Senior Software Engineer

Your Role

Ascend is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our team on-site in San Francisco to help expand our core product. As an Engineer at Ascend, you’ll be part of a small but growing team focused on solving complex technical challenges using Ruby. You’ll also interface directly with our customers and work cross-functionally to develop new product features, dashboards, and checkout processes—without any layers.

Responsibilities Will Include

Objective #1: In your first 30 days:

• Understand Ascend’s platform, product, and customer workflows by collaborating with team members and engaging with customers
• Contribute to user-facing projects using Ruby on Rails and Next.js
• Partner with product managers and designers to solve customer challenges directly

Objective #2: In your first 60 days:

• Take ownership of end-to-end features that process millions in insurance premiums using Ruby on Rails
• Build intuitive UIs with Next.js to power financial operations
• Develop internal tools to streamline customer workflows
• Maintain high product quality through proactive monitoring and continuous improvements

Objective #3: In your first 90 days and beyond:

• Collaborate with customers to translate their needs into scalable solutions for the multi-trillion-dollar insurance industry
• Develop the industry’s leading point-of-sale system for insurance, enabling seamless payments and improving conversion rates
• Automate back-office tasks with AI, reducing time and improving accuracy for accounting teams
• Help shape technical architecture and processes as the platform scales
• Mentor engineers through thoughtful code reviews and technical guidance

Must Have

• 4+ years of experience as a Full Stack or Backend Engineer
• 2+ years working in a growth-stage startup
• Experience with relational databases
• Experience building and scaling consumer products
• A strong desire to learn new skills and solve business problems

Nice to Have

• Familiarity or interest in learning Ruby on Rails and Next.js
• Familiarity with building external APIs and integrations with platforms such as Salesforce
• Experience in building payment, checkout, or insurance products

Tech Stack & Processes

• Ruby on Rails API hosted on Heroku
• Next.js with TypeScript hosted on Vercel
• Tailwind CSS across all the frontend
• Postgres and Redis for storage
• Continuous integration and delivery

Base Salary Range: $200,000–$250,000

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