Staff Software Engineer at CLEAR in New York, NY, United States

Job description

• We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer to help build the next generation of CLEAR's enterprise identity platform, CLEAR1. We’re creating frictionless identity solutions for some of the most sophisticated companies in the world and pushing the boundaries everywhere we go.
• As a Staff Engineer, you’ll own high-impact, cross-functional products and integrations end to end from problem framing and architecture through implementation, rollout, adoption, and measurable outcomes. This is an ideal role for someone who thrives in scrappy, ambiguous environments, while bringing the technical rigor and operating discipline developed at larger companies. You’ll partner across teams, establish reusable patterns and standards, improve reliability and execution, influence technical direction, and mentor other engineers.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, test, and deploy scalable applications that power CLEAR’s identity platform.
• Own projects end to end—from technical discovery and architecture through implementation, rollout, adoption, and operational support.
• Partner closely with Product, Design, Data, Security, and Operations to translate business problems into simple, scalable technical solutions.
• Design for reality by understanding failure modes, system dependencies, degradation strategies, recovery paths, and the points where systems may break under scale.
• Build quality and operability into the design from the start, including test strategy, observability, alerting, safe rollouts, rollback plans, and ongoing system health monitoring.
• Drive technical direction and engineering best practices across teams by identifying architectural opportunities, reducing technical debt, and improving platform scalability, security, and maintainability.
• Introduce the right level of rigor without adding unnecessary process, helping teams make clearer decisions and execute with greater confidence.
• Bring others along by communicating tradeoffs clearly, inviting diverse perspectives, building alignment, and turning good ideas into shared decisions and action.
• Raise the bar for engineering quality through thoughtful code reviews, design reviews, technical collaboration, and direct, constructive feedback.
• Mentor and develop teammates, helping them become stronger engineers and more effective owners of their work.
• Take ownership beyond implementation by proactively identifying opportunities, influencing the roadmap, driving improvements through completion, and remaining accountable for outcomes.

Requirements

• 9+ years of professional software engineering experience building production applications using technologies such as Python, React, and TypeScript.
• Strong technical fundamentals across distributed systems, APIs, cloud infrastructure, and modern software architecture.
• Experience building and operating cloud-native applications using AWS and technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub, and CI/CD pipelines.
• A demonstrated history of owning complex, cross-functional projects and driving them from idea to production with a bias for action.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts and influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguous environments, making thoughtful tradeoffs, and independently driving work forward.
• A collaborative mindset with a passion for mentoring others, continuously improving engineering practices, and building products that deliver measurable customer and business impact.

Skills

Required

• Python
• React
• TypeScript
• AWS
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• GitHub
• CI/CD pipelines
• Distributed systems
• APIs
• Cloud infrastructure
• Modern software architecture

Benefits

• At CLEAR, we help YOU move forward - because when you’re at your best, we’re at our best. You’ll work with talented team members motivated by our mission of making experiences safer and easier. Our offices are bright and energetic with an open concept and plenty of conference rooms and casual co-working spaces. We also offer catered lunches every day and have fully stocked kitchens. Outside of the office, we invest in your well-being and learning & development with stipends and reimbursement programs.
• We offer holistic total rewards, including comprehensive healthcare plans, family-building benefits (fertility and adoption/surrogacy support), flexible time off, annual wellness stipend, free OneMedical memberships for you and your dependents, a CLEAR Plus membership, and a 401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
• The total compensation range for this role is $325,000- $500,000, depending on levels of skills and experience.
• This range represents the combined base salary, annual bonus incentive, and new hire equity package (in Restricted Stock Units) for this position at CLEAR. Additionally, this role will be eligible for refresh equity grants as part of our ongoing compensation program. Actual compensation will vary based on factors including, but not limited to, location, education, skills, experience, and performance. All stock based compensation will be subject to the terms and conditions of applicable agreements.