Senior Software Engineer

Recruiting From Scratch•San Francisco, CA

6d•Remote

About The Position

This is a mission-driven nonprofit technology organization building a peer-to-peer learning platform designed to help students develop both academic and human skills through community, collaboration, tutoring, and dialogue. The platform serves a large global community of learners and tutors across more than 180 countries, with products used by thousands of people every day. The engineering organization is intentionally small, with engineers working closely with product, design, and program stakeholders in highly collaborative pods. Engineers have significant ownership over what gets built and how problems are solved. This is a product-oriented engineering environment where engineers are expected to talk directly with users and stakeholders, understand the underlying problem, propose solutions, build experiments, and iterate based on feedback. The ideal candidate is a senior full-stack engineer who combines strong technical ability with strong product judgment, can operate independently, and enjoys owning projects from ambiguous problem definition through production launch. You will work across the full stack using technologies such as TypeScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, and PostgreSQL, while helping build products that directly impact learners and tutors around the world.

Requirements

3+ years of professional full-stack software engineering experience.
Ideally 7–8 years of experience for senior-level candidates.
Experience shipping full-stack B2C products end-to-end.
Experience building products used by thousands of users.
Experience working in small, high-growth technology organizations.
Experience owning projects from ambiguous problem definition through launch.
Strong experience working directly with product, design, and non-technical stakeholders.
Experience independently driving technical projects.
Experience balancing product requirements with technical feasibility.
Experience working across both frontend and backend systems.
Strong track record of shipping production software.
Strong TypeScript experience.
Strong React experience.
Strong Next.js experience or equivalent modern frontend framework.
Strong Node.js experience.
Strong PostgreSQL or relational database experience.
Experience designing and building production APIs.
Strong full-stack software engineering fundamentals.
Experience with typed programming languages.
Strong understanding of relational data modeling.
Experience building customer-facing web applications.
Strong testing and debugging practices.
Experience with production systems and application reliability.
Strong product-oriented engineering mindset.
Experience defining user problems rather than simply receiving technical tickets.
Comfortable speaking directly with users and stakeholders.
Experience conducting user interviews or gathering qualitative product feedback.
Able to propose product solutions based on user needs.
Comfortable scoping MVPs and experiments.
Able to balance technical feasibility with product impact.
Experience working in cross-functional product pods.
Strong understanding of customer-facing software development.
High ownership and accountability.
Strong independence and self-direction.
Strong product judgment.
Comfortable operating in ambiguity.
Strong communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Strong problem-solving and systems-thinking skills.
Able to make pragmatic engineering decisions.
Comfortable working in small teams with broad responsibilities.
Strong collaboration with designers and product stakeholders.
Willingness to speak directly with users.
Curious and motivated by meaningful product impact.
Strong mentoring and technical leadership skills.
Genuine interest in social impact and/or education-focused missions.

Nice To Haves

AWS or GCP experience is a plus.
Experience with consumer products, marketplaces, education technology, social platforms, or real-time products is a plus.

Responsibilities

Own full-stack features and products from problem definition through production launch.
Build customer-facing experiences using TypeScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, and PostgreSQL.
Design and implement clean, maintainable frontend and backend systems.
Build APIs, application logic, data models, and user-facing interfaces.
Develop MVPs and experiments quickly while maintaining strong engineering quality.
Improve existing application architecture and engineering patterns.
Build reliable products used by thousands of learners and tutors.
Take ownership of features beyond simply implementing individual tickets.
Work directly with users, stakeholders, designers, and program leads to understand problems.
Define product problems before jumping into technical implementation.
Interview users and gather feedback to understand needs and pain points.
Propose product solutions based on user needs and technical feasibility.
Translate ambiguous requirements into clear product and engineering plans.
Scope MVPs and determine practical approaches to validating new ideas.
Balance technical tradeoffs with user experience and organizational goals.
Iterate quickly based on product feedback and real-world usage.
Write clean, readable, well-tested production code across the stack.
Design reliable backend services and relational data models.
Build and maintain APIs and application infrastructure.
Improve performance, reliability, and maintainability across the platform.
Participate in code reviews and pair programming.
Monitor and troubleshoot production systems.
Participate in on-call rotations and help maintain platform reliability and safety.
Establish engineering patterns that make future development faster and more consistent.
Contribute to cloud infrastructure and production systems where needed.
Work in small cross-functional pods alongside engineers, designers, and program stakeholders.
Lead technical execution for new products, programs, and experiments.
Collaborate closely with non-technical stakeholders to define requirements and outcomes.
Mentor and support other engineers through code reviews, pairing, and technical guidance.
Communicate technical decisions and tradeoffs clearly.
Help shape engineering practices and development standards.
Contribute to technical strategy and product direction.
Take ownership of complex initiatives while operating independently.