Senior Software Engineer

Job description

ABOUT KOJO It's time to build. Whether it's creating more housing, upgrading our infrastructure, or adapting to climate change, one thing is clear: the construction industry is at the center of solving our biggest problems. We’re making buildings cheaper and easier to build by transforming the way commercial construction companies buy their materials. Join us. Founded in 2018, Kojo is now one of the fastest-growing construction technology companies in the world. Construction accounts for $10 trillion in global spend annually and we can’t live without its output - our roads, schools, hospitals, and offices. Despite this, there’s been very little innovation over the past 70 years in how materials - which constitute up to 40% of project costs - are bought and sold. This is our opportunity. ABOUT THE ROLE We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer who thrives on solving complex problems, building high-quality software, and taking ownership from idea to production. At Kojo, engineers don't simply implement tickets, they partner closely with Product, Design, and Customer teams to define solutions, make technical decisions, and deliver meaningful customer impact. This is a role for someone who enjoys working across the stack, embraces ambiguity, and wants to help shape both our product and our engineering culture. WHAT YOU'LL DO BUILD - Design, build, and operate reliable, scalable, and maintainable software. - Own features and systems from technical design through production. - Improve system performance, reliability, and developer experience. - Continuously raise the quality of our codebase through thoughtful engineering practices. TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP - Lead complex technical initiatives from ambiguous problem to successful delivery. - Make architectural decisions by balancing short-term execution with long-term sustainability. - Drive technical discussions and help establish engineering best practices. - Mentor engineers through code reviews, pairing, and technical guidance. COLLABORATION - Partner closely with Product, Design, Customer Success, and fellow engineers to solve customer problems. - Contribute to engineering and product roadmap discussions. - Collaborate across teams as priorities evolve. OWNERSHIP - Take responsibility for production systems and customer outcomes. - Identify opportunities to improve our systems, tooling, and engineering processes. - Own problems, not just tickets, and help create clarity in ambiguous situations. WHAT YOU'VE ACCOMPLISHED We're more interested in the impact you've had than the number of years you've worked. We're excited to meet candidates who have: - Significant experience designing, building, and shipping high-quality production software. - Strong software engineering fundamentals and an understanding of systems from application code through infrastructure. - Experience taking products or major features from concept to production. - Led technical projects involving multiple engineers and stakeholders. - Made architectural decisions and can clearly explain the trade-offs behind them. - Strong backend engineering experience, including APIs (REST and/or GraphQL), databases (PostgreSQL or similar), authentication, and distributed systems concepts. - Experience working across modern web technologies and willingness to contribute across the stack when needed. - Experience with technologies similar to ours. Our stack includes TypeScript, Node.js, React, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, and AWS, but we care far more about strong engineering fundamentals than prior experience with any specific framework. NICE TO HAVE Experience with one or more of the following: - AWS services (EC2, RDS, S3, Lambda) - Docker - Elasticsearch - Observability tools such as Datadog or Sentry WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE Successful Senior Software Engineers at Kojo: - Own problems, not just tickets. - Turn ambiguous problems into simple, maintainable solutions. - Deliver consistently while maintaining a high quality bar. - Know when to move quickly and when to invest in long-term engineering quality. - Help other engineers succeed through collaboration and mentorship. - Leave systems and codebases better than they found them. - Continuously improve how we build software, not just what we build. WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT CUSTOMER OBSESSION You care deeply about solving real customer problems and delivering meaningful value. OWNERSHIP You take responsibility for outcomes, proactively identify opportunities for improvement, and follow through. CRAFTSMANSHIP You value clean, maintainable software and thoughtful technical decisions. PRAGMATISM You balance speed with quality and know how to make thoughtful trade-offs. GROWTH You actively seek feedback, continuously learn, and help those around you grow. HOW WE USE AI AI is part of how we build at Kojo. Engineers are expected to thoughtfully incorporate AI tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or similar into their daily workflow whenever they meaningfully improve productivity and software quality. We use AI for tasks like scaffolding, debugging, documentation, testing, and accelerating repetitive work, but AI never replaces engineering judgment. You remain accountable for the architecture, trade-offs, correctness, security, and quality of everything that ships. AI is a force multiplier for great engineers, not a substitute for them. WORKING AT KOJO Salary: Your salary will be dependent upon many factors, including your experience level, skillset, market dynamics and balancing internal equity relative to other Kojo employees. The compensation and benefits information that we provide is based on Kojo’s good-faith estimate as of the date of the job posting and may be modified in the future. Benefits: This position is also eligible for a new hire equity grant and all US-based full time employees are eligible for our full suite of perks and benefits. For more information about our perks and benefits, check out https://www.usekojo.com/careers https://usekojo.com/careers. Location: Kojo’s team members work from home 100% of the time across North and South America. If applicable, we’ll identify the travel and/or location-specific requirements of a position in the text above. Otherwise, team members can expect to work business hours congruent with their local time zone and remotely. Inclusive Workplace: Kojo values diverse perspectives and is committed to building an inclusive workplace. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, citizenship, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. We strongly encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply. Scam Notice: Please be aware that there are individuals and organizations that may attempt to scam job seekers by offering fraudulent employment opportunities in the name of Kojo. These scams may involve fake job postings, unsolicited emails, or messages claiming to be from our recruiters or hiring managers. Kojo will never ask for any personal account information, such credit card details or bank account numbers, during the recruitment process.