Staff Backend Engineer – Payments

Staff Backend Engineer – Payments & Billing Join to apply for the Staff Backend Engineer – Payments & Billing role at Scribd, Inc. About The Company: At Scribd Inc. (pronounced “scribbed”), our mission is to spark human curiosity. We create a world of stories and knowledge, democratize the exchange of ideas and information, and empower collective expertise through our four products: Everand, Scribd, Slideshare, and Fable. We support a culture where our employees can be real and be bold; where we debate and commit as we embrace plot twists; and where every employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer. We believe in balancing individual flexibility and community connections. Our flexible work benefit, Scribd Flex, allows employees and managers to choose the daily work‑style that best suits their individual needs, with intentional in‑person moments to build collaboration, culture, and connection. Occasional in‑person attendance is required for all employees, regardless of location. We hire for “GRIT”. The textbook definition of GRIT is demonstrating the intersection of passion and perseverance toward long‑term goals. We look for someone who showcases the ability to set and achieve G oals, R esults, I nnovative ideas, and T eam collaboration. About The Team: The Payments & Billing team powers our subscription revenue engine by delivering systems that manage billing lifecycles, global payment processing, and financial reliability across Scribd, Everand, Slideshare, and Fable. Focus areas include payment processing at scale, invoicing, reconciliation, fraud prevention, compliance, and support for international currencies and payment methods. We partner closely with Product, Finance, Risk, and Platform Engineering. What You’ll Do Lead the technical architecture and implementation of Scribd’s payments and billing systems. Design, build, and operate backend services that power subscription payments at global scale. Own billing lifecycle, global payments, invoicing, reconciliation, and financial reliability—integrating with multiple providers (Stripe, Adyen, Braintree) and supporting international currencies and local methods. Ensure compliance and security of financial systems through PCI DSS, tokenization, encryption, and secure data handling. Foster a culture of technical excellence while driving scalable, resilient, and observable financial systems that enable teams to move fast, simplify complexity, and deliver revenue with confidence. Modernize legacy systems and eliminate technical debt to improve velocity and scalability. Partner with Product, Finance, Risk, Platform, and Analytics to deliver secure, reliable financial flows, leveraging data, metrics, and telemetry to uncover trends, resolve anomalies, and guide the team with clarity and foresight. Mentor engineers, shape cross‑team technical strategy, and tackle some of the hardest scaling and security challenges in the company. We’re Looking For Someone Who Has 8+ years of backend engineering experience, with deep expertise in building and scaling distributed systems for financial or mission‑critical workloads. Brings a strong foundation in data modeling, transactional consistency, and high‑throughput architectures, with hands‑on SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL) and familiarity with NoSQL and caching. Is skilled in observability and reliability practices: defining SLOs, implementing metrics/alerts, debugging distributed systems, and leading incident response. Has strong coding ability in at least one modern backend language such as Ruby (preferred), Java, Go, or Python. Has a proven track record of technical leadership: setting architectural direction, mentoring engineers, and driving large‑scale migrations or modernization efforts. Communicates clearly and collaborates across product, finance, risk, and platform teams, influencing both technical and business decisions. Contributes to cross‑team initiatives that shape Scribd’s engineering culture. It’s a Plus If You Have strong coding ability in Ruby. Have deep experience designing and operating payment or billing systems. Have integrated with major payment service providers (Stripe, Adyen, Braintree, PayPal) and managed multi‑currency or local payment methods. Bring knowledge of compliance and security standards (PCI DSS, encryption, tokenization). Understand fraud prevention strategies (chargebacks, retries, card fingerprinting, abuse detection). Have led large‑scale migrations between payment providers or billing systems with minimal customer impact. At Scribd, base pay is one part of the total compensation package and is determined within a range. Pay ranges are based on local cost of labor benchmarks. For San Francisco: $167,000 to $260,500. Outside California: $137,500 to $247,500. In Canada: $175,000 CAD to $231,500 CAD. Salary ranges listed are for the level at which the job has been scoped; a different level may have a different range. The position is also eligible for equity ownership and a comprehensive benefits package. Working at Scribd Inc. Employees must have their primary residence in or near one of the following cities: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Houston, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Mexico City. Benefits, Perks, And Wellbeing At Scribd Inc. Benefits/perks listed may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Scribd Inc. and the geographical location where you work. Healthcare Insurance Coverage (Medical/Dental/Vision): 100% paid for employees 12 weeks paid parental leave Short‑term/long‑term disability plans 401k/RSP matching Onboarding stipend for home office peripherals + accessories Learning & Development allowance Learning & Development programs Quarterly stipend for Wellness, WiFi, etc. Mental Health support & resources Free subscription to the Scribd Inc. suite of products Referral Bonuses Book Benefit Sabbaticals Company‑wide events Team engagement budgets Vacation & Personal Days Paid Holidays (+ winter break) Flexible Sick Time Volunteer Day Company‑wide Employee Resource Groups and programs that foster an inclusive and diverse workplace. Access to AI Tools: We provide free access to best‑in‑class AI tools, empowering you to boost productivity, streamline workflows, and accelerate bold innovation. We want our interview process to be accessible to everyone. You can inform us of any reasonable adjustments we can make to better accommodate your needs by emailing about the need for adjustments at any point in the interview process. Scribd Inc. is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply, and believe that a diversity of perspectives and experiences create a foundation for the best ideas. Come join us in building something meaningful. #J-18808-Ljbffr