About this role.
Branch is hiring a Senior Software Engineer to build and operate core platform components for its financial-services products. The role centers on Java, Spring Boot, distributed microservices, RESTful API design, relational databases, and service performance, scalability, and uptime. The engineer will conduct design and code reviews while collaborating with product management, customer success, and customer support. This is a remote U.S.-only position requiring 5+ years of experience and authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
4/5Pace & Pressure
4/5Autonomy Level
4/5Communication Load
4/5Salary analysis
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Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would begin with metrics and distributed traces to identify whether the bottleneck is application code, database access, downstream dependencies, or infrastructure saturation. I would validate findings with profiling and load tests, then prioritize targeted improvements such as query optimization, caching, connection-pool tuning, asynchronous processing, or API payload reduction. I would deploy safely behind monitoring and confirm improvements through latency, error-rate, and saturation metrics.
I focus on clear domain boundaries, resource-oriented and predictable endpoints, consistent status codes, validation, versioning strategy, and backward compatibility. I document contracts thoroughly and consider idempotency, pagination, authentication, error formats, and observability from the start. For service-to-service dependencies, I keep contracts small and stable to reduce coupling.
I would define timeouts, retries with backoff and jitter, circuit breakers, and explicit fallback behavior based on the business criticality of the operation. Where appropriate, I would use queues or durable events to decouple non-synchronous work and make processing recoverable. I would also add dependency health metrics, alerts, and runbooks so the team can detect and respond to degradation quickly.
I review for correctness, maintainability, security, performance, test coverage, and alignment with architectural standards, while keeping feedback specific and constructive. I distinguish blocking risks from suggestions, explain the reasoning behind important feedback, and look for opportunities to share patterns with the team. I also welcome review of my own work and use recurring findings to improve team conventions and tooling.
I would first clarify the domain entities, ownership, lifecycle, access patterns, consistency requirements, and reporting needs. Then I would define normalized tables, primary and foreign keys, constraints, indexes, and migration plans, while considering transaction boundaries and expected query volume. I would validate the design with representative queries and tests, and evolve it through backward-compatible migrations.
About us:
Branch is on a mission to empower workers with financial freedom. We do this by helping companies accelerate payments and providing working Americans with accessible, free financial services. We’re committed to building and delivering more inclusive, transparent, and frictionless financial products.
Our goal of empowerment extends to our own employees, too. Have a great idea? Share it today and it might just get implemented tomorrow. As a member of our team, your voice and creativity matter—and they can directly impact our products, company, and culture.
We not only focus on attracting great talent from across the country, but also on building teams that help that talent thrive. That means valuing a diversity of opinions and working styles, while creating a shared belief in innovation, initiative, and winning together.
Come join our team as we develop new ways to improve the lives of working Americans.
About the role:
In this Senior Software Engineer role at Branch, you will be responsible for developing core components on one of our Engineering pods. The ideal candidate will have strong experience in Java and microservices, with a focus on designing and optimizing scalable backend services and RESTful APIs. This position requires a soli d foundation in computer science and a passion for upholding high engineering standards through code reviews and collaborative teamwork.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Measure and optimize the performance, scalability, and uptime of backend services
- Demonstrate and promote a culture of engineering excellence
- Conduct design and code reviews and push the bar for engineering rigor and standards
- Collaborate with product management, customer success, and customer support to deliver the best experience for our users
- Focus on consistent, cohesive REST APIs and domain driven service design to facilitate and orchestrate service contracts
Qualifications:
- Attention to detail and passion for doing great work
- 5+ years of experience in building clean, well architected, distributed, and scalable software
- Strong computer science fundamentals, with deep knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and software design
- Strong command of Java and Java based microservices with Spring Boot
- Experience designing and supporting customer facing RESTful APIs
- Design and implementation of relational database schemas running on PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, or equivalent
- Fluent with unit / integration testing concepts and tools including JUnit / Mockito, or equivalent
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, git-flow, SonarQube for CICD a plus
- BS in Computer Science or equivalent program
Compensation:
The salary range for this role is $160-170k.
The salary range displayed reflects an average base salary range for the position across all the U.S. The base salary offered to an applicant could be higher or lower based on each applicant’s specific skill set, depth of experience, relevant education or training, etc.
Location:
This position is classified as REMOTE within the United States of America.
We are unable to hire candidates located outside of the domestic U.S.
Benefits:
- Market-leading medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Stock options
- Free Premium-Tier Origin Financial Wellness subscription
- Monthly home-office stipend
- 401k (TransAmerica)
- 12-weeks paid parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents
- Flexible time off + sick and safe time
- 11 paid company holidays
Working at Branch
A remote-first company with employees located throughout the U.S., Branch emphasizes transparency, accountability, and trust to create a collaborative environment where our product, engineering, marketing, customer support, customer success, and sales teams can all thrive together. Learn more about what we do in this video!
Our collaborative spirit has helped us become an award-winning FinTech company, with Branch’s innovation and workplace recognized across industries. Branch has been honored by Inc., the Webby Awards, Benzinga FinTech Awards, FinTech Breakthrough Awards, Top Workplaces USA, Great Places to Work, and EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Heartland, among others.
Learn more about our culture, approach, technology, and people here: https://www.branchapp.com/about
Branch is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Must be currently authorized to work in the USA without sponsorship or transfer.
No third-parties, please.
View how Branch collects your personal data here.
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