Rippling
Senior Staff Engineer - Global Payroll
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About the role
Rippling is building the future of global payroll and we’re looking for a Senior Staff Engineer to help make that vision a reality.
In this high-impact role, you’ll be at the center of transforming Rippling’s global payroll engineering systems, leveraging and building AI-native solutions and modern engineering practices to unify and scale payroll operations across multiple countries. You’ll play a key role in reimagining how people are getting paid what they’ve earned globally, driving the platform toward long-term goals such as filings automation, global data unification, ability to handle larger & larger enterprises, while ensuring ease of use and administration.
This is a rare opportunity to influence the architecture and design of one of Rippling’s core product pillars from the ground up. You’ll lead initiatives that span the entire development lifecycle, from defining and scoping new product functionality to rearchitecting critical systems for scale, accuracy, and performance. Whether it’s optimizing for complex, multi-country edge cases or introducing AI/ML-based solutions to implement intelligent agentic workflows, your work will directly shape the infrastructure powering one of Rippling’s largest and fastest-growing markets.
As a Senior Staff Engineer, you’ll be more than just a technical expert. You’ll be a thought partner to product, a mentor to engineers, and a strategic voice in shaping Rippling’s next billion-dollar vertical. You’ll collaborate closely with some of the most talented engineers in the company, working in a fast-moving environment where innovation, autonomy, and ownership are the norm.
At Rippling, engineers at this level are deeply embedded in product direction. You'll engage directly with users, contribute to go-to-market strategies, and become an expert in the domain. As an early member of this team, you'll also play a vital role in building team culture, process, and technical vision as we scale.
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What you will do
- Design and build scalable, data-driven systems that transform, normalize, and reconcile payroll data across multiple countries, entities, and currencies.
- Drive platform evolution by re-architecting critical systems for scalability, reliability, and internationalization—enabling global payroll operations at scale.
- Develop AI- and ML-driven solutions to enhance accuracy, detect anomalies, automate workflows, and minimize manual intervention.
- Define and execute a long-term architectural vision for Rippling’s global payroll platform, balancing innovation with compliance, stability, and performance.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with product, design, finance, legal, compliance, data, and operations teams to deliver cohesive and compliant solutions.
- Champion customer-focused engineering, ensuring technical solutions directly drive operational excellence and user impact.
- Mentor and lead engineers, fostering high standards of technical quality, thoughtful design, and engineering best practices.
- Influence and align stakeholders across multiple teams and time zones, communicating clearly to drive shared product and technical goals.
What you will need
- 8+ years of experience building and scaling production systems (Python, Django, React, MongoDB, AWS).
- Proven ability to architect, own, and deliver complex, platform-scale projects end to end.
- Strong background in data modeling, system design, and modern architecture patterns.
- Experience or keen interest in applying AI/ML for automation and intelligent data systems.
- Deep platform sensibility—building extensible, compliant solutions for multiple countries.
- Track record of modernizing legacy systems and driving large-scale transformation.
- Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
- Product mindset with focus on impact, reliability, and customer value.
- Proactive, growth-oriented approach with passion for solving complex global challenges.
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Additional Information
Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics. Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email accommodations@rippling.com
Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.
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