Staff Backend Engineer – Payments & Billing
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About the Company
At Scribd (pronounced “scribbed”), our mission is to spark human curiosity. Join our team as 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, in partnership with their manager, to choose the daily work style that best suits their needs. Occasional in‑person attendance is required for all Scribd employees, regardless of their location.
We hire for “GRIT”, the intersection of passion and perseverance toward long‑term goals. We look for someone who can set and achieve goals, deliver results, contribute innovative ideas, and positively influence the broader team through collaboration and attitude.
About the Team
The Payments & Billing team powers Scribd’s subscription revenue engine by delivering systems that manage billing lifecycles, global payment processing, and financial reliability across Scribd, Everand, Slideshare, and Fable. Our 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, the backbone of our subscription business.
- 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 (e.g., 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, with a focus on clean, maintainable, and secure code.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
Has 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.Compensation
In the United States, the base pay range for this role is $137,500 to $247,500 in most locations, and $167,000 to $260,500 for San Francisco, California. In Canada, the range is $175,000 CAD to $231,500 CAD. The position is eligible for competitive equity ownership, and a comprehensive benefits package.
Benefits
Health, dental, vision insurance (100% covered)12‑week paid parental leaveShort‑term / long‑term disability plans401k / RSP matchingHome‑office stipend and accessoriesLearning & Development allowance and programsQuarterly wellness stipendMental health supportFree Scribd subscriptionReferral bonusesBook benefitSabbaticalsCompany events and engagement budgetsPaid holidays (including winter break)Flexible sick timeVolunteer daysEmployee Resource GroupsFree access to AI toolsEEO Statement
Scribd 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.
How to Apply
For more details and to apply, visit scribd.com / careers or contact HR at hiring@scribd.com.
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