Sr. Rails Engineer
Who we are
HopSkipDrive’s mission is to create opportunity for all through mobility. Our innovative, supplemental school transportation solutions are used by over 600 school districts, charter schools, nonprofits, government agencies, as well as busy families to safely and reliably get kids where they need to go.
Student transportation is the largest mass transit system in the U.S. The way kids get to and from school has a direct impact on our kids, families, schools and communities. While school districts spend $28 billion annually on transportation, only 30% of kids get to school on a bus. The current system can no longer meet all the transportation needs of our districts, schools and families — and its shortcomings are causing inequities in educational access that are affecting the welfare of millions of kids each day.
HopSkipDrive is taking a different approach to arranging safe, reliable school transportation that meets needs that aren’t being addressed by the current system, helping to fill gaps and supplement the student transportation options available. We create personalized transportation solutions for the one to the many, and everything in between.
We’re a company with heart
Our partnerships with school districts, child welfare agencies and nonprofits ensure equitable educational access for the most vulnerable populations, including youth in foster care, children experiencing homelessness and students with disabilities.
We understand that the difference between struggle and success can sometimes be as simple as the ability to show up, which is why we’re on a mission to use innovative technology — coupled with operational expertise and new ways of thinking — to help kids reach their full potential by providing a safe, dependable way to get them where they are going.
We’re an awesome place to work
Our company culture has been well-recognized — HopSkipDrive has been named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list, as well as Best Places to Work lists from Built In LA, Comparably, Inc., and the Los Angeles Business Journal. Comparably also named us a Best Company for Professional Development, as well as to its Best CEO and Best CEOs for Women lists.
We’re growing rapidly
Founded by three moms as a solution to their own transportation challenges, we now operate across over 13 states across the country. We continue to expand at a rapid pace, making the Inc. 5000 list four times, as well as the Deloitte 500 Fast-Growing Technology list. HopSkipDrive has raised $100M in funding to date.
Your role:
The Senior Rails Engineer should be seen as an experienced software engineer who is a master of Ruby, Rails, and web development in general. The Senior Engineer is capable of owning technical design for projects of moderate complexity, and understands the tradeoffs in creating good software. They hold a depth of knowledge in systems that enables them to debug those systems effectively without flailing. In addition to writing consistently high-quality code they are aware of industry best practices and trends, and have acquired at least one major specialty such as performance optimization, testing, API design, frontend development, or project management.
The Senior Engineer gets a lot done. They are responsible for complex tasks and complete them despite roadblocks, grabbing others for help or insight as necessary. The Senior Engineer requires very little oversight beyond high-level direction; they can take a complex user story, break it down into sub-tasks, and complete their sub-tasks with relative ease. The Senior Engineer shows initiative beyond knocking tasks off a list; they are able to identify and suggest areas of future work for themselves or their teams. They seek evidence to support their ideas and start to build cases for these ideas. They deliver products to QA that they believe are well-baked and bug-free.
The Senior Engineer has end-to-end responsibility for projects of increasing complexity that encompass more than their own development. They contribute to the common code bases and standards for the team. They understand the business that their code supports, and possess empathy for the users of their software; they use this understanding to influence their task prioritization. They assist QA in identifying and validating test cases and can identify regression risks in their features. In general, they can identify risks in code, features, and design, and communicate these to the appropriate parties.
The Senior Engineer is known outside of their core team as a technology leader. They participate extensively in code reviews, and mentor others via code reviews and pairing. They work effectively with non-tech members of the company. They are able to identify problems with requirements and help their team course-correct around these issues.
Above all, they want to build something that fundamentally improves the lives of families.
What you will do:
- Communicate well with all members of the team
- Perform well-defined engineering tasks; doesn’t get caught up in the unknown, works to figure it out, asks questions
- Alert manager/team to any issues preventing your work from being accomplished, asks for help
- Actively pursue improving engineering skills, including but not limited to problem solving, writing readable/testable/efficient code, mastering technology in our stack, and learning to anticipate scaling issues.
- Contribute meaningfully to the definition of user stories
- Seek to tie stories back to user value & impact for our drivers and organizers
- Deconstruct a problem into an executable action plan for yourself and other engineers - also perform them to high quality
- Own and complete full projects beginning with identifying and communicating the problems to be solved, getting and incorporating feedback on proposed architectural solutions, and making a final decision as the owner of a project.
- Lean into challenges when they offer the potential to create large impact, and do so with productivity and positivity
- Be highly productive - have a reputation for getting things done quickly and efficiently
- Make sure your code is readable, easy to maintain, and tested appropriately
- Review other engineers’ code and provide constructive feedback
- Participate in on-call rotation
- Monitor changes in production and rollback if necessary
- Have production access and use it responsibly
- Be able to dive in to any area of the code/product that you are not familiar with and make changes, guide others in how to do this
- Show curiosity to not only learn new things but fully understand how they work
- Be a mentor for other engineers
- Set and maintain high individual and team expectations
- Be able to communicate well with all engineers regardless of seniority
- Monitor the outcomes of the team’s actions to learn from mistakes and replicate successes
- Interview prospective candidates and provide thoughtful evaluations and feedback
What you'll bring:
- 3+ years experience with Ruby on Rails
- 5+ years of professional software engineering
- Advanced experience with PostgreSQL or MySQL
- A thirst for knowledge and continuous learning
- Excellent communication skills with technical and non-technical teammates and show a high level of emotional and professional maturity.
- Past success when presented with projects of increasing complexity over time across multiple areas or domains of the code/product
- Previously earned a high level of trust amongst team to own a task/project without needing much supervision
- A high level of craftsmanship about your work, the end experience of the user, and impact on overall product
- A connection to HopSkipDrive’s mission and values
** This role will be fully remote from a state where we do business AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, IL, KS, MD, WI, OK, UT, TN, NC, SC, NV, NJ, NY, OR, TX, VA, WA, MO, MI**
What you will get
We want you to be an owner in our company and share in executing our vision, so every full-time employee has equity. In addition, we offer flexible vacation, medical, dental, vision and life insurance, 401(k), FSA, and an opportunity to work for a uniquely positioned, VC-backed company in a hugely attractive space with significant upside potential. HopSkipDrive is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The salary range for this role in Los Angeles, CA is $160,000 to $175,000. This position is remote and, as such, compensation will ultimately be in line with the location in which the position is filled. Final compensation for this role will be determined by several factors such as a candidate’s relevant work experience, skill set, certifications, and specific work location. The total compensation package for this role also includes equity stock options.
Equal Opportunity Employer
HopSkipDrive is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected class. HopSkipDrive is also proud to operate as a drug-free workplace.
