Senior Software Engineer- Payroll Data

Rippling is looking for a seasoned Senior Software Engineer to join the Payroll Data team one of the most foundational teams in the Global Payroll organization. While other teams build features on top of payroll data this team defines what that data looks like and how it gets materialized decisions that shape the capabilities and constraints of the entire payroll product.

In this role you will design and evolve the core payroll data models that represent earnings deductions taxes and employer costs across dozens of countries. Youll architect materialization pipelines that transform payroll events into consistent queryable datasets consumed by reporting analytics and compliance. Youll define data contracts and interfaces that multiple teams depend on and youll make principled trade-offs between model expressiveness query performance and operational simplicity.

This is an opportunity to do work with deep technical leverage: a well-designed data model or a faster materialization pipeline doesnt just improve one feature it improves every feature built on top of it.

• Own the design and evolution of payroll data models spanning earnings deductions taxes contributions and employer costs across 40 countries balancing correctness extensibility and query performance.
• Architect and scale materialization pipelines that transform raw payroll events and configurations into consistent query-ready datasets for reporting analytics filings and compliance.
• Define and maintain data contracts between the payroll data layer and its consumers run management tax engine filings object graph RQL and finance reporting ensuring stability and clarity at every integration boundary.
• Tackle hard data modeling problems including temporal state management multi-country regulatory variation and bitemporal data patterns.
• Drive performance optimization across materialization and query paths ensuring payroll data is available with the latency freshness and correctness guarantees that downstream systems require.
• Improve observability and operational tooling for data pipelines monitoring for drift staleness schema violations and materialization failures in a system where incorrect data has direct financial consequences.
• Lead cross-team technical discussions on data model changes schema evolution and materialization strategies that affect multiple payroll teams.
• Mentor engineers and raise the teams standards for data modeling rigor pipeline reliability testing and documentation.
• Shape the long-term data architecture by working with stakeholders across payroll platform and analytics to anticipate new country launches product features and reporting requirements.

• 5 years of professional software engineering experience with a strong focus on data modeling data pipelines or data platform work.
• Deep experience designing data models for complex real-world domains you think carefully about normalization temporal state schema evolution and the trade-offs between flexibility and query performance.
• Strong backend engineering fundamentals with experience in Python Django or similar stacks.
• Experience building and operating materialization or ETL pipelines transforming event-driven or transactional data into consistent queryable datasets at scale.
• Proven ability to design clean data contracts and interfaces consumed by multiple teams with attention to backwards compatibility versioning and documentation.
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills particularly in systems where data correctness issues surface downstream and require tracing back through multiple layers.
• Comfort working in ambiguous cross-functional environments where data model decisions require understanding both technical constraints and business domain nuance.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to articulate modeling trade-offs align partner teams on schema changes and document data semantics clearly.
• Experience with payroll fintech HR tech or regulated financial systems is a plus.
• Familiarity with bitemporal data patterns event sourcing or analytical query engines (e.g. Trino Iceberg) is a plus.

• Foundational leverage: Every payroll feature runs filings reporting analytics is built on top of the data layer you own.
• Hard modeling problems: Temporal state retroactive corrections multi-country variation and strict correctness requirements make this genuinely challenging data work.
• Platform impact: Your data model decisions shape whats possible for dozens of teams across the Global Payroll organization.

Communication matters: This role sits at the intersection of many teams your ability to define clear abstractions and align stakeholders is as important as your code.

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 dedicated to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation please email

We highly value in-office collaboration to foster a cohesive work environment and company culture. For employees residing within a defined radius of a Rippling office working on-site at least three days a week is considered an essential function of the role.

This position offers a competitive salary comprehensive benefits and equity opportunities. The exact salary will be determined based on factors such as experience skills and location.

Join us at Rippling and be a part of transforming how businesses manage performance-based compensation.

Required Experience:

Senior IC