Senior PHP Engineer

About DeansList

At DeansList, we build exceptional software that empowers schools and educators to be successful. Our SaaS platform streamlines day-to-day school operations to improve productivity and increase transparency - so every educator has the actionable info they need to help every student succeed.

Our clients include many of the most innovative schools in underserved communities, mission-driven to closing the Achievement Gap. We focus beyond academics and build tools that make it easy to build strong relationships with families, reduce absenteeism, and create a positive, joyful school culture. We are as passionate about helping schools and students as the educators we serve are and we pride ourselves on going above and beyond to support their constantly-evolving needs.

DeansList is a portfolio company of Imagine K12 (YC Education). Our team is a close-knit group of former educators and technologists passionate about helping students and educators succeed.

This Role

As the next member of a small but growing engineering team, you'll report directly to our CEO and will help shape our roadmap and expansion. You'll get to work on everything from developing new features, adding enhancements, troubleshooting bugs and directly supporting clients with technical issues.

In addition to being deep in the code, we're looking for someone who is ready and eager be a leader of our dev team. You'll be joining us during an exciting period of expansion and you'll help recruit new team members and oversee their work.

What You'll Work With

We're big believers in Dan McKinley's "Choose Boring Technology" ideology. We believe innovation happens faster when we use proven tools we know well and try to utilize our "innovation tokens" strategically. Our core application's stack is PHP (no framework) + Vanilla JS and React on the front end. We run additional services for things like crons and our GraphQL API on Node and Laravel and our mobile apps are built in React Native. We support integrations with lots of third-party systems for everything form telephony support, Slack messaging and connectivity with lots of other edtech platforms.

Responsibilities

• Work with internal project champions and clients to ideate and architect new features.
• Work with clients and other vendors to develop integrations with third-party systems.
• Build new API endpoints to accommodate new features - we believe in an open ed-tech ecosystem!
• Assist with recruiting and managing future engineering hires.
• Troubleshoot issues and patch bugs.
• Write technical documentation

Requirements

Below are some of the things we're looking for in an ideal candidate. However, anyone who is passionate about our mission and thinks they can help make DeansList better is encouraged to apply.

• 4+ years experience in a Backend or Full Stack Developer or similar role.
• Advanced knowledge of PHP including using object-oriented PHP without a framework. Familiarity with Laravel is a bonus.
• Some front-end experience preferred
• Advanced experience with SQL and familiarity with key-value store databases like Redis.
• Experience working with a variety of third-party APIs.
• Previous experience as a hands-on technical leader
• Prior experience developing growing technical teams in a startup environment
• Great communication and engagement skills.
• A positive, passionate and collaborative approach.

Benefits

• $160,000 - $200,000 salary range
• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• 401(k) w/ 4% match
• Unlimited vacation
• 16 weeks paid parental leave
• Sabbatical opportunity after 5 years
• Workstation of your choice
• Co-working space or home office stipend
• Reimbursement for classes, training and conferences
• Travel stipend

DeansList is an equal opportunity employer. As a company whose product affects the education of over 100,000 students of color, it’s imperative we build a team that is reflective of the communities we serve. We strongly encourage applications from BIPOC (Black; Indigenous; People of Color), women, LGBTQ+, and other individuals who are underrepresented in the industry, across color, religion, race, ethnic and national origin, physical ability, gender and sexual identity. For more information on diversity, equity and inclusion at DeansList, please view our statement on [https://www.deanslistsoftware.com/about#why-equity] (Why Equity Matters) to our work.