Mid-level Software Engineer

Job description

# **About Schoolhouse** Founded by Sal Khan, [Schoolhouse](http://schoolhouse.world/) is a peer-to-peer learning platform that delivers human connection and develops durable skills through online learning to best prepare students to thrive in the age of AI. So far, we’ve reached 200k+ learners from 180+ countries and we plan to grow to millions. ## About the Vision Our vision is to provide an education safety net to ensure that no talent goes undiscovered and that every student feels empowered in our changing world. We do this by bringing high school students together around learning to create an environment where they can develop and showcase academic mastery and durable skills. At Schoolhouse, learning is academic, civic, and global. Students join tutoring sessions where peers help them reach academic goals through personalized support. They participate in Dialogues to discuss challenging issues and empathize across divides. Above all, students belong to a global community centered around human connection. We believe this vision is ambitious, so we need a team that can move quickly in the face of ambiguity. We value sincerity and empathy and believe deeply in the power of human connection. We step in to help each other out, we think big but start small, we uplift each other, and we’re all learners at heart. Learn more about our vision and our values here: - [Teen Helps 52-Year-Old Man Earn His High School Diploma](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIPGLgT8pk) - [The Power of Peer Tutoring](https://schoolhouse.world/blog/the-power-of-peer-tutoring/) - [Schoolhouse’s Public Roadmap](https://schoolhouse.world/roadmap) - [What are Schoolhouse's community values?](https://schoolhouse.world/faq/en/article/what-are-schoolhouses-community-values-1b7nl3c/) # **About the Role** We’re looking for **Mid-level Software Engineers** who want to build stuff that’ll have an impact. You’ll join our 5-person engineering team and own full-stack features that hundreds of thousands of learners and tutors use worldwide. Engineers at Schoolhouse have lots of ownership — you’ll work directly with our designer and other stakeholders to build out new experiments and streamline existing operations. We think the best way for engineers to build a quality product is to be involved early, drive progress, and stay close to our end users. Scaling free quality interactions between students around the world comes with challenges that live at the intersection of UX, people ops, and technology. We need to both meet learner / tutor needs while ensuring that these interactions stay high quality and safe. Some examples of what we’ve worked on include: - Building an AI simulation & coach to help tutors practice for their first tutoring session - Experimenting with new ways to connect tutors to learners wanting immediate homework help - Creating a moderation system to automatically recognize and act on safety issues so humans can focus their time on the most important issues Responsibilities: - Work with users and teammates to understand problems, contribute product ideas, and take work from prototypes / experiments through deployment. - Scope work and make technical decisions with support from experienced teammates. - Write simple, readable code that’s easy to maintain and change. - Participate in code reviews and pairing sessions to help maintain codebase quality. # **About You** **If this sounds like you, we’d love for you to apply!** - You’ve been a full-stack software engineer 3+ years and have a track record of building & shipping full-stack features. - You can explain the product and technical tradeoffs behind the approaches you’ve taken. - You have experience with Typescript, Node.js, React, Next.js, and Postgres (or can ramp up quickly). - You build for users & have a nose for understanding what would help them the most. - You move quickly while maintaining code quality. Perfect is the enemy of good. - You fill in the gaps — you ask for help, but still work independently to figure things out. If necessary you can put on another hat if it’ll help users the most. - You’re available to work in a US timezone. **Bonus points** - You have deep technical experience with our stack Typescript, Node.js, React, Next.js, Postgres, AWS, and GCP. - You have experience building mobile apps. - You have experience working in education or on an ed-tech product. # **Life at Schoolhouse** - **Work with an amazing team.** We’ve got folks with backgrounds in education, consulting, astrophysics, startups, and more. - **Fully remote** with **flexible working hours.** Meetings are in US Pacific Time mornings. - **Take real time off.** We have unlimited PTO & use it. Folks regularly take time off throughout the year. - **Competitive salary** and **comprehensive benefits.** Work-from-home stipend. Professional development budget. Health, dental, vision (for US employees). - **Semesterly retreats** and **monthly regional meetups** - **Make an impact you can see.** Check out our [community stories page](https://schoolhouse.world/stories). Watch students help each other learn. See tutors grow into leaders. Your code will help real people learn and grow. # **About the Application Process** - We might make some adjustments, but our expected interview process: - A 30-minute intro screen to learn more about you and understand whether this role is a mutual fit - A 45-minute screen where you'll read some code and brainstorm / prioritize product ideas - A 1-hour programming interview where you’ll fix bugs and implement features on a toy repo - A 1-hour systems design problem where you'll design a data model / api and handle challenges at scale - A 45-minute culture fit call with non-technical team members - Reference calls We’re building an inclusive and equitable platform for learners across the world, and it’s important our core team reflects these principles too. Research shows people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we strongly encourage to you apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed.