The Role
We're looking for an engineer excited to work with the full web stack. As an engineer at Mystery.orgyou’ll have the chance to work on all areas of the app, from front-end changes that millions of children will see, to scaling issues, to internal tools that automate our business. You'll initially get familiar with and tackle challenges in our products backend, working in Ruby on Rails.
Engineers have a seat at the table for all decisions in the company. You’ll work alongside a strong engineering team that obsesses over customer feedback and is constantly iterating to improve based on what we hear. We release multiple updates to our website every day and implement new features days after conceiving of them.
You will report to Josiah Brann, our Director of Engineering. We are headquartered in San Francisco and this position is open to both local and US-based, remote candidates.
About You
- You are excited to work on a full stack web application. From cross-browser CSS fixes to database tuning, you’re prepared to work and learn up and down the stack.
- You know that having the right tests is more impactful than just having tests.
- You’re get excited by new challenges and are never afraid to work on problems that require learning something new!
- You’re part engineer &product thinker. We know the best ideas come from a deep understanding of both domains.
- You have a passion for education and staying curious.
Day-to-day
On any given day, some of the things you will be working on as a Software Engineer:
- Releasing: We deliver features and improvements to our codebase multiple times a day, running our CI/CD pipeline through CircleCI.
- Collaborating: You’re excited to be working with cross-functional groups and varying levels of technical experience. You know that the best ideas come from balancing multiple viewpoints, and working together with other engineers helps everyone learn and grow.
- Testing: You know that a strong CI/CD pipeline requires a stronger suite of tests. You will focus on testing the optimal paths rather than writing tests that might not be useful. There’s a new bug in production? The fix always comes with an associated test.
- Architecting: We trust our engineers not only to execute on ideas, but also to work with our Product Team and internal stakeholders (and of course other engineers!) to architect the best solutions. You know that the why is often just as important as the how. You’re excited for the opportunity to test your abilities and architect new solutions - knowing that it’s always okay to ask for help.
- Learning: You know that the skills you have today are a tool to continue learning, and a growth mindset is important to continued improvement. You hope to be a better engineer, teammate, and person every single day.
- Related Tech: Just a couple of the things we use daily: Ruby on Rails, Postgres, Heroku, CircleCI, New Relic, Sidekiq, Sendgrid, GitHub, and many more!
About Mystery.org
At Mystery.org, we believe it’s important that children stay curious as they grow up. We will ensure that the next generation sees it’s an amazing world we live in, full of possibility and wonder — and that they learn how to figure things out for themselves.
We’ve created Mystery Science, the most widely used elementary science resource in the country. We have teachers signed up from 89% of elementary schools in the U.S. and now 50% of schools use us every month. We’ve created one of the fastest-growing learning resources and a brand that is loved by children and grown-ups alike.
We want children to have the ability to explore anything they are curious about. There are 1 billion children in the world today, and we want to make it possible for them to explore their questions, wherever they are. Over the past decade, the internet has given grownups a new superpower–the ability to instantly explore anything they wonder about--but children have been left behind. So we're collecting every question children ask and creating video explanations and resources for teachers to answer questions that children care about . We think this will be the most important learning tool ever created.
Meet The Team
On your first day at Mystery.org, you’ll meet a group of 50 people who are passionate about learning and who each love their respective crafts. We were founded by Keith Schacht and Doug Peltz, who started Mystery Science in 2014. They have assembled a team of the best explainers in the world from the Exploratorium, Klutz, Stanford, the Field Museum, and leading private schools. In addition to the core Mystery.org team, we also collaborate with the passionate, expert team at Discovery Education, our parent company.
We have a strong focus on people which extends to every area of the company. We’re building the team that we want to work with.
Mystery.org is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to being an employer of choice, not just a good place to work, but a great and inclusive place to work. To that end, we strive to recruit and maintain a workforce that meaningfully represents the diverse and culturally rich communities that we serve. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disabled status or, genetic information.
Inspired?
If you are inspired by our mission and passionate about helping teachers succeed and transforming science education for kids, we’d like to hear from you!