Description

Position at The Jellyvision Lab

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 JACK®, 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?

We’re looking for a Lead Software Engineer to join our team at Jellyvision. You will be leading a small team of engineers in the software development effort for a new product. You’ll also be working closely with our Product team to help design the technical solutions needed to accomplish our business goals. We're a "right tool for the job" company, not an [insert language here] shop, so while software engineering experience is a must, expertise in a specific language is not. Just be ready to join our merry band of polyglots!

You've got solid software engineering fundamentals and know how to write well-designed, reliable, and maintainable code (and you love doing it). You care about code quality, identifying and solving problems, and making sure they stay solved by writing tests. Additionally, you can effectively mentor and teach other less experienced team members to do the same.

Ideally, you have done full stack development and understand how to build web applications with a modern frontend Javascript framework (any experience is great, but React and Redux would be a big plus!) and modern backend framework. Whether you've focused on the frontend, backend, or the whole shebang, we want to talk to you! We're looking for engineers of all stripes that are enthusiastic about learning new technologies and skills.

WHAT KIND OF TECHNICAL SKILLS SHOULD I HAVE? YOU KNOW, LANGUAGES AND SUCH…?

• • Languages: We'd rather bring in a strong problem solver than someone who knows a specific language. If you just want to know what sorts of languages you might work with if you join our team: Our backend systems are built on multiple languages including Ruby, Javascript and Python. Our frontend systems are built with Javascript.
  • Frameworks: While experience with specific frameworks isn’t required, it’s a big plus if you’ve worked with Koa, React, and Redux.
  • Collaboration: Giving and receiving constructive code review feedback should feel like home to you. Working with product managers, designers and other folks besides engineers is also a huge part of the role.
  • 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 framework or two.
  • Databases: You should have some experience with a relational database. ORMs are great, experience writing raw SQL is even better.
  • Source Control: Working without Source Control should be blasphemy to you. Experience developing software with Git, especially familiarity with git-flow, is helpful.
  • Docker: Our local environments use Docker. It's not necessary, but Docker skills are a plus!
  • DevOps: We use AWS heavily at Jellyvision, and though we have experts in that area, it's a bonus to have DevOps skills.

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.

ANYTHING ELSE? 

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.