Software Engineer

About the role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Software Engineer who will focus on the user experience to have a real impact on students' lives. We want students using our platform to feel empowered, connected, and engaged. To accomplish this, we aggressively prioritize which projects we work on, aiming to provide the most value in the simplest way possible. We constantly iterate to improve our services as we see what works and what doesn't. We're agile and we like to have fun!

Responsibilities

• Focus on full-stack project initiatives (90%)
• Work primarily in Ruby on Rails or Python, showcasing proficiency and contributing to high-quality, maintainable applications
• Take ownership of well-defined tasks and deliver reliable, impactful solutions
• Apply software engineering best practices to improve processes, systems, and code robustness
• Keep end-users at the forefront of your work, prioritizing solutions that have a meaningful impact and enhance students' experiences
• Solve technical challenges with creativity and a focus on enhancing team capabilities
• Improve the team via reviews, documentation, and cross-functional communication (10%)
• Provide constructive feedback on code and architecture proposals to promote team excellence
• Support junior engineers through guidance and collaboration, fostering a culture of continuous learning
• Create and maintain clear documentation for architectures, design decisions, and team protocols
• Contribute to scrums and sprints by sharing updates, addressing blockers, and refining tasks with the team
• Stay current with industry trends, security practices, and compliance requirements to ensure alignment with best practices
• Other duties as assigned

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in a technical field or equivalent professional experience
• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Proficient in full-stack development, with experience in Ruby on Rails and React, and expertise in backend, frontend, and database design, using BigQuery, PostgreSQL, and Git
• Strong organizational and task management skills, with the ability to prioritize work, ensure attention to detail, and make sound technical decisions independently
• Flexible and solutions-oriented, with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to adapt to changing priorities
• Excellent communication skills, bridging technical and non-technical teams and managing stakeholder expectations effectively
• Collaborative team member with peer coaching experience, contributing to knowledge sharing, team growth, and fostering an inclusive learning environment
• Personal attributes of emotional intelligence, autonomy, empathy, and the ability to maintain composure in challenging situations, emphasizing a proactive, forward-looking approach in software development
• Demonstrated commitment to building strong and welcoming cultures that help to develop others
• Exemplification of Braven's core values
• Experience that has informed your belief in Braven's mission and has prepared you to work with, or for, Braven's student Fellow population

Qualifications

No one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Skills

• Full-stack development
• Ruby on Rails
• React
• Backend, frontend, and database design
• BigQuery, PostgreSQL, and Git

Benefits

• Competitive base salaries based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size, with opportunities for salary growth over time
• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)
• Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Pay

$92,000 - $114,900

Schedule

Hybrid in Chicago (IL)