You might know SoFi as the company that shipped a month’s worth of avocado toast to anyone who took out a loan in the month of July 2017. But SoFi, the financial technology services company that has made it a mission to help members “get their money right,” has given its more than half a million members the tools to help them borrow, save, spend, invest, and protect their money.
Find out more about the financial technology services company, including the CEO’s advice on getting hired and an inside look at the company culture.
SoFi rundown
Size: SoFi has over 1,500 employees
Industry: Financial Services
Locations: The company’s headquarters are in San Francisco, California, but it has 12 other locations around the country.
Founded: 2011
CEO: Anthony Noto
Mission: SoFi is on a mission to help its members “get their money right.”
How much do SoFi employees make?
The average salary for a SoFi employee is $133,357 per year. Ladders estimates are based on our calculations.
SoFi is currently hiring for a Senior Engineer in Quality Assurance and a Senior Engineer for Front End to work in the company’s Salt Lake City, Utah office. The headquarters in San Francisco is looking for a Software Engineering Manager and a Security Operations Manager to join the team. View Ladders’ SoFi Jobs page for a full list of open roles and information on how to apply.
SoFi company culture
“With gratitude to the many people that built SoFi through 2017, it’s very clear that we are a very different company today…in many ways, we are a company that is really less than 2 years old,” CEO Anthony Noto said. “The initial success of the company gave us the license to start again, but on a clearer mission and in a new direction, leveraging the heritage and roots of an incredibly innovative and immensely valuable product, in student loan refinancing.”
According to Noto, the “new” company culture is still in the process of forming
“It is critically important to me and all leadership at SoFi that we aim to achieve our goal: to have the best culture in the world,” Noto said.
Having the best culture in the world is dependent on leadership alignment and accountability, not capital and technology or even a unique IP or brand, according to Noto.
“Our core values form the foundation of how we must work in order to accomplish our goal,” Noto said.
Live from NYC, here’s what our #GetThatRaise member experience looked like. #WhyISoFi pic.twitter.com/aKyLux2jdu
— SoFi (@SoFi) October 26, 2019
Company values
These are the company’s 11 core values, according to its website:
- Put our members’ interest first. If we take care of our members’ interests it will best serve our interests.
- Run after problems. We must build a culture of people who run after problems in order to ensure we execute with excellence and “things” do not fall through the cracks.
- Embrace diversity. Everyone should feel welcome, included, and able to contribute. Diversity is a differentiator and our team should reflect society. We should continue to encourage and celebrate diversity.
- Get to the truth and make principle-based decisions. We can only make the best decisions if we have the right data, all of the perspectives, and if we align on the guiding principles.
- Make your footprint bigger than your foot. Selfless acts are critical to elevating beyond the impact of our collective individual efforts.
- Do the right thing. If you’re not sure, do the harder thing. Our business is built on trust and integrity, which requires both adhering to the letter of the law and regulations and doing the right thing for the company and our members.
- Set ambitious goals, be gritty, be accountable. We must hold ourselves and others accountable for delivering our business objectives, for our culture, and for our members.
- Take care of other people and help them grow. Our people are our greatest differentiator. If we take care of our people, they will take care of our members.
- Iterate, learn, innovate. We are all responsible for innovation and we must embrace data-driven decisions.
- Be SoFi missionaries. Our products, our services, our brand, and our business must be durable over the long term to achieve our mission–be a missionary.
- …and don’t forget to smile. Our ambition is contagious: it makes us smile to see people inside and outside of SoFi succeed.
Interview advice from SoFi CEO Anthony Noto
Noto realizes that not everyone is interested in consumer finance, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be incredibly passionate about a career at SoFi.
“Join SoFi if you want to be part of a mission-driven company that can impact people’s lives in unexpected and unimaginable ways,” Noto said. “The passion for consumer finance will come. It has for me in expected and unimaginable ways.”
“It’s a special feeling that still gives me chills when one of our members tells us their story and thanks us. It’s the most rewarding thing I have done in my professional career,” he added.
When it comes to interviewing, Noto said that candidates should consider the kind of impact they want to have on the business.
“Every employee affects the business, so think about how the role contributes to the overall success of SoFi,” Noto said.
When interviewing a candidate, Noto looks for three abilities. The executive looks for someone who can:
- Be a culture carrier and a SoFi missionary
- Make their footprint bigger than their foot, run after problems, get to the truth and make principle and data-driven decisions
- Be gritty and accountable, take care of other people, will always do the right thing
Employee benefits
- Health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance
- Flexible spending account (FSA)
- Health savings account (HSA)
- Supplemental life insurance
- Accidental death & dismemberment insurance
- Performance bonus
- 401K plan
- Stock options
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Military leave
- Family medical leave
- Work from home
- Vacation & paid time off
- Paid holidays
- Sick days
- Bereavement leave
Employee perks
- Employee discount
- Employee assistance program
- Commuter checks & assistance
- Company social events
- Free lunch or snacks
- Gym membership
- Travel concierge
- Professional development
- Tuition assistance
Employee reviews 2019
Reviews on Glassdoor range from two-star reviews titled “unorganized chaos” to five-star reviews titled “joining SoFi was like hitting the career lottery.”
“SoFi has excellent benefits, and is an interesting and fun environment in which to work,” one reviewer wrote. “The company is growing fast and that comes with growing pains and the occasional misstep, but that is to be expected. Employees are expected to iterate, learn and innovate quickly. All things considered, it is the best company I have worked for, that over a 30-year career across many industries.”
Funding and acquisitions
SoFi has raised a total of $2.5 billion over 12 funding rounds. The latest round, a private equity round, was announced on May 29, 2019. The company acquired Zenbanx on Feb. 1, 2017 for $100 million.
Products
SoFi has four categories of products: Borrow, Invest, Spend, and Protect.
Borrow:
- Student Loan Refinancing: Medical Resident Refinancing, Parent PLUS Refinancing
- Personal Loans: Home Improvement Loan, Credit Card Consolidation
- Private Student Loans: Undergraduate Student Loans, Graduate Student Loans, Parent Student Loans
- Home Loans: Mortgage, Mortgage Refinancing, Jumbo Mortgage
Invest:
- SoFi Invest
- Crypto
- Stock Bits
- Active Investing
- Automated Investing
- ETFs
Spend:
Protect:
- SoFi Protect
- Renters Insurance
- Homeowners Insurance
- Auto Insurance
- Life Insurance
Member benefits
Members not only receive loans from SoFi, but benefits as well, such as personalized financial planning advice and exclusive deals from the company’s partners. The member experiences benefit brings the community together for exclusive events that help build your future, community, and career.
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