Senior Full Stack Engineer
We here at Jellyvision are the proud parents of ALEX®, an interactive employee communications platform that happens to share some DNA (and a sense of humor) with the smash-hit trivia video game YOU DON’T KNOW ®, created by Jellyvision's founder. ALEX makes navigating tricky decisions—like choosing and using employee benefits or improving your financial wellness—easier, faster, and more helpful, not to mention entertaining. The success of the ALEX platform has exceeded our wildest dreams, (except for the part right before we woke up where our mom was riding a giraffe), which is why we need talented folks like you to help us help ALEX take over the world…er…continue to grow and succeed.
SO WHAT’S THIS JOB ABOUT?
You’ll be a software engineer on our Strategic Projects team. This team is an internal incubator, prototyping new projects for Jellyvision, and then turning them into products if they’re successful. The things you’ll create on this team will become the next big Jellyvision thing.
We’re looking for someone who can turn their hand to both server-side and browser-side code and understand the ins and outs of each – a person who is looking to build whatever we need to get that first version of the product out the door. Whether you got your start with a Computer Science degree, attending a boot camp, or by writing code on the side, you know what it is to write code and you love doing it.
WHAT KIND OF TECHNICAL SKILLS SHOULD I HAVE? YOU KNOW, LANGUAGES AND SUCH...
Our client-side code runs on (surprise!) JavaScript, and our server-side code uses Ruby. You'll need to have experience with one or both of these languages.
- Javascript: We're using React and Redux most of the time, but we have a few other frameworks floating around, so if you're handy with Angular or Backbone that's fine too. What's important is that you can apply your knowledge toward writing JavaScript-based web applications.
- Ruby: We've worked with both Rails & Grape, so we're not beholden to any particular framework. If you don't have a Ruby background but you do know PHP, Perl, Python, or Node and you've got solid fundamentals, we're pretty confident you can learn Ruby once you get here.
- HTML & CSS: Anyone who's done some web development will have written HTML and CSS, so bonus points if you're familiar with a templating language like Mustache or Dust or a CSS preprocessor like Less or Sass.
- Testing: You should be the kind of person who tests their code as a part of writing it, whether that's TDD-style or writing them after the fact. You should know your way around a testing suite or two.
- Source Control: Experience developing software with Git or some other kind of source control will benefit you greatly. If you've been using SVN or Mercurial and you're ready for something new, we're open to that. Your teammates will be happy to show you the ropes.
WHAT ABOUT NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS?
Jellyvision isn’t just engineers! You’ll be working closely with other teams: designers, product owners, writers, producers – you get the idea. That means you’ll find yourself talking about technical concepts with smart people who don’t have engineering backgrounds, and that you’ll need to be able to listen when they teach you about their disciplines too
"SENIOR" CAN MEAN DIFFERENT THINGS... WHAT DOES SENIOR MEAN TO JELLYVISION?
- If you’re the seasoned engineer for us, you’ve got a few years under your belt, have worked on a few large projects, and lead a team through major efforts as part of those projects.
- You should have solid experience with the ecosystems of JavaScript and Ruby; modern JavaScript build pipeline, including task runners, transpilers, bundling, and so on. You’ve got examples of clean Ruby architecture and transparent data modeling, and can handle writing database queries in SQL, as well as NoSQL tools like CouchDB. Or you come from the front end and have a great UI/UX portfolio you can show off alongside your development work. Either way, you are fearless in the face of old code, and don’t balk at the occasional run-in with PHP or Flash.
- Does this sound like you? Is there anything else you think makes you stand out from the crowd? Tell us about it!
ANYTHING ELSE? Yes. We share a commitment to excellence and a desire to work in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere, so we only hire nice, bright, funny people who are willing to work hard. Our credo is a simple one: be helpful. And we think we can be most helpful if our workforce is as diverse in thought, perspective, and culture as the people who use our products. We are looking to add amazing folks to our team who will bring diversity across many lines, including race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, sex, and country of origin.
ARE THERE ANY PERKS? Yes, we love perks.
- Competitive pay, 401(k) with matching, stock options and benefits. We pay 100% of the cost of premiums for medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance for our employees (as long as you qualify for our tobacco-free discount; if you’re a tobacco user, your medical premiums will be higher than $0). We also cover a really nice chunk of the cost of premiums for spouse/dependent medical, dental and vision insurance.
- Casual dress and a flexible schedule. Come in a sweatshirt, jeans, whatever, like everyone else here.
- Creative work environment. We are lucky to work in a place that is full of intelligent, talented and innovative folks. Although most hours the place is deathly quiet (we're a focused bunch), this is punctuated with hilarious outbursts and general merriment, which makes a nice way to spend the day.
- Free food. Every week, we stock our kitchen with free healthy snack foods, and we have a catered lunch every other week to give people a reason to hang out and eat together.
- Easy transportation and lots of love for folks who bike to work. We’re really close to the North/Clybourn red line stop and the Halsted (#8) bus (right by the Apple Store and Mega Whole Foods too), and we have a transit FSA that allows you to dedicate pre-tax dollars to public transportation expenses. A number of our employees like to bike to work, so we also have bike storage, showers and lockers in the office. And for those without their own bike in the city, we offer free divvy memberships – complete with Jellyvision bike helmets you can borrow from the office.
- Did we mention our yoga class? We bring a pro instructor right to the office. Fully subsidized by Jellyvision and fully optional, btw.
- Oh! And we have a massage chair. Not just any massage chair, my friend. It’s the HumanTouch HT 5320 WholeBody™ Massage Chair. Feeling a little stiff? Sit down. Relax. Feel better? Good. Okay, back to work.
AND HOW DO I APPLY?
We look forward to hearing about you and what you do. Make sure your application includes:
- A cover letter that highlights three reasons you think you’d be great for the gig, focusing on how your past experience has prepared you for this kind of position. Writing is key to all we do, and we weigh cover letters heavily. We love a cover letter that really shows us your personality (check out our company bios to see the wide range of personalities we’ve already got in house), but don’t stress if you’re not a comedian. You don’t have to be funny. Just be yourself. We’re mostly interested in learning who you are, what you love to do, and why you’d love to do it here with us.
- Your resume
You will receive an auto-reply confirming that we've received your application.
Please know that every single application we receive is read by a real live human being. However that kind of thoughtful review takes time, so it may take us a little while to get back to you (but we will, we promise). In the meantime, NO FOLLOW UP PHONE CALLS OR EMAILS, PLEASE. It’s not that we don’t love hearing from you. It’s just that time spent responding to follow ups could be spent…well…reading your application. Please rest assured that if you received a confirmation from Recruiting Robot, we’ve got you’re application, and will get back to you really soon. We knew you’d understand.
If you still have pressing questions in the meantime, please feel free to check out our handy-dandy FAQ page!
Thanks for your interest in Jellyvision!