From Stripe Leadership to Building Rillet Engineering in NYC
At Rillet, engineers don’t just write code — they build the foundation for what’s next. Michael Lapadula, our New York–based engineering manager, brings a hacker mindset to crafting scalable systems that grow in step with our customers.
After leading teams through high-stakes moments at Stripe, and exploring the cutting edge of AI at South Park Commons, Michael joined Rillet to help scale our platform for the next stage of growth. We sat down with him to talk about his journey, how Rillet engineers collaborate, and why he describes the company as a rocket ship.
What do you do at Rillet?
I’m the engineering manager on the core accounting team, scaling our general ledger to support larger and more complex customers — think multiple entities and cross-entity transactions. It’s all about building systems that can grow gracefully with our customers.
You had an impressive career at Stripe. What are you most proud of during that tenure?
I’m really proud of how my team handled the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in 2023. It was a pretty intense moment for anyone in fintech, but everyone pulled together to keep systems stable and resilient — and to make sure our customers were taken care of. In the end, I think Stripe weathered the storm really well.
Maybe even more rewarding, though, is seeing people grow. Helping engineers go from new grads to taking on bigger scope is incredibly fulfilling. For me, the key as a manager is building the kind of org where meaningful work gets recognized and people can really thrive.
Between Stripe and Rillet, you spent time at South Park Commons. Tell us about that.
South Park Commons is a kind of “pre-incubator,” a place for builders and researchers to explore ideas. When I left Stripe, I dove into AI: building prototypes, experimenting with coding agents, and learning how to apply them. After six months, I realized I wanted to bring those learnings into the real world, and that’s what drew me to Rillet.
One of the things I love about a smaller company like Rillet is that you can stay hands-on while still shaping the technical direction. I’ve worked at both big and small companies, and I’ve found my sweet spot is somewhere in between — where I can both build and guide.
Describe the engineering culture.
Super fast-paced, but very deliberate. We move quickly, but we’re thoughtful about how we build systems, using consistent patterns and setting ourselves up for the road ahead. That makes it easy for new people to ramp up and contribute right away.
The company is also super collaborative. We pair constantly. It’s not like, “Let’s schedule a meeting next week.” It’s, “Let’s pair right now and solve this.” That immediacy helps us unblock and make decisions quickly.
What kind of person thrives at Rillet?
Someone with a hacker mindset — someone who just wants to build stuff quickly. There's such great builder energy here. People operate super quickly, share context quickly, and it’s exciting just being able to ship things for our users.
Rillet in one word (or phrase). Go.
Rocket ship. Yeah, I think it’s the best way to describe it. The speed, the growth, the journey we’re on — it’s all moving so fast. You can really see it in what we’re building, the customers we’re landing, and how the company’s evolving. It just feels like we’re on this incredible ride forward.
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