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Root, Inc.RI

Senior Software Engineer

Root Insurance is a technology-driven insurance carrier that uses smartphone telematics and data science to offer personalized car insurance rates based on actual driving behavior.

Root, Inc.

Employee count: 1001-5000

Salary: 134k-155k USD

United States only

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Root is on a mission to unbreak insurance by creating experiences people love at prices they can’t believe. We believe that investing in world-class technology will facilitate a new class of insurance products, driving a massive positive impact on the hundreds of millions of drivers who carry auto insurance in the US. Root’s Engineering team is committed to building a flexible platform on which our product designers and quantitative scientists can quickly test ideas, deploy them into production, and iterate, with the ultimate objective of a delightful customer experience coupled with effective risk management.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our Partner Activation Engineering team. In this role, you’ll design, build, and operate systems that enable seamless onboarding, integration, and activation of strategic partners. You’ll work closely with product, partnerships, and other engineering teams to deliver reliable, scalable solutions that directly impact company growth.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you’ll take ownership of complex features and services, contribute to architectural discussions, and help raise the technical bar through strong engineering practices and mentorship.

Salary Range: $133,784-$155,000 (Bonus and LTI Eligible)

Root is a “work where it works best” company. This means we will support you working in whatever location that works best for you across the US.

How You Will Make an Impact

  • Design, build, and maintain core services, APIs, and workflows
  • Own features end-to-end, from technical design through production support
  • Collaborate with Product, Partnerships, and Platform teams to translate business needs into well-architected technical solutions
  • Contribute to system design discussions and help evolve service architecture over time
  • Write high-quality, well-tested code and participate in thoughtful code reviews
  • Help identify and reduce technical debt while balancing delivery and maintainability
  • Mentor and support other engineers through pairing, code reviews, and knowledge sharing
  • Participate in on-call rotations and contribute to operational excellence

What You Will Need to Succeed

  • 4–7 years of professional software engineering experience working on production systems
  • Strong experience building backend services and APIs in Ruby on Rails
  • Experience working with distributed systems and cloud infrastructure
  • Comfort owning features and services with minimal oversight
  • Solid understanding of data modeling, performance, and system reliability
  • Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across disciplines
  • A pragmatic, product-minded approach to engineering

Nice to Have

  • Experience building partner-facing platforms or external integrations
  • Familiarity with event-driven architectures and asynchronous processing
  • Experience working in regulated or high-availability environments
  • Prior experience mentoring junior engineers
  • Understanding of API schemas, particularly OpenAPI/Swagger

Tech Stack

  • Backend: Ruby on Rails monorepo
  • APIs & Integrations: RESTful APIs, webhook-based integrations, Kafka-based event streaming
  • Cloud & Infrastructure: Docker, Terraform, AWS (ECS/EKS, EC2, RDS, S3, Redshift), Buildkite
  • Observability: Datadog and Sentry for logging, metrics, and alerting
  • Security: OAuth2, JWT-based authentication, role-based access control

As part of Root's interview process, we kindly ask that all candidates be on camera for virtual interviews. This helps us create a more personal and engaging experience for both you and our interviewers. Being on camera is a standard requirement for our process and part of how we assess fit and communication style, so we do require it to move forward with any applicant's candidacy. If you have any concerns, feel free to let us know once you are contacted. We’re happy to talk it through.

Please see our Privacy Notice available HERE for more information on how we process your personal data.

Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is the policy of Root to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or candidate with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship for Root. The policy regarding requests for reasonable accommodation applies to all aspects of the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact recruiting@joinroot.com

About the job

Apply before

Posted on

Job type

Full Time

Experience level

Senior

Salary

Salary: 134k-155k USD

Location requirements

Hiring timezones

United States +/- 0 hours

About Root, Inc.

Learn more about Root, Inc. and their company culture.

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Root Insurance began with a simple yet revolutionary idea: car insurance rates should be based on how you actually drive, not who you are. Founded in 2015 by Alex Timm and Dan Manges in Columbus, Ohio, the company set out to disrupt an archaic industry that had long relied on demographic proxies like credit scores and occupation to price risk. Timm, an actuary by trade, and Manges, a software engineer, envisioned a future where technology could restore fairness to insurance. They built a mobile-first carrier from the ground up, leveraging the power of smartphone sensors to measure driving behavior directly.

What started as a bold experiment has grown into a publicly traded insurtech leader. Root's unique 'test drive' model requires potential customers to download the app and drive for a few weeks. During this period, the app analyzes telematics data—braking, turning, and distracted driving—to determine a personalized rate. This data-driven approach allows Root to offer significant savings to good drivers while avoiding the bad risks that traditional carriers might unknowingly accept. Over the years, the company has collected billions of miles of driving data, refining its machine learning models to price risk with unprecedented accuracy.

Today, Root has expanded beyond just direct-to-consumer auto insurance. The company has forged strategic partnerships to embed its insurance products into other platforms, such as Carvana, creating a seamless experience for car buyers. Despite its rapid growth and IPO in 2020, Root remains committed to its founding mission: to unbreak the insurance industry through technology, fairness, and simplicity. The company continues to innovate, using its massive dataset to not only price insurance better but to incentivize safer roads for everyone.

Employee benefits

Learn about the employee benefits and perks provided at Root, Inc..

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Home Office Equipment

Equipment provided for the perfect work setup.

Life Insurance

Company-covered life insurance for all employees.

Volunteer Opportunities

Opportunities to volunteer in the local community.

Unlimited PTO

Unlimited vacation policy to help employees recharge.

View Root, Inc.'s employee benefits
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Root, Inc.

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