Founded in 2012 and recently named one of the nation’s fastest-growing private businesses by Inc. Magazine, RedShelf is a Chicago-based EdTech company helping to make education both more affordable and more effective through the use of digital instructional resources. Partnering with more than 400 publishers and 1,900 campuses nationwide, we provide leading-edge digital course materials and an end-to-end Content Delivery System for effortlessly distributing those materials.

Job Summary:

The Director of Engineering is responsible for leading a team (or multiple teams) of developers to success by planning and implementing strategies that execute product vision and business scalability.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Attract, retain, and cultivate a high-performing team of engineers
• Reinforce importance of collaboration and creating a strong inclusive culture between departments and other teams
• Guide their teams’ technical decisions to make their teams more effective; ensuring maintainability and well-thought-out architecture
• Works with their Lead engineers to ensure we are following best practices, coding standards, and are having timely/effective code reviews
• Being hands on (when necessary) and on top of new languages, frameworks, and methodologies enough to make solid recommendations on where we need to be
• Work in close collaboration with the Product team to create a product roadmap that minimizes development effort without sacrificing product vision
• Partner with the Scrum Master to ensure our team is efficient and always focusing on Quantity and Quality of what’s being delivered in each sprint
• Be an advocate for paying down technical debt and use development approaches that minimize the growth of new technical debt
• Ensure that customer-facing UX is accessible to all supported devices and user accessibility needs (WCAG 2.0, Section 508, ADA, etc)
• Owns technical Epics and Stories
• Stays involved in the day-to-day issues/operations and helps make sure everyone in their team(s) communicates and collaborates effectively

Requirements:

• 10+ years of software development experience, with an advanced skill set in some of the following: Python, Django, EmberJS, React, Docker, BDD, AWS, NoSQL, CDNs, Caching, PostgreSQL
• 5+ years of experience managing / leading teams and is capable of having tough conversations
  • Must be a leader, not a boss
  • Experience hiring, mentoring, handling personnel issues, etc
• 5+ years of experience maintaining the front-end and back-end of complex, product-focused codebases
• You should have experience delivering complex projects with demanding deadlines
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Ability to translate technical information to the non-technical, especially upward
• Strong analytical, problem solving and diagnostic skills
• Must have a good sense of urgency and feeling of ownership over what you are assigned to
• Familiarity with the Agile Scrum software development methodology

Other Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Advanced skills in architecture design
• Experience building ADA-compliant or WCAG 2.0-compliant interfaces
• Knowledge and appreciation of the advances in higher educational software, course materials, and digital publishing is a plus
• Background and/or experience in educational technology and/or publishing
• Comfort and/or experience in a startup environment

Why RedShelf?

RedShelf prides itself on maintaining an informal but fast-moving, hard-working, entrepreneurial culture. Our team members are smart, innovative, and passionate about improving education through digital technology.

We offer the best of both worlds: the energy and opportunity of a rapidly-growing organization, coupled with the stability of an extensive client base, strong financial backing, and proven track record of success. In addition to a forward-thinking environment with ample opportunity for professional and personal growth, our team members enjoy competitive compensation and benefit packages.

RedShelf is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, people of color, individuals with a disability, veterans, and others who would enrich the diversity of RedShelf are encouraged to apply.