Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We help connect companies large and small with top independent talent from around the world. Simply put, our mission is to create economic opportunities so people have better lives.

Every year, more than $2 billion of work is done through Upwork by skilled independent professionals who want the freedom of working anytime, anywhere.

We are looking for a Director of Engineering to drive the strategy, design & development of the next-generation of Upwork Payments systems. In this role, you must possess executive leadership in combination with a deep technical understanding of Payment processing technologies, cloud architecture, regulatory and legal compliance. Additionally, familiarity with Web3 technologies and a strong curiosity to stay abreast with new technologies is required. You have a proven track record of leading multiple engineering teams, partner with the product team to build the strategic vision, ability to continuously improve the performance and stability of large scale systems and services.

As the senior leader, you will come to work every day knowing that your contributions will make a major difference for users who depend on the product that you deliver in order to make a living!

You will be at the forefront of the shift to remote-work. Your team will span dozens of countries and you’ll have the opportunity to lead both local and globally-distributed talent!

Your Responsibilities:

• Modernize our Payment stack to improve the acceptance rate and reduce payment costs.
• Work with the business team to build new innovative financial products to the lives of our freelancers.
• Lead Upwork into the web3 world.
• Drive a high standard of excellence for web service scalability and availability, while also driving high profile efforts on the front-end.
• Be in charge of the team’s technical strategy and execution, and partner closely with Product and Design, as well as with other senior leaders in Engineering, to ensure that we’re delivering the best end to end experiences for our customers.

What it takes to catch our eye:

• Shown development experience leading hard-working distributed engineering teams.
• Experience in designing and developing scalable, well-tuned, and highly available software.
• Consistent track record of working across team boundaries to deliver fabulous customer experiences across the full stack.
• Strong focus on the customer and the business, coupled with a burning desire to learn, respond to feedback and grow. We’re looking for people who flourish with learning new technologies and don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions.
• Proven ability to work in a fast-paced, iterative environment and lead the parallel development and delivery of features on multiple related product areas.
• Strong experience in building enterprise and consumer payments applications.

Come change how the world works.

At Upwork, you’ll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals.  While we have physical offices in San Francisco and Chicago, currently we also support hiring of corporate full-time employees in 15 states in the United States. Please speak with a member of our recruitment team to determine whether you are located in a state in which we are hiring corporate full-time employees. 

Our vibrant culture is built on shared values and our mission to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster amazing teams, put our community first, and have a bias toward action. We encourage everyone to bring their whole selves to work and grow together through development opportunities, mentorship, and employee resource groups. Oh yeah, we’ve also got amazing benefits.

Check out our Life at Upwork page to learn more about the employee experience.   

Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.