Senior Software Engineer

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About The Opportunity

Interested in using your tech talents for social good? GreatSchools is seeking an experienced Senior Software Engineer to contribute to our vision of supporting all children — especially those who have been historically underserved by the education system — in receiving a stellar education. This is a fully remote position that can be based anywhere in the United States, requiring travel several times a year.  

Reporting to the Director, Software Engineering, this pivotal role will be primarily responsible for developing highly-complex solutions and projects from conception to fruition with minimal oversight.

Job Type

• Full-time employee
• Exempt

About GreatSchools

GreatSchools is the leading nonprofit providing high-quality information that supports parents pursuing a great education for their child, schools striving for excellence, and communities working to diminish inequities in education. We are the only national organization that collects and analyzes data from all 51 state departments of education and the federal government to provide analysis, insights, and school quality ratings for parents, partners, researchers, and policymakers. 

Over 45 million users visit GreatSchools’ award-winning website annually to learn about schools in their area, explore research insights, and access thousands of free, evidence-based parenting resources to support their child’s learning and well-being. We are a mission-driven team that believes all children — especially those who have been historically underserved by the education system — deserve an excellent education.

We are a small but mighty team that has fun collaborating together to advance GreatSchools’ mission and support a diverse group of stakeholders. 

Key Responsibilities

• Moves highly-complex projects from conception to fruition with minimal oversight
• Works closely with engineering management, systems administration, and product management to guide features from inception to release
• Writes and applies complex specs across the code base
• Continually monitors and improves the performance of code/queries
• Leads code reviews, engineering and architecture discussions
• Mentors/directs Software Engineers and Jr. Software Engineers on applications across code base, including testing best practices
• Provides technical guidance to software engineers and hosts periodic training sessions
• Collaborates with non-technical colleagues to define user interactions, functionality and system requirements
• Oversees the enhancement and maintenance of key existing applications
• Manages the technology roadmap
• Researches and proposes new/different technologies or tools applicable to GreatSchools
• Pair programming with all members of the team

About You

• You are inspired by GreatSchools' mission and goal of advancing equity and inclusion both within the organization and for the communities we serve 

• Enjoy working on a team of passionate engineers in a collaborative Agile scrum environment
• Are a proactive, team player with a positive work ethic 

Minimum Qualifications

• 5 or more years professional Ruby on Rails web programming experience including:
  • Solid understanding of JavaScript and experience with the React framework
  • Responsive design: HTML, CSS, Sass, etc.
  • Automated testing via RSpec
  • Release engineering with SCM and branching (e.g. Git) as well as build systems (e.g. Jenkins)
  • MySQL and ORM tools like ActiveRecord
    • Schema design
    • Optimization
  • Test-driven development and agile methodologies
• Strong experience in debugging, root cause identification, and detailed analytics.
• Experience in end-to-end optimization of software including system performance, profiling, efficiencies of code, etc.
• Demonstrated leadership in an engineering environment (ex: project or team lead)
• Continuous collaboration within a scrum team
• Ability to be self-managing and flexible while working in a remote environment

Required Skills

• Strong analytic capability
• Ability to create innovative solutions
• Excellent listening skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Conflict resolution and negotiation skills (within Engineering teams)

Preferred Skills

• Knowledge and understanding of engineering design patterns and their implementation
• Project management experience of strategic engineering initiatives

Location

• Anywhere in the United States
• Travel up to 3 to 4 times annually primarily to the San Francisco Bay Area

Salary & Benefits

Base compensation for this role ranges from $130,000 to $145,000 for candidates residing in the Bay Area; salaries are dependent upon candidate location and experience.

Our wide-ranging benefits are some of the best you’ll find out there, include:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits with range of PPO, HMO, HSA-eligible accounts,
• Retirement plan with employer match.
• 15 days of vacation, 9 days of sick leave, and 13 paid holidays annually.
• Every five years, employees can rest and recharge with a paid four-week sabbatical.
• Pet insurance.

GreatSchools team members are diverse in all ways. We are committed to hiring talented staff who reflect the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve and who believe in supporting all parents, especially those who have been historically underserved. As a proud Equal Opportunity Employer, we are committed to considering applicants regardless of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, creed, age, disability (mental and physical), sex, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions) sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status,  or any other federal, state or local protected class. 

Employment Fraud Notice: GreatSchools cautions job seekers of potential scammers attempting to impersonate our organization during the hiring process. All communications related to application submissions, interviews, and applicant selection are sent via our secure hiring portal, BambooHR. We will never ask you for financial information or payment and do not utilize any third-party recruiting services. You can verify our current employees here. Data privacy and security are critically important to us, so please note we are taking all available precautions to avoid fraudulent activity. Any questions or suspicious activity can be reported to hr@greatschools.org.