Top 10 New York Fintechs: Who has the best culture and pay?
If a career in fintech is your current main goal… congratulations on your bravery. It’s far from the golden goose it was in yesteryear, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find a good job.
This is especially the case in New York, where pay transparency laws are forcing companies to show their hands, meaning it's easier than ever to see which fintech companies are worth applying to.
Here are 10 New York fintechs hiring right now that you need to know about.
Uniswap
Moving into crypto is a dangerous game as today's Coinbase layoffs make clear. More regulation seems inevitable.
That may make moving into a decentralization-focused firm like Uniswap a gamble. The company built the uniswap protocol for Ethereum and has been doing well for funds, raising $165m in October. This might be why it's now hiring: Uniswap has 8 engineering positions open alongside a PhD fellowship where all 8 roles can earn a base salary of $220k. The highest salary on offer is for its NFT engineering manager, at a cool $245k.
Hiro
More of a Web3 fan? Hiro might be more your speed. Ironically named after the protagonist of sci-fi classic Snow Crash, the firm hopes to weather the snowy crashes of the crypto winter by providing tools to help developers build apps on Crypto.
Salary-wise, Hiro seems to pay less than Uniswap. It's looking for an enginering manager on an upper salary limit of $235k, but all other available engineering positions at firm firm pay a maximum of $165k in salary.
Where Hiro can compete, however, is its culture and benefits. All its engineers get a $500 per month co-working space reimbursement. Yearly, they receive a $1,200 learning and development budget alongside a $1,000 dollar donation to a charity of their choice; the company even offers, “Your choice of technical setup and equipment.”
Not enough for you? Though reviews are minimal, Hiro’s glassdoor rating sits at a perfect five stars, 100% recommendation and 100% CEO approval. The most recent review describes it as the “best employer I’ve had thus far.”
Templum Markets
Not a software developer but still want to get involved in the fintech space? For crypto advocates especially, Templum Markets could be an attractive destination. The blockchain based trading fintech is recruiting a number of junior roles in brokering and deals.
The company has been able to attract some big names such as its CTO Brian Nadzan who spent 13 years as a managing director at Bloomberg.
That being said, the pay is far from spectacular in finance. A VP for investment trading operations can earn up to $150k. Associates earn between $65k and $100k.
It's not just about money, though, and a move to Templum may diversify your skillset and get your name out there. Raymond Junkins for example left Goldman Sachs for Templum and after 7 months was picked up by asset management firm Blackrock where he’s currently a director.
Glassdoor reviews for the company sit at 4.1 stars from five. Reviews in December praise being “given the space to do good work” alongside “intelligent peers that support and encourage growth.
Landis
This real estate fintech isn’t one that’s hiring big numbers right now, but certainly looks like a great place to work.
Landis not only featured as one of Built In’s top 50 small companies to work for in NY, but has accrued a phenomenal 4.9 rating on Glassdoor with just one review below four stars.
Employees really care about the ethos of making the transition to homeownership more seamless. “Mission driven” employees in Glassdoor reviews applaud the “extremely transparent” leadership team and “chance to make a direct impact in clients lives.”
Landis have just 3 open positions currently, with the one technology role earning between $80k and 150k. Altruistic finance professionals ought to keep one eye on their careers page just in case that changes.
Nova Credit
Another fintech on Built In’s list, credit bureau Nova hasn’t got quite the universal acclaim Lanids has, but makes up for that with its multiple lucrative positions available right now.
As with Landis, Nova’s mission is its selling point, this time focusing on making financial services more accessible for immigrants. Glassdoor reviews sit at 4.5 stars and praise the “unique culture” behind its “noble and important mission.”
Not all reviews are glowing however, their most recent ones criticise a “broken business model,” claiming the company has only onboarded nine countries in six years.
Nova has nine open positions, four of which are engineering roles. Engineers with over 10 years of experience can earn up to $234k a year while one with five or more can earn $208k. It is also recruiting for a director of data science with an upper salary limit of $229k.
Alloy
An interesting place to work in the machine learning and data science spaces is Alloy. The fintech provides identity verification and fraud detection to banks and earned a spot on American Banker’s list for best places to work in fintech in 2022.
The online consensus echoes that of the paper, with reviews on Glassdoor averaging 4.5 while reviews on Blind come in a little lower at 4.3.
Positive reviews praised the “eclectic and fun spiritied” culture, describing the work as “challenging in a good way. A common thread amongst Blind reviews however was the prominence of tech debt. Many on Blind praised the work life balance but some acknowledged the presence of crunch periods.
Alloy are recruiting a number of senior engineering roles. A data scientist can earn a salary of up to $179k while an automation engineer can earn up to $184k. An engineering manager meanwhile will earn a minimum salary of $196k.
Ethic
Another fintech from American Banker’s top list, this fintech is focused on providing revolutionising capital markets with an eye on sustainability, in case the name wasn’t enough of a giveaway. Among its co-founders are Deutsche Bank alumni Johnny Mair and Doug Scott. The latter is a quant who’s also served at JPMorgan.
Glassdoor reviews sit at 4.2 stars with the most recent review praising the “kindest and most caring people” that work there. It’s not just people in the office however, as the firm allows pets in the office, which they claim decreases stress and encourages collaboration.
Working for Ethic, a sustainability associate engineering role will pay you $145k. For traditional finance quants with minimal software experience, a portfolio manager position pays a lower $125k.
Stripe
The only company on this list not to have its HQ in New York, payments provider Stripe is on this list for one reason: Money, loads of money.
For those that place their total compensation above all else, Stripe is as good as it gets in the fintech space. The levels.fyi end of year compensation report had them beating out every other fintech in almost every possible category.
Stripe pays well and isn't a bad place to work. The fintech sits at a respectable 3.6 stars on Blind. Reviews praise the compensation (obviously) and good benefits such as licensed therapist sessions and a health and wellness grant.
Due to the size of the company, the culture is much harder to pin down. Reviews from December praise “excellent” and “smart” people but a review this January says his “awful backstabbing coworkers” are the worst he’s experienced.
Stripe currently has 22 positions available at its New York office. Amongst those are two engineering manager positions which could earn you a total compensation of 697k according to the Levels report.
Clear Street
If you’re a technologist in need of a challenge or variety, Clear Street might be the opportunity you’re after. The company provides capital markets infrastructure and services and is filled to the brim with very experienced finance professionals.
Clearstreet's derivatives CEO was an MD at Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo. Its chief risk officer served at UBS, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Its COO also served as COO of block trading firm Jones Trading for 10 years. Clear Street is the fintech for those that need their co-workers to know their s***.
Reviews are sitting pretty on glassdoor at 4.6 stars. Positive ones praise the modern tech stack and variety of opportunities to work while a recent negative one warns of “hire and fire” culture following a change in direction for the company.
Clear Street is hiring 11 engineering roles currently and the pay for each is quite generous. A senior full stack engineer can earn a $240k annual salary while a quant engineer can earn $250k.
Ramp
Ramp is a finance automation platform with a particular focus on business expenses. It’s taking an active approach to hiring to begin the year and those that are already there seem to love it.
Reviews are very good on glassdoor with an average 4.6 stars but even better on Blind, where it scores 4.7. One Blind review describes it as “the best place I’ve ever worked” with reviews across both sites heaping praise on the “extremely talented and smart” team.
However, reviews aren’t perfect. One describes the company as a “gold mine but a bro fest.” There have been some complaints over leadership direction as well.
Ramp has multiple open roles. They include engineering positions across a range of seniorities. A staff engineer for cloud infrastructure can earn up to $250k while a new graduate can earn $150k.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: alex.mcmurray@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance.
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