People at Plaid: Stories from the Team Behind the Mission

At Plaid, our people are at the heart of everything we do—and they’re anything but ordinary. From startup whisperers and fraud-fighting engineers to musicians, mentors, and even pro athletes, our team brings their full selves to work every day. 

In this blog post, we’re spotlighting a few incredible Plaids who are helping build the future of fintech while staying grounded in purpose, creativity, and community. Get to know Jake, Will, and Daniel—and discover what drives them, what surprises them, and what snacks keep them going.

Jake Thorne, New Business Representative, GTM (SF) 

How does your role contribute to Plaid's mission?

As an SDR working with startups, I have the privilege of being the first point of contact—the first impression of Plaid. That initial interaction is crucial because it sets the tone for how founders and teams perceive our company. I get to speak with some of the world’s most promising startups, learning about their businesses and uncovering how Plaid can help them scale. In many ways, my role is about opening doors—not just to our products but to the possibilities they unlock for these companies as they build the future of fintech.

What’s something about you that most people at Plaid wouldn’t know?

Most people at Plaid might not know that I’m a professional ultimate frisbee player in the UFA. Competing at the highest level and chasing a championship is an incredible experience. Still, more than anything, it’s a privilege to be part of a team that demands excellence, resilience, and trust. There are so many parallels between sports and sales—communication, adaptability, and the ability to push through challenges—and I love bringing that same team-first mentality into my work at Plaid.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?

The system is the solution. You’re only as strong as the systems you put in place. Talent and hard work will take you far, but real success comes from building repeatable, efficient processes that compound over time. Whether it’s structuring outreach, managing priorities, or refining workflows, strong systems create consistency, unlock scalability, and help you reach your full potential. If you want to raise your ceiling, start by strengthening your foundation.

Rapid Fire Q’s (one-word answers)

Best Plaid Memory?

RKO (Revenue Kick Off) – our annual sales kickoff with the entire sales team

Go-to Office Snack?

Gummy bears

What was your Halloween costume? 

Plumber 

The New Business Representative team on Halloween in the San Francisco office.

Will Kiefer, Engineer, Engineering (Remote) 

What led you to pursue a career in engineering?

My first computer experience was with a Macintosh 128k. I spent hours with MacPaint and played the text-based Transylvania before I could even spell (my dad helped by writing down words to type on a sheet of paper). For most of my early life, computing was always just there — constantly improving and something to be explored, like legos or the woods behind my house. I loved computers but never did any real programming – I just hacked enough together to play Marathon LAN over dial-up with a friend. 

I started college as a Music major but quickly found that I was learning and growing so much more with each of my Computer Science classes. I switched to the CS department and got hooked on engineering via graphics classes (my college thesis is on the cover of SIGGRAPH 2004!). It seems obvious in hindsight that I would end up as a software engineer, but I'm very happy I found my career through genuine interest and the love of learning rather than from some sort of outside pressure.

How do you think your role contributes to Plaid's mission?

I'm currently working on some very exciting advancements in our anti-fraud offerings. Specifically, I'm the technical lead for a project that will significantly increase the scale at which Plaid can help the whole industry. This work is critical to the Plaid mission because people naturally have a wide variety of technical literacy, and there are so many fraud schemes out there — you can't provide modern financial access to everyone without guaranteeing safety and security first. 

What’s something about you that most people at Plaid wouldn’t know?

Based on my general aura of deep exhaustion, most people know that I have four kids; based on my Zoom background, they know that I live in the mountains, and based on my stand-up updates, they know that I have problems with bears eating my chickens. However, most of my coworkers don't know I play guitar in four different local bands. Despite the rehearsal scheduling nightmares, it's my favorite social thing to do. There is something truly magical about being fully focused in the present moment, building something together, and connecting with others. I guess it's my form of meditation. It gives me energy and lets me briefly detach from the stressors of daily life.

Do you have a favorite productivity hack or tool you can’t live without?

Time and attention are the most valuable resources we have. It can be challenging when there are infinite things to do — bugs, features, Slack channels, email, Jira threads, planning, code reviews, etc. The brain doesn't want to do hard things, and usually, the impactful work is hard. So there's always this natural temptation to keep doing lots of easy things and feel productive. But then you look back, you find you're mostly treading water instead of making tangible progress on what matters most. 

To preserve time for the truly impactful things, I start each week with a sticky note listing the top three things I need to do. I don't consider my work week finished unless I get those three things done. Sometimes, I do this per day as well if I have a particularly busy week. So many benefits to this approach: (1) it avoids decision fatigue, constantly deciding what to work on next (2) it permits me to let the less important things slide and sets the expectation I can't do it all (3) I feel so much better going into the weekend with meaningful accomplishment (4) important work actually gets done.

Rapid Fire Q’s (one-word answers)

Best Plaid Memory?

2019 Florida Offsite

Favorite Plaiderdays project?

💪Flexible Link!

Most-used Plaid Swag?

Backpack

Daniel Leslie, Engineer, Engineering (Remote) 

What led you to pursue a career in engineering?

I started as a computer science major in college, then took a detour to pursue a career in health sciences and physiology. After becoming an engineering recruiter a few years later, I fell in love with coding again and realized I wanted to end up back where I had started!

How do you balance creativity and analytical thinking in your role?

Being on the old Cognito (now Identity Verification and Fraud) team at Plaid, we have a bit more of a start-up-style environment, being a recent-ish acquisition. We like to move and deliver very quickly, and with that can come trade-offs. It’s these trade-offs when solving complex problems while still trying to deliver things to market as quickly as possible where thinking outside the box comes into play.

Who has been a mentor or inspiration in your career journey, and why?

Plaid has provided me with one of the best mentors I've had throughout my career. Malcolm, a teammate and manager, helped me grow immensely as an engineer. He also helped me grow into a leader both in formatting my own way of driving a team's success and as a manager myself.  Now, back in an IC role, the skills I learned through my mentors still help me accelerate the team's success and fill in product and process gaps many engineers struggle with.

How do you see Plaid’s role in shaping the future of financial technology?

Plaid is evolving from a “simple” financial data plumbing company to a full-fledged financial powerhouse, expanding into identity verification, fraud risk, and payments. Plaid not only connects users to their financial data but is increasingly using its vast user network to facilitate payments, detect fraud, and prevent identity theft. This shift positions Plaid at the center of the financial ecosystem, enabling Plaid to solve core business problems and ultimately enable customers to interact quickly and safely with financial instruments.

Rapid Fire Q’s (one-word (ish) answers)

Best Plaid Memory?

Salt Lake City Onsite

Most useful Plaid Slack channel?

(I don't know about useful, but I always read them) #interesting-articles

Since you work remotely, what’s your favorite piece of home office equipment?

Hot take: I don't use external equipment, and I've learned to be sufficient with just my MacBook for the last 5 years. The mobility is amazing.