Senior Software Engineer

What We Do Ascend is transforming the $10T global insurance industry by combining AI automation with embedded fintech. While insurance represents 7.2% of global GDP, outdated financial infrastructure like PDFs, emails, and manual reconciliation continues to slow the industry down. Ascend is the first and market-leading finance automation platform built specifically for insurance, driving the industry’s rapid digital transformation. In just five years: Trusted by thousands of insurance businesses nationwide Processes billions in transactions annually, growing 200%+ YoY Built a world-class team of 70+ across San Francisco and Columbus How We Do It Ascend automates the insurance financial lifecycle, from collections to disbursements. We streamline operations and drive real profitability. AI is rapidly driving the cost of software down, opening the door to faster innovation and broader access. At the same time, it is shifting where value is created. The strongest companies embed directly into financial workflows, capturing value at the point where money moves. Ascend brings AI and fintech together to automate financial operations inside the transaction itself. Customers do not just adopt software. They unlock powerful financial efficiency with a proven 5-7x return on investment. Why We Do It Insurance is a $10T+ industry running on legacy systems. AI alone won’t fix it, but AI-powered automation embedded into payments and transactions will. Ascend’s mission is to become the leading financial automation platform for insurance by 2030—powering the entire industry’s financial operations while transforming the way trillions of dollars move. Your Role Ascend is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our team on-site in San Francisco to help expand our core product. As an Engineer at Ascend, you’ll be part of a small but growing team focused on solving complex technical challenges using Ruby. You’ll also interface directly with our customers and work cross-functionally to develop new product features, dashboards, and checkout processes—without any layers. Responsibilities Will Include Objective #1: In your first 30 days: Understand Ascend’s platform, product, and customer workflows by collaborating with team members and engaging with customers Contribute to user-facing projects using Ruby on Rails and Next.js Partner with product managers and designers to solve customer challenges directly Objective #2: In your first 60 days: Take ownership of end-to-end features that process millions in insurance premiums using Ruby on Rails Build intuitive UIs with Next.js to power financial operations Develop internal tools to streamline customer workflows Maintain high product quality through proactive monitoring and continuous improvements Objective #3: In your first 90 days and beyond: Collaborate with customers to translate their needs into scalable solutions for the multi-trillion-dollar insurance industry Develop the industry’s leading point-of-sale system for insurance, enabling seamless payments and improving conversion rates Automate back-office tasks with AI, reducing time and improving accuracy for accounting teams Help shape technical architecture and processes as the platform scales Mentor engineers through thoughtful code reviews and technical guidance Must Have 4+ years of experience as a Full Stack or Backend Web Developer 2+ years working in a growth-stage startup Experience with relational databases Experience building and scaling consumer products A strong desire to learn new skills and solve business problems Nice to Have Familiarity or interest in learning Ruby on Rails and Next.js Familiarity with building external APIs and integrations with platforms such as Salesforce Experience in building payment, checkout, or insurance products Tech Stack Processes Ruby on Rails API hosted on Heroku Next.js with TypeScript hosted on Vercel Tailwind CSS across all the frontend Postgres and Re ... (truncated, view full listing at source)