Senior Software Engineer
Published on May 01, 2023
CollegeVine is on a mission to become the trusted source of lifelong guidance for the next generation, helping millions of families find paths toward better life outcomes. Over the years, we have become increasingly concerned with the high school to workforce transition generally, in which college is but one of many paths. Nonetheless, for the many families who choose this path, the college process has become a confusing and difficult road to navigate, with some students not even thinking about college until their senior year. Not to mention, most families are grossly under-resourced.
(This is a remote position with preference given to candidates residing in the continental United States.)
About CollegeVine
Next year, nearly half of all US college-bound students will join CollegeVine and benefit from high quality, personalized, life-changing guidance—all for free. With a professional CollegeVine profile highlighting their achievements, many students will engage directly with colleges and eventually receive generous financial aid and direct admissions offers right on our platform.
In short, we’re completely disrupting and modernizing college admissions with our direct-to-consumer guidance platform, and we’d love for you to join the talented, mission-driven team that is quickly becoming every high school family’s hero.
But make no mistake: though our mission will always be the bedrock of the company, we are uniquely positioned to capture a massive business opportunity in the coming years.
Currently, colleges, school districts, and families spend a combined $9B dollars each year on the post-secondary transition phase. What’s more, nearly all aspects of this market are outdated and inefficient, but industry-wide behavior shifts exacerbated by changing demographics, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action have all converged to form a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for CollegeVine.
As the winning platform company in our space benefiting from network effects, data moats, and an exceptionally strong brand, we expect to grow 10x in 2023 with a small, but highly efficient team—one that we hope you’ll be a part of!
Who we're looking for
You know you're right for this position if:
- You seek ownership beyond your own work, and look to the product and company as a whole.
- You are a self-starter and internally motivated, with a strong desire to be part of a successful team that shares your high standards.
- You understand what it means to be entrepreneurial and resourceful. Perhaps you've launched your own side-project, worked at a startup, or helped a scrappy business grow quickly.
Qualifications
In addition to your awesome attitude and values, we're looking for someone with the following skills:
- Expertise with multiple programming languages (Ruby, Javascript, Python, Haskell, Go, etc...), and you're excited to learn more. We use Ruby and Purescript extensively, so prior experience with those tools is preferred
- A track record of delivering high-value projects in fast-paced environments
- Expert at full-stack web development, but we're agnostic to whether it's been more front-end or back-end focused
- Excellent communication skills, particularly with non-technical team members
- Comfortable breaking complex projects down into small pieces and creating implementation plans
- 5+ years as a software engineer
It's an added bonus if you have:
- An interest or curiosity around typed functional programming (we use Haskell & Purescript extensively)
- Prior experience working with Ruby on Rails
- Worked remotely before on US east coast hours
- Gone through the US college admissions process, or can articulate how it works
- Prior experience mentoring or leading engineers
Your cover letter is a great opportunity to show us who you are and why this role appeals to you.
Why you'll love working at CollegeVine
- Enjoy actually meaningful work: Spare yourself the dread of having to do mental gymnastics about your company's mission by working on something that's high impact and clearly beneficial for society.
- Iterate quickly and see the impact of your decisions and hard work: You'll find that the teammates who you serve are not only appreciative, and also celebrate your ideas and innovations.
- Be part of a strong consumer brand: We've been closing the guidance gap in the United States since 2013 and have one of the most valuable brands in the higher education attainment space. Mention you work at CollegeVine to any college-bound family and see their faces light up.
- Contribute to a mindful remote culture with real flexibility: We claim to do remote right and can't wait to talk to you about it. If you find a team you love, working on a mission you find meaningful, then why let caring for a loved one, moving cross-country, venturing abroad, or even living on a boat stop you?
CollegeVine was founded in 2013 in Cambridge, MA and reaches over 10 million families annually who are in the high school-to-college or college-to-career phases. Our roots are in delivering near-peer mentorship at scale, which has since evolved to delivering lifelong guidance with a focus on data and technology. We have raised over $42m in venture funding from dedicated investors such as Morningside Technology Ventures (Xiaomi, TikTok), the founding partner of 5Y Capital, Fidelity, University Ventures, and more. In 2020, after years of being a remote-friendly company, CollegeVine became a fully remote company centered on Eastern Time with a diverse cast of team members based predominantly in the United States, but also around the world.