Senior Software Engineer, Ruby on Rails

Who we are

HopSkipDrive’s mission is to create opportunity for all through mobility. Our safe, innovative youth transportation solution is used by over 300 school districts, charter schools, government agencies and busy families to get kids where they need to go.

With nearly 500,000 yellow buses on the road every day and 3.5 billion miles driven a year, student transportation is the largest mass transit system in the US. And while districts spend $25 billion annually on transportation, only 30% of kids get to school everyday on a school bus. Add to the equation a crippling bus driver shortage and increasing needs for individualized transportation solutions, and it is clear the current system is expensive, inefficient and ripe for disruption.

We create personalized transportation solutions from one to 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 our most vulnerable populations, including youth in foster care, youth experiencing homelessness, and youth with special needs.

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 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 Best Places to Work lists from Built in LA, Comparably, Inc. and the Los Angeles Business Journal. Comparably also named us to the Best Company for Professional Development, 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 serve nine states and 16 markets across the country and continue to expand at a rapid pace, twice making the Inc. 5000 and Deloitte 500 Fast-Growing Technology lists. Backed by top-tier venture capital firms, HopSkipDrive has raised $70M in funding to date.

Who you are

You are looking for a challenging and rewarding experience. You are inspired by our vision and the opportunity to define a new category in an incredibly fast-growing market. You are excited to learn, grow and collaborate so we can achieve our mission of creating opportunity for all through mobility.

At HopSkipDrive, we know that challenges require different approaches, unique perspectives and new ways of thinking. We are building a team of creative problem-solvers from many different backgrounds.

You thrive in a fast-paced startup environment. You are honest and exhibit high integrity. You are proactive and excited to bring new ideas to the company. You solicit feedback and are open to criticism. You adjust quickly to changes in priorities and conditions and cope effectively with complexity and change. You have high attention to detail.

You are an excellent communicator who enjoys collaborating with others and mentoring other engineers. Above all, you want to build something that fundamentally changes the lives of families for the better.

What you’ll 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

Make sure your code is tested appropriately

Review other engineers’ code and provide constructive feedback

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

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.

** This role will be fully remote**

Skills and Experience

3+ years experience with Ruby on Rails

5+ years of professional software engineering

1+ years experience with React or equivalent frontend framework

Advanced experience with PostgreSQL or MySQL

Nice to have:

A thirst for knowledge and continuous learning

Demonstrated aptitude to collaborate within and across teams

Demonstrated ability to learn from mistakes

Demonstrated ability to unblock themselves and other team members

Demonstrated excellent communication skills with technical and non-technical teammates and showed a high level of emotional and professional maturity.

Succeeded as an engineer when presented with projects of increasing complexity over time across multiple areas or domains of the code/product

Earned a high level of trust amongst team to own a task/project without needing much supervision

Demonstrated ability to anticipate how contributions can affect larger architecture, developing risk mitigation and contingency plans

A high level of understanding about where your work fits in and how to be useful and successful on their team

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

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 competitive market comp, flexible vacation, FSA, medical, dental, vision and life insurance, 401(k), and an opportunity to work for a uniquely positioned, VC-backed company in a hugely attractive space with significant upside potential.

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.