Senior Software Engineer

Senior Software Engineer

Do you enjoy applying your creative and technical skills to technology that impacts peoples' lives for good? Do you thrive in a fast-paced and collaborative environment? As part of Joyful Reading Company's product team, you will have the opportunity to help shape products that build lifelong reading habits for readers all around the world. The Senior Software Engineer is a motivated and collaborative team player who will work across our product team to build and refine the technology that inspires our clients and users. You will work closely with our web and mobile development teams as well as our product manager and designers to build new features and maintain our production apps. Communication and collaboration will be key to success. Ultimately, the code you write will be the very tool that helps a struggling reader find a book that changes their life. You will join a kind, generous, and entrepreneurial crew of over forty full-time teammates, including ten product team members. The best part is that you get a unique opportunity to use your strengths and skills to challenge others to read more. After all, reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body.

Engineering Culture

We value deep work. We have our daily standups and team meetings, but we prioritize asynchronous communication in Slack and Asana to protect your focus time. We are pragmatic. Our stack is centered on a well-loved Ruby on Rails monolith. We value stability and maintainability, and we adopt new technologies thoughtfully when they solve a real user problem. We learn together. We hold monthly engineering Beanstalks where team members can present anything from a new tool they're exploring to a tricky problem they've solved. We connect. As a remote team, we believe in the importance of connection. We get together for an annual team retreat to recharge and have fun in person.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with other product team members to develop and maintain a growing set of applications and features.
• Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code across the full stack that is well-tested and documented when necessary.
• In partnership with the product team and other engineers, drive the technical vision for key product areas by designing and architecting scalable, reliable, and maintainable systems.
• Champion engineering best practices and mentor teammates through collaborative code reviews and pair programming.
• Take ownership of key application services, collaborating with the team to monitor health and performance, and proactively resolving issues before they impact users.
• Contribute to our collective security posture by writing secure code, performing code reviews, and identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities as a team.
• Assist support specialists in diagnosing and resolving reported issues.
• Attend daily product standups, periodic product planning sessions, and team meetings.

Skills and Experience

• 5+ years of software development experience.
• Expert knowledge of Ruby on Rails and its ecosystem, especially in the context of large-scale applications.
• Proficiency with front-end technologies such as JavaScript, AngularJs, and React.
• Strong experience with relational databases, particularly PostgreSQL.
• Experience maintaining applications in a cloud environment.
• Strong knowledge of CS fundamentals and code organization best practices.
• Analytical thinker with exceptional problem-solving skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively, clearly, and concisely in written and verbal form.
• A strong sense of customer empathy and desire to influence product direction.
• A big plus: Experience with mobile development using React Native. Experience integrating third-party AI/LLM APIs (like OpenAI, Gemini, etc.) to build product features. Previous experience in EdTech or a B2B SaaS environment. Experience working in a startup environment—able to juggle multiple projects and switch tasks throughout the day. BA/BS degree in Computer Science, related degree or equivalent practical experience. Experience working with a remote team.

Salary and Benefits

• Salary will range from $125,000 to $175,000 commensurate with qualifications and experience.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401K Plan with company match
• Participation in company's stock incentive plan
• Participation in company's quarterly bonus plan for employees
• Work from home with the option to have the company lease co-working space on your behalf
• $500 home office setup stipend
• Optionally participate in our annual team "break" where we kick back together at a resort
• At least 15 vacation days annually + a one week winter break from Xmas Eve to New Year's Day
• Office closed for all federal holidays
• $1,200 annual professional development stipend

About Us

Joyful Reading Company brings together Beanstack, the leading reading engagement platform, and Comics Plus, the premier digital comics and graphic novel provider, to help create a world of joyful readers. We serve more than 15,000 public library and school clients in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Over ten million readers currently use our platform, Beanstack, to track their reading, earn incentives, and stay motivated to read.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We believe diversity breeds innovation. We're building a product that helps librarians, educators, and families everywhere, and to do that well, we need a workforce that's representative of the population we serve. We are actively looking to add members to our team who will bring diverse backgrounds, new perspectives, and a willingness to challenge us to improve the work we do every day.

From the Heart

At Joyful Reading Company, we live out four core values that reflect the dedication we have for ourselves and our customers. Joy: We make reading fun and accessible. We fuel our work with empathy, kindness, and gratitude to create a lasting impact. Purpose: We advocate for all readers and celebrate unique perspectives. We lead with dedication, persistence, and diligence. Transparency: We balance openness with purpose. We meet challenges with curiosity and exchange feedback as opportunities for growth. Awesomeness: We go beyond "good enough." We take ownership of outcomes, hold one another to high standards, and deliver quality solutions. If this hits you in the heart and mind, then come work with us.