Principal Backend Engineer

Kibeam is an ed-tech startup developing a completely novel, AI-enabled, hands-on technology to tackle the global literacy crisis. We are helping young children develop essential reading skills while nurturing a lifelong passion for reading and learning - without screens. We are committed to empowering families and driving a quantum leap in literacy and education around the world. As we continue to grow, we are seeking talented and passionate individuals to join our dynamic, remote team, and help shape the future of learning.

We are seeking an expert .net developer and motivated Principal Backend Engineer to join the Kibeam engineering team to help build, manage, and modernize our innovative Kibeam platform. The Principal Backend Engineer will be responsible for expanding our backend infrastructure and internally facing content tools. In this role you will be responsible for working closely with other departments in order to gather requirements, create specs, and architecture diagrams around major projects ensuring that their development and functionality meet expectations. Key tasks will include learning about our hardware product, companion app, and internal content authoring needs so that you can effectively architect solutions that address their needs.

This role might be for you if you bring:

- A passion for creating innovative and engaging educational experiences for children.

- A strong technical background and expertise in backend development and software architecture.

- Excellent leadership, communication, and collaboration skills.

- A proactive attitude and a desire to contribute to the growth of the company and the success of the Kibeam platform.

Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership for the backend domains you are responsible for.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to team members, including task breakdowns, time estimates, and prioritization with an eye towards overall product and company goals and timelines.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define, design, and implement new features and enhancements for the Kibeam platform.
• Work closely with the content, client (app), firmware, and ML teams to ensure seamless integration and communication between the platform components.
• Optimize and scale the backend infrastructure to handle increasing user growth and data processing requirements.
• Develop and implement strategies for ensuring high-quality products through testing, debugging, and monitoring of backend services.
• Create and maintain documentation related to backend development, requirements, and project priorities.
• Ensure robust security, performance, and reliability of the platform's backend services.

Requirements:

• 10+ years of professional experience with backend development using .Net Framework/ Core.
• 5+ years of professional experience with architecting large scale projects.
• Strong understanding of software architecture and design in backend software development.
• Strong algorithms, data structures, and object-oriented design fundamentals.
• Experience with RESTful APIs, microservices in a .net/postgres based environment.
• Experience with relational databases (e.g., Postgres) and caching technologies (e.g., Redis).
• Understanding of modern source control systems (Git, SVN).
• Understanding of backend performance, scalability and high availability.
• Strong experience with AWS or GCP
• Experience with containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with message brokers, such as MQTT or RabbitMQ.
• Flexibility and willingness to learn new technologies as needed.
• Good problem-solving skills, flexibility, and ability to handle multiple tasks.
• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or equivalent work experience.

Nice to have's:

• Professional experience with DevOps and CI/CD practices.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., AWS CDK, CloudFormation).
• Experience with monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack).
• Understanding of Web Architecture, Client-Server, OAuth, and basic web security concepts.
• Experience with implementing security best practices based on standards such as NIST
• Familiarity with building and maintaining e-commerce apis for mobile, including experience with payment gateways, subscriptions, and shopping cart systems.
• Experience in a fast-paced, startup environment.

$170,000 - $200,000 a year

A bit about our R.I.S.E. culture at Kibeam:

The R.I.S.E. acronym captures the essence of our company's culture and serves as a guiding framework for our team's actions and decisions. By embracing these values, we strive to create a thriving and dynamic work environment where every team member can contribute their best and grow both personally and professionally, while also empowering families and making a lasting difference in the world of education and literacy.

**Resilience (R):**Our team is characterized by its resilience, adaptability, and determination. We embrace challenges head-on, learn from setbacks, and bounce back with creative solutions and a positive outlook. Our resilience fuels our drive to achieve excellence and deliver groundbreaking products that will impact the lives of millions of young learners.

**Innovation (I):**Innovation is at the heart of our culture. We encourage our team members to think creatively, explore new ideas, and push the boundaries of what's possible. We are committed to staying at the forefront of our industry, constantly seeking innovative ways to solve problems and improve the experiences of our users.

**Support (S):**We believe that a supportive work environment is crucial for our team's success and well-being. We prioritize open communication, mutual respect, gratitude, and genuine care for one another. Our team members collaborate, share knowledge, and lift each other up, creating a strong foundation for achieving our goals together.

**Empowerment (E):**Empowerment is central to our culture. We trust and invest in our team members, providing them with the tools, resources, and autonomy they need to excel in their roles. We recognize and celebrate individual strengths, fostering a sense of ownership and accountability that drives us to deliver exceptional results. Beyond our team, we are committed to empowering families by offering products and services that support their role in nurturing their children's education, well-being, and development.

Location: Kibeam is a virtual, distributed team with close, continuous connection and support. While we prefer candidates in the same time zone (west coast), we are much more interested in your skills and talents than where you work. You need to be able to work at home and join our full team (1-2 times per year) for in-person planning, activities, work and fun.

Kibeam is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.