Lead Software Engineer

Who We Are

Summer is a Certified B Corp with a mission to maximize savings for the 46 million Americans burdened by student debt. Summer combines policy expertise with innovative tech to help borrowers simplify college cost planning and student loan repayment, generating $278/month in savings per person and $1.8B in savings for our users to date. 

Summer has raised $30 million to date from world-class investors, including QED Investors, General Catalyst, Greycroft, Rebalance Capital, SemperVirens, Foundation Capital, Story Ventures, NextView, Flourish Ventures, and the Financial Health Network. We've partnered with dozens of clients who pay for Summer to assist their employees and customers, including the city government of Alexandria, Virginia, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Diabetes Association, Asurion, the City of New York, ADP and more.

Your Role

We could spend paragraphs talking about coding requirements, algorithms, and data structures—but you’ve already mastered those. There are plenty of companies where you can write code all day, every day. This role is different.

As a full-stack Lead Software Engineer at Summer, you’ll manage and mentor a small pod of engineers while remaining hands-on in the codebase. You’ll guide the team through technical design, planning, and delivery of major product initiatives. This isn’t just about shipping features, it’s about setting direction, building strong systems and people, and ensuring your pod delivers high-quality, scalable software that makes a real-world impact.

This is an opportunity to grow your leadership skills, contribute to Summer’s technical vision, and build a mission-driven engineering culture that values ownership, quality, and empathy.

What You’ll Do

• Mentor and manage a team of engineers through thoughtful technical leadership and day-to-day support.
• Review and assess completed work in collaboration with fellow engineering leads to uphold a high bar for quality.
• Clarify complex requirements and help design sustainable, long-term solutions that are maintainable and scalable.
• Lead by example: stay hands-on in the codebase, supporting your team as they build and ship great products.
• Drive product planning, ensuring we commit to initiatives that are realistic, high-impact, and delivered at a high standard.
• Oversee the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal tools and systems to streamline engineering workflows across the organization.
• Collaborate closely with the Head of Engineering, your product management lead, and product design partner to ensure your pod’s work aligns with our values, vision, and long-term goals with a focus on prioritization, double bottom-line impact, and thoughtfully designed experiences.

You Might Be a Fit If You Have

• 7+ years of experience building and maintaining production-grade web applications and 2+ years of experience leading engineers or owning technical direction for a small or mid-sized team.
• A proven ability to design, build, and scale complex systems across frontend and backend environments.
• Strong experience across our core stack: TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL, and React.
• A clear, empathetic communication style that builds trust and drives alignment across technical and non-technical teams.
• A passion for coaching and developing engineering talent – you love helping others grow.
• Familiarity with or interest in AI-assisted development tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude.
• Experience collaborating across product, design, and analytics to deliver impactful solutions
• Exposure to both startup and enterprise environments, with clear opinions on what works best from each

Our Tech Stack

• Languages & Frameworks: TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js, React, HAPI
• Database & Storage: PostgreSQL, Redis, AWS RDS
• Infra & DevOps: Netlify, Heroku, AWS, CircleCI, Snowflake
• Monitoring & Security: Sentry, Datadog, and a strong emphasis on security-first development

As a Lead-Level Software Engineer at Summer, You Will

• Guide technical direction for your pod while remaining an active contributor to the codebase.
• Set and uphold a high bar for engineering excellence, security, and maintainability.
• Drive cross-functional alignment through clear technical communication and documentation.
• Identify and mitigate risks, manage dependencies, and help the team consistently meet commitments.
• Lead design discussions and ensure thoughtful trade-offs between speed, scalability, and reliability.
• Create a healthy, supportive, and high-performing team culture grounded in accountability and curiosity.
• Translate product and business priorities into actionable, technical roadmaps.

How We Work

Our Product, Engineering, Design and Data (PEDD) team is guided by a strong set of values about how we work together

• High-Integrity Commitments: We do what we say we’ll do—and we hold ourselves accountable. You’ll be empowered to make and own commitments that matter.
• Ambiguity as Opportunity: We lean into uncertainty with curiosity. This role is ideal for someone who thrives when things aren’t perfectly defined.
• Constructive Disagreement: We believe the best ideas come from respectful debate. You’ll be expected to challenge and be challenged in service of better outcomes.
• Customer-Centric Impact: We focus on real, measurable outcomes for users—not just shipping features.

The Details

Compensation: $150,000–$170,000 USD annual base salary + equity + comprehensive benefits

Work Environment

Summer is a remote-first company with team members across the U.S. We collaborate asynchronously and meet virtually each week, with in-person gatherings for key moments during the year.

Why Join Summer

Summer is on a mission to help borrowers navigate and eliminate student debt. We partner with financial institutions, employers, and government agencies to provide digital tools that simplify the loan experience for millions of borrowers.

We’re a mission-driven team that believes in solving real problems with real empathy. We care deeply about our users and each other. If you’re excited about building technology that changes lives, we’d love to meet you.

How We Support You

• Equity grant to share in Summer’s success
• 100% employee-covered medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan with 3% match, fully vested day one
• Home office setup reimbursement
• Monthly lunch credits
• Direct contributions toward your student loans
• Up to 11 paid holidays + flexible PTO
• Paid leave for family, health, or personal needs
• Annual in-person events including Summer Camp and Summer Wonderland
• And more!
  
  

Equal Opportunity

Summer is an equal opportunity employer. We make employment decisions based on merit and business needs and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected status.