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 by replacing yesterday’s pricey print publications with today’s more dynamic yet far less expensive digital content. Partnering with more than 400+ publishers and 640+ campuses nationwide, we offer leading-edge digital course materials and a seamless, end-to-end Content Delivery System for effectively distributing those materials.

 Job Summary:

The Director of Development 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. The role will require making tactical and strategic decisions that will ensure RedShelf's success in the Higher Education market while also getting your hands dirty by releasing code and collaborating closely with members of your development team.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Work in close collaboration with the Product Management team to create a product roadmap that minimizes development effort without sacrificing product vision
• Target a maintainable velocity to create a high-degree of confidence in committed timelines by the Development team
• Use Agile Scrum best practices to build a backlog of estimated stories
• Iterate on the Agile Scrum practice each sprint to ensure your team is always experimenting and improving their development and planning practices
• Be an advocate for paying down technical debt and use development approaches that minimize the growth of new technical debt
• Attract, retain and cultivate a high-performing team of developers by coaching, mentoring, and motivating them on the company vision
• Guide their teams in architectural decisions and process decisions to make their teams more effective; ensuring maintainability and well-thought-out architecture
• Communicate updates on sprint outcomes to the Product Management team and CTO
• Ensure that customer-facing UX is accessible to all supported devices and user accessibility needs (WCAG 2.0, Section 508, ADA, etc)
• When all other options are exhausted, communicate issues and delays to the Product Management team

Requirements:

• 10+ years of software development experience
• 5+ years of experience maintaining the front-end and back-end of complex, product-focused codebases
• 5+ years of experience leading teams that have run Agile and/or Scrum methodology
• Proven track record of building successful full-stack applications, products, or platforms
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills

Other Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Experience with browser-based JavaScript and front-end frameworks such as Ember are a plus
• 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
• Ideal candidate is self-sufficient and highly motivated, self-directed and possess high energy and a passion for RedShelf

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, including company stock options.

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.