance workflows, or building AI-powered support tools — translates into real people finding pathways out of debt with dignity rather than harassment.

You'll work independently on complex technical problems while collaborating effectively across engineering, product, and operations teams. This role requires engineers who thrive in ambiguity, communicate trade-offs clearly, and take initiative to solve problems before they become blockers. You'll contribute to a culture where AI-powered innovation transforms consumer finance, with opportunities to tackle challenges that stretch your capabilities and accelerate your growth into senior-level technical leadership.

Software Engineers at January do more than write code. They own product outcomes, set technical direction, and mentor others while building systems that directly improve the financial lives of millions.

Current teams hiring include:

• Consumer Resolution (CORE) – Maximizes debt resolution on inbound contacts across phone, email, SMS, letters, and chatbot by building AI and human agent tooling that handles the complex, emotional conversations self-serve can't solve.

• Compliance and Money Ops (CMO) – Runs the financial and compliance backbone of the business, managing controls, monitoring, and payment processing so money moves safely and we stay fully compliant.

• Consumer Conversion (COCO) – Turns engaged borrowers into resolved debts through the portal, chatbot, settlements UX, payment plans, and retention flows, building personalized paths that remove friction and adapt to each borrower's financial reality.

What You'll Do

Own Feature Delivery End-to-End

• Independently scope, design, and ship features across the stack — from targeted enhancements to multi-system integrations

• Make architectural decisions within your scope that balance long-term maintainability with immediate delivery pressure

• Identify and resolve technical blockers proactively, escalating strategically when you've exhausted reasonable options

Drive Technical Excellence with Business Context

• Translate product requirements into technical solutions, probing for edge cases and constraints that partners may not have considered

• Articulate trade-offs between technical approaches using concrete examples: performance implications, development time, operational complexity, and user impact

• Contribute meaningfully to technical discussions with data-driven recommendations, pushing back constructively when proposals create technical debt

Navigate Ambiguity and Accelerate Team Velocity

• Work effectively when requirements are unclear or changing, asking clarifying questions that expose hidden assumptions and unblock progress

• Reduce coordination overhead by anticipating dependencies — notifying other teams before your work affects them

• Take ownership of problems outside your immediate scope when they block team progress

Elevate Code Quality and Engineering Standards

• Write maintainable, well-tested code that other engineers can build upon without extensive context

• Provide thoughtful code review feedback that catches not just bugs but architectural issues before they compound

• Contribute to technical documentation and knowledge sharing that reduces onboarding friction and scales team effectiveness

Embrace AI-Driven Innovation

• Actively use AI tools (Cursor, Copilot, ChatGPT) to accelerate your development velocity and code quality

• Identify opportunities where AI capabilities can improve product features or internal workflows

• Share learnings about effective AI usage patterns with your team

What We're Looking For

• Experience and Technical Expertise

  • 3+ years building production software systems, with demonstrated ability to own complete features independently

  • Strong proficiency in at least one backend language (Python, Java, Go, or similar) with ability to write clean, testable code

  • Solid understanding of APIs, databases, and web technologies

  • Track record of working effectively with product managers and cross-functional partners to deliver business outcomes

  • Experience making technical decisions that balance delivery speed with long-term system health

  Independence and Ownership

  • Proven ability to work on complex problems without constant direction

  • Track record of fixing issues outside assigned scope when they block progress

  • Experience turning ambiguous requirements into concrete solutions through clarifying questions and proposals

  • Demonstrates self-starting behavior — seeks out problems to solve rather than waiting for assignment

  Communication and Collaboration

  • Clear written and verbal communication across technical and non-technical audiences

  • Experience providing constructive code review feedback that improves team standards

  • Comfortable with both documentation and real-time collaboration

  • Track record of building trust through follow-through and transparent communication about blockers

  Growth Mindset and Technical Curiosity

  • Active experimentation with AI development tools to improve productivity

  • Openness to feedback and commitment to continuous learning

  • Enthusiasm for emerging technologies and their practical application

  Interest in fintech, consumer finance, or mission-driven companies (nice-to-have)

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We are currently hiring for this position in our New York office.

At January, you'll build technical systems that transform how millions of people interact with debt resolution. Your work directly enables borrowers to resolve debt with compassion instead of coercion, proving that collections technology can deliver results through humanity rather than despite it. You'll have the autonomy to innovate, the support to excel, and the platform to create something extraordinary — engineering challenges that set new standards for technical excellence in fintech while creating real impact in people's financial lives. If you're driven to push boundaries and thrive in a culture of collaboration, rapid growth, and continuous learning, January offers the chance to do your best work.

We thrive on:

• Writing to clarify thinking, scale collaboration, and drive intentionality

• Prioritizing impact over routine — this isn't a 9-to-5 job

• Embracing growth, feedback, and new challenges with humility and curiosity

As a New York City-based company, we are dedicated to transparent, fair, and equitable compensation practices that reflect our commitment to fostering an environment where all team members are valued and supported. We encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply.

We are an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin