Platform Engineer

Heron builds document automation for lenders, funders, fintechs and more: we process bank statements, tax returns, and financial applications so that financing decisions happen faster, more accurately, and at scale. We're hiring Platform Engineers to build the systems that make all of this work.

Our platform processes millions of sensitive financial documents for customers. As we onboard more lenders and expand into new verticals, the systems underneath need to get better, not just bigger. That means:

• Reliability at scale: Our customers handle large volumes of documents and data, and we operate at the core of their business. When they process an application through Heron, it needs to work every time. You'll build the infrastructure that ensures our backend stays fast and reliable as volume grows.

• Developer experience: We have a ~15-person engineering team shipping features across multiple product lines. You'll build the internal tools, abstractions, and platform primitives that let product engineers move fast without breaking things.

• Product thinking (yes, even for internal tools): You're building for an internal audience (namely our pre-sales and post-sales teams, and other engineers), but you treat it like a product. That means understanding what we are trying to achieve for customers, designing intuitive tooling that makes that easy to do, and then iterating based on ‘customer’ feedback.

• Security and compliance: This is critical to our customers — sensitive financial and deal data must be handled to exacting standards. This isn't an afterthought; it's a core platform requirement.

This is the kind of work that compounds. The better the platform, the faster every team at Heron can ship, and the faster we can deliver value to our customers.

This is a hands-on IC role on our Platform tribe, working directly with our CTO and Head of Engineering, and alongside a strong team of engineers.

In your first few months, you'll:

• Get into the codebase and start working on the Platform backlog within your first week. We don't believe in dragging out ramp-ups; you'll be reviewing and shipping code quickly.

• Own the development of meaningful features on either our Product Platform (the building blocks like workflow orchestration & execution, entity management, and workflow tooling) or Platform Infra (scalability, resilience, CI/CD, security).

• Debug real customer issues end-to-end, from support ticket to production fix, gaining deep understanding of how the system works under load.

• Contribute to the architectural decisions that shape how Heron's backend evolves as the volume we handle grows.

Longer-term, there's room to grow into a tech lead role as the platform team scales. But first and foremost, we need builders.

Our ideal candidate is a backend engineer with 3-6 years of experience who has worked at a startup or growth-stage company and knows what it feels like to build something that actually matters. You're more drawn to the systems layer than the UI layer, and you get satisfaction from making other engineers more productive.

More specifically:

• You have a strong CS foundation (degree or equivalent depth) and have a track record of writing clean, well-tested Python in production.

• You've built backend systems at a startup or growth-stage company and understand the trade-offs between speed and quality at that stage.

• You're comfortable with cloud infrastructure (we're on GCP), databases, CI/CD, and the unglamorous work that keeps a platform running.

• You care about reliability and developer experience. You might have fixed a flaky test suite in a previous job or built a simple but killer internal tool that everyone uses.

• You don't need to be told what to do - pilot not passenger. You see problems, propose solutions, and ship them.

• You're less interested in being the person on customer calls and more interested in being the person who makes sure the platform can handle whatever customers throw at it.

• Real problem, real traction: Lenders use Heron every day to make real underwriting decisions. We're growing fast and the platform challenges are a result of product-market fit, not hypotheticals.

• Small team, big impact: 15 engineers with minimal layers. Your work ships to production and directly affects how the platform performs.

• Strong platform team: You'll work alongside other strong engineers who are similarly motivated and talented, and have built and scaled systems in the past

• Hands-on founders who build: Our CEO and CTO are deeply engaged in the product - you’ll work alongside them, not present to them.

• NYC and London: We have offices in both cities and hire in both locations.

• Competitive compensation, including equity

• Based full-time in London or NYC, where most of the team is in-person multiple days per week

• Your choice of top-of-the-line equipment to fit out your desk in the office

• Occasional travel for retreats and to work with the team

• Competitive benefits: health insurance; pension/401k; uncapped annual leave; parental leave

• Free mental health support via Spill - on-demand access to therapy

• Weekly company lunches (always inclusive and vegan-friendly - especially if you like Korean or Vietnamese food!)

• Applicants from any background and gender are welcome and we have a zero tolerance policy on discrimination

• Initial conversation (20 minutes) - conversation to discuss what you're looking for, what Heron offers, and to see if there's a good fit.

• Technical interview (up to 60 minutes) - interactive technical session with one or two of our engineers where you will review a pull request and then do some live coding to build on it.

• Team interviews (2-3 hours in total) - mix of technical and behavioral conversations with Heron teammates and founders. You'll get a feel for the people you'll work with and how we approach problems, and we'll get to know how you collaborate, communicate, and think.

• References - 2 references from people you've worked with who can speak to your impact, working style, and contributions in a professional setting.

We are Heron Data, a Series A stage company based in New York and London.

• At Heron, we use the latest advances in AI and LLMs to automate document processing. Our software handles emails, analyzes attachments, and takes actions like updating CRMs or requesting more info to execute workflows end-to-end for our customers. We serve a range of businesses including some of the world's largest fintechs, banks and other specialty finance companies, commercial insurers, and more.

• Our largest product automates underwriting for small business lenders and other specialty finance companies. We eliminate cumbersome manual processes and enable our customers to provide their services with much greater speed, precision, and fairness.

• We are a rapidly growing company with over 150 customers in financial services and beyond who trust us to be embedded in critical processes - without us, their businesses stop. We analyze tens of thousands of documents a day, including over 20 million individual bank transactions daily for our customers. We continue to grow into more segments and workflows: further into lending, banking, insurance. And we think there's much more we can do!

• We are a lean, scrappy and committed team with a flat structure and collaborative culture. Our team brings together a wealth of experience from great tech companies including Facebook, Spotify, Revolut and many other startups from around the world.

• With team members from five different continents, we embrace multiculturalism and diversity. From company events to everyday interactions, we make sure everyone feels welcome and accommodate all cultural and dietary requirements.

• Since our launch in September 2020, at the end of the S20 batch, we've experienced a lot of growth! Today, we serve over 150 customers. Read more about our mission here