Senior Software Engineer

Ascend is a fast-growing SaaS company that helps mid-market and large enterprise customers automate accounts payable processing through text extraction, machine learning and powerful integration into their financial systems – saving them millions each year.  Our clients include household names like NASCAR, Panera, Virgin Voyages, Life Time Fitness and PGA Tour as well as many of the nation’s largest and most renown hospitals and health systems, financial services providers, and higher ed institutions.  
 
Ascend is a fully remote company that offers competitive pay, exceptional benefits and unlimited time off.  Most importantly, we offer the chance to learn, take ownership and build your career the way you’ve envisioned. 
 
What would you do at Ascend? 
 
As a Senior Software Engineer at Ascend, you will lead the creation of our most innovative and impactful software solutions. You'll take charge in designing, building, and improving the technology that runs our company, making sure we stay competitive in a tough market.  
 
Your job goes beyond just coding—it's about building scalable, high-performance systems that will define the future of our product and delight our users. You'll be the expert everyone turns to guiding other engineers and setting the technical course for our projects. In this key role, you'll have the freedom to make important choices, try out new ideas, and bring your creative thoughts to life.   
 
At the core of your work is a love for technology and a constant push for the best. You'll tackle hard problems, test the limits of what we can do, and make a real difference in our growth and success. Your work will play a big part in turning bold ideas into reality by helping us build a top-notch product that changes the game in our industry.   
 
The salary range for this position is $150,000-$160,000. 
 
Your day-to-day would include: 
 

• Coding and Development - Writing, reviewing, and optimizing code for complex features or systems. 

• Code Reviews - Reviewing code written by peers to ensure code quality, adherence to standards, and best practices. Provide constructive feedback and mentorship during the review process. 

• Design and Architecture - Designing software systems or components, making architectural decisions, and ensuring scalability, performance, and maintainability. 

• Mentoring and Coaching - Guiding junior engineers and peers, helping them grow technically, and providing advice on solving technical challenges. 

• Collaboration - Working closely with cross-functional teams, such as Product Managers, Designers, and DevOps, to understand requirements, clarify technical details, and ensure smooth development workflows. 

• Technical Planning - Contributing to sprint planning, estimating tasks, defining technical roadmaps, and identifying risks or dependencies. Help in setting realistic goals and timelines for projects. 

• Documentation - Creating and maintaining documentation for codebases, systems, APIs, and architectural decisions to ensure knowledge sharing and onboarding for new team members. 

• Technical Leadership - Driving the team’s technical direction, setting coding standards, and championing best practices. They may also lead projects, technical initiatives, or process improvements. 

 
What is Ascend looking for in a candidate? 

• Drive with Determination - You won’t just wait for problems to come to you, you will seek them out. With a mindset that nothing is “too hard” or “too challenging,” you will dive headfirst into complex issues and emerge with innovative solutions. Like a true innovator, you will see every obstacle as a chance to sharpen your skills and grow in your craft. 

• Build with Passion - Your pride lies in your workmanship. You’re passionate about writing clean, efficient code and architecting solutions that will operate with consistent dependability. You’re not just here to get the job done, you’re here to build something that provides value to our users. 

• Act with Urgency - You have a keen ability to identify and focus on the most important and immediate tasks. You know that urgency isn’t about doing everything; it’s about doing the right things. You will work with the team to create a sustainable, psychologically safe environment where prioritization is key, and everyone knows what’s most critical. 

• Master Prioritization - You understand that not all tasks are created equal. With the support of your leadership team, you will learn to prioritize effectively, ensuring that the team’s efforts are always aligned with what provides business value. You will provide feedback, push back when needed, and help guide the team through the tough decisions on what not to do. 

• Communicate Clearly - In a remote team, communication is everything. You will keep the lines of communication open, ensuring that everyone is on the same page, even when working from different locations. You will understand that communication is a two-way street, with everyone responsible for the team’s success. 

• Embrace Action Bias - Once priorities are clear and communication is open, you will be empowered to take action. You won’t wait for someone else to make the first move, you will step up, make decisions, and learn from the results. Mistakes aren’t failures, they’re opportunities to build trust and become an even stronger engineer. 

 
Minimum Qualifications & Credentials 

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or demonstrable work experience (evidence will be required) 

• 5+ years of professional software development experience: This includes hands-on experience in designing, developing, testing, and deploying software. 

• Evidence of increasing responsibilities in current or previous roles 

 
Soft Skills 

• Resilience - The power to push through hard times learning and growing from each challenge  

• Attention to Detail - A commitment to producing high-quality, dependable work 

• Passion - Real excitement for the job in making valuable and reliable solutions that provide value to our users 

• Time Management - The ability to efficiently manage time, focusing on tasks that provide the most value while ensuring commitments are met 

• Critical Thinking - The knack to size up tasks by thinking about how they might affect current services and make smart choices that keep our product stable and growing  

• Effective Communication - Strong communication skills, especially in a remote environment, to ensure clarity and alignment among team members 

• Collaboration - The talent to work with others, give helpful feedback, and back the team in reaching shared goals  

• Adaptability - Being quick to shift gears when things change, make fast decisions, and adjust to new information or circumstances 

• Leadership - The ability to show others the way when making tough calls, and to create a positive supportive team vibe 

 
Why should you apply? 

• We offer everything you’d expect from a profitable company including a great salary, comprehensive health care benefits (100% covered for employees, 50% for dependents), and a generous retirement plan match. 

• You’ll receive an annual Lifelong Learning Allowance to use towards learning opportunities of your choice (cooking lessons, dance lessons, language lessons, etc.) 

• You’ll receive flexible time off, 10 paid holidays, Flex Fridays during the summer and one week off between Christmas and New Year’s. 

• A platform for good: a culture of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, charity matching and volunteer days—creating belonging for all is in our DNA both inside and outside of work.  

• Remote-first culture. No matter where you are, you’ll feel connected to the team. 

• We take family seriously and offer flexible schedules and generous parental leave programs. 

• We give you great tools and tech to do your best work: Hardware, software, and home office setups. 

 
Our Interview and Hiring Process 
 
We want the best people on our team.  To get them, we’ve built our hiring process around three Ts: thorough, transparent and thoughtful.  Our interview process is an honest evaluation of what you’ve done, what you’re good at, and what you’re working on improving.  The goal of this process is to identify, as objectively as possible, people who will raise the level of play within our company. 
 
Here's how it works: 

• Application 

• Screening interview – phone call (30-60 minutes) 

• Deep dive interview with the hiring manager – phone call (90+ minutes) 

• Focused interviews with select potential teammates – 2 to 3 video calls (30 mins each) 

• Reference calls with your last several managers 

• Offer letter 

 
Apply