Software Engineer I

About the Firm

Stronghold Investment Management ("Stronghold," "SIM," or "the Firm") is a technology-driven, vertically integrated investment manager focused on real-assets and related private markets. Stronghold seeks to deliver best-in-class risk-adjusted returns through an investment framework that features comparatively rapid transaction velocity, deep technical expertise, creative financial structuring, and objective and algorithmic decision making. Stronghold was founded by Ryan Turner in 2016 and has deployed over $1.6 billion in capital across 10+ investment vehicles. Stronghold intends to apply its technology-intensive investment approach to a variety of specialist real assets verticals, including:

• Oil & Gas
• Renewables
• Specialty Real Estate (commercial, datacenters, marinas)
• Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure
• Billboards and Fixtures
• Mining & other commodities
• Utilities
• Secondaries

Your Mission

We're seeking a Software Engineer I to join Stronghold's Tech Development team, your entry point into a firm where engineering isn't a support function, it's a competitive weapon. You'll work on the backend systems, APIs, and data infrastructure that keep a technology-driven investment firm running at speed. From day one, you'll be writing real code on real systems, collaborating with senior engineers, data teams, and product to build infrastructure that directly impacts how Stronghold operates and invests. Working primarily within a Ruby on Rails ecosystem, you'll gain hands-on experience building and supporting backend services powered by technologies including PostgreSQL, Kafka, Elasticsearch, Redis, and Microsoft Azure. You'll learn how these systems work together while contributing meaningful code to a platform built for speed, reliability, and scale.

This is the right opportunity for an early-career engineer with 1–3 years of experience who's hungry to grow fast, work on problems that matter, and build a foundation inside a firm that takes technical excellence seriously. If you want ownership earlier than you'd get anywhere else, this is it.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, and maintain backend systems, APIs, and data workflows, primarily within a Ruby on Rails environment, that keep firm-wide operations running reliably and at scale.
• Develop hands-on experience across technologies including Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, Kafka, and Microsoft Azure while contributing to production systems.
• Collaborate with data engineers and analysts to ensure data integrity, accessibility, and consistency across systems that investment teams depend on daily.
• Deliver clean, efficient, testable, and maintainable code using engineering best practices, and strengthen your skills through code reviews and mentorship from senior engineers.
• Help build and optimize database schemas, queries, indexes, and data workflows across relational and non-relational technologies, including PostgreSQL, Redis, and Elasticsearch.
• Contribute to integrations between internal systems, backend services, and third-party APIs, the connective tissue that makes the platform work as one.
• Support the development of asynchronous and event-driven systems using technologies such as Kafka to move data reliably across the platform.
• Support the automation of data ingestion, validation, transformation, and operational workflows so the team can focus on what actually requires human judgment.
• Develop and support applications and services running in Microsoft Azure while gaining experience with modern cloud infrastructure and deployment practices.
• Participate in code reviews, technical design sessions, and Agile ceremonies, learning from senior engineers while adding your own perspective.
• Troubleshoot and debug backend performance issues, data discrepancies, application errors, and system failures across environments.
• Contribute to monitoring, logging, and alerting so the team can identify and resolve issues quickly.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines and partner with engineering, DevOps, and product teams to support reliable deployments and stable production systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience that shows you can build.
• 1–3 years of backend experience writing real code in a professional, internship, or serious academic/project environment.
• Experience with Ruby on Rails through professional work, internships, coursework, or meaningful projects, with the ability and motivation to deepen your expertise quickly.
• Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, object-oriented programming, and modern software development principles, in practice.
• Ability to write clean, efficient SQL queries and experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL or SQL Server. Understanding of why data modeling and schema design matter.
• Familiarity with technologies such as Redis, Elasticsearch, or MongoDB and an interest in learning how different data stores support different use cases.
• Understanding of RESTful APIs, integrations, and Git.
• Familiarity with Kafka, message queues, streaming platforms, or asynchronous processing concepts is a plus.
• Exposure to cloud platforms, preferably Microsoft Azure, along with familiarity with Docker and modern containerized development practices.
• Familiarity with Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery concepts and an understanding of how modern engineering teams test, review, and deploy code.
• An analytical mind: think carefully about problems before reaching for solutions, approach debugging methodically, and care about performance and precision.
• A team-first attitude: collaborate well with engineering, data, product, and other cross-functional stakeholders, asking good questions, communicating clearly, and pulling your weight in an Agile environment.
• A learning mindset: curious about new technologies, receptive to feedback, and motivated to continuously improve technical skills.
• The Stronghold standard: precision, accountability, and genuine commitment to technical excellence.

Preferred Qualifications

• Oil & Gas, Financial Services, Real Assets, or Fintech experience through professional experience, internships, coursework, or related projects.
• Additional Ruby on Rails experience, particularly building or supporting web applications and backend APIs.
• Experience with Stronghold's broader technology ecosystem, including Kafka, Elasticsearch, Redis, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, or MongoDB.
• Data processing experience with libraries such as Pandas, NumPy, or Polars.
• Hands-on cloud experience, particularly with Microsoft Azure and Docker.
• Strong adoption of AI tools, with demonstrated knowledge and practical experience using AI in development workflows.

Benefits

• Market-competitive compensation
• Fully paid benefits (Medical, Dental and Vision)
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• 401k + Match
• Company sponsored LTD, STD, life insurance and AD&D
• Generous PTO policy
• Exemplary holiday observance
• Parental Leave
• Class A offices in prime locations