Senior Software Engineer, Perlego

£70-75k

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React
AWS
TypeScript
JavaScript
Python
Node.js
Next.js
Senior level
London

More information about location

2-5 days a week in office (Holborn, London )

Perlego

Online library of 1,000,000 academic resources

Be an early applicant

Perlego

Online library of 1,000,000 academic resources

101-200 employees

B2CEducationLearningDigital Media

Be an early applicant

£70-75k

+ Share options

React
AWS
TypeScript
JavaScript
Python
Node.js
Next.js
Senior level
London

More information about location

2-5 days a week in office (Holborn, London )

101-200 employees

B2CEducationLearningDigital Media

Company mission

Perlego's ambition is to become the world’s online learning library, a single place where learners can instantly access all of the world’s academic content for less than the price of a single book. Perlego are on a mission to make learning accessible to all.

Role

Who you are

  • Experience in implementing web applications using Javascript, React/NextJS, Python, Typescript, HTML & CSS
  • An understanding of architectural practices including: Microservices, REST, object-oriented & functional programming, relational database design and NOSQL databases
  • An excellent understanding of machine learning techniques and generative AI technology
  • Experience working with Python machine learning libraries and APIs
  • Experience working with Cloud computing providers (AWS)
  • Experience working in an Agile environment with Test Driven Development, CI/CD
  • 5+ years of commercial experience as a software engineer
  • Experience working with non-technical stakeholders and the ability to boil down complex technical problems and make them easy to understand

Desirable

  • Experience in a startup environment
  • Have a general interest in books, reading and always learning new things!

What the job involves

  • A Software Engineer with experience in Javascript, React, Python, AWS & TDD
  • You'll be joining our engineering library discovery squad, working in a product squad with a data-driven mission to develop and optimise features that drive user engagement for our D2C pipeline, improve conversion rates and enhance monetisation strategies
  • We organise ourselves into cross-functional squads, with each squad working together on a common goal
  • This role will be a part of our learning discovery squad consisting of a Technical Lead, 3 Engineers, a DevOps Engineer, QA Engineer & Product Manager
  • You will provide technical leadership and mentoring within our library discovery squad, designing, implementing, testing and documenting solutions to help the squad achieve its goal
  • You will actively develop, and supervise the development of the web application application code base utilising Typescript and Javascript where appropriate
  • You will lead the design and development of React front-end web applications, serverless NodeJS back-end applications and distributed AWS cloud systems. Within your squad you'll bring these solutions to life, writing high-quality code utilising test-driven development (Jest /Cypress), continuous integration (AWS) and code review (GitHub)
  • You will actively contribute to the design and implementation of Perlego applications using AI and machine learning technology at Perlego through writing Python APIs
  • You will lead Scrum meetings, Retrospectives and engaging in Agile processes and Test Driven Development
  • You will be collaborating closely with product managers, UX/UI designers and data team to create cohesive, user-centric experiences and ensure the smooth integration of new features

Application process

  • Call with Ben, our People & Talent Partner
  • Interview with our Engineering Manager or a Senior Engineer
  • Take-home task
  • Panel interview
  • Meet our VP Engineering & our CEO

Salary benchmarks

Our take

Perlego is pitched as a “Spotify for textbooks,” enabling students, and also professionals, who make up 30% of users, to access textbooks on a subscription basis.

They have over 1 million books from 2,300+ publishers across multiple languages. For the students, the benefit is obvious: text books are increasingly expensive to purchase, and public libraries are under resourced.

In the U.K., Perlego gives readers access to its entire digital library for £12 per month. For publishers, Perlego claims to offer a distribution method that stems revenue losses caused by piracy and the buoyant used text book market.

Perlego say they're getting a 100% increase in new subscribers month-on-month, which is very strong traction to build on. With over 15 million users on the Perlego database, growth should continue smoothly.

Kirsty headshot

Kirsty

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Insights

Many candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

40% female employees

23% employee growth in 12 months

Company

Employee endorsements

Opportunities to learn

"You'll get the chance to work on interesting projects, as long as you put yourself forward for them. Within the engineering team, we have time set..."

Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)

Oct 2024

$20m

LATE VC

Mar 2022

$50m

SERIES B

Total funding: $85m

Company benefits

  • 🏠 Flexible: We operate a flexible hybrid working environment. If you’re based in London, we’d expect to see you in the office twice a week, if you’re outside of London we’d expect to see you at least 6 times a quarter (hopefully at our quarterly socials 💃). If you’re looking for a 100% remote role, this one is not for you. At Perlego, we empower you to work in a way that supports your needs and your life. We trust people to know what works best for them. We are flexible if you wish to work remotely overseas for short-periods of time, as long as you remain a UK tax resident 🗺
  • 🧠 L&D Budget: We value continuous learning and you will have a personal L&D budget for online courses, subscriptions or books not on Perlego.
  • 🌱 Unlimited Coaching Opportunities: Unlimited access to MoreHappi, an on-demand professional coaching platform to offer all employees access to unbiased and professional coaching opportunities
  • 🤓 Learning Time: All employees have dedicated Learning Time
  • 🌴 Work-Life Balance: Everyone needs a break, so enjoy 30 days off (incl. bank holidays) + 1 additional day annual leave for every year of service (up to 35 days)
  • 🛐 Flexi Bank Holidays: We understand that not everyone aligns to the same calendar; we offer the flexibility to take your local countries bank holiday allowance for other religious or cultural days E.g. switch UK Easter Bank Holidays Days for Eid celebrations
  • ❄️ Office Reset: All employees an also enjoy the days between Boxing Day and New Year off, to reset and refresh for the New Year - this is additional to your annual leave 🙂
  • 🏖 Sabbatical: After three years there is an opportunity to take a 1-month unpaid sabbatical, and after five years there is an opportunity to take a 1-month paid sabbatical
  • 💛 Personal Days: Life happens and we want you to be able to use your annual leave for resting, relaxing or taking time out to do something you love! We offer 1 additional day a year for life events (your wedding, relocation, moving house, or a child starting school)
  • 🍏 Health & Wellbeing: We want everyone to feel healthy and happy, so we offer private medical insurance via Vitality.
  • 💭 Mental Health: All employees get access to therapy and counselling through Vitality
  • 🚲 Cycle to Work Scheme: We're committed to building a sustainable business, so we encourage cycling to work. Perlego will buy your bike of choice, which you'll pay back over 12 months
  • 🎉 Social: We're a tight-knit bunch who enjoy our time to play. We have regular social events and activities for everyone - everything from white water rafting to board game nights
  • 🍼 Family time: We believe family is really important; we offer new parents a competitive matched parental leave as well as phased return to work after 6 months leave.
  • 👼 Workplace Nursery Benefit: We want to support working parents and carers, so we offer a workplace nursery benefit scheme, helping our employees potentially save thousands of £££ against the cost of nurseries each year

Company values

  • We are leaders - We empower our users and each other to grow. We are passionate and proactive, taking ownership of the work we do, always striving to be better and embracing challenges, together, without fear of failure
  • We learn - We know the power of knowledge. We are curious, brave and never stop trying new things - always striving to continue learning and to share knowledge with each other and our users
  • We are open - We’re open & inclusive in how we build our product & the people we choose to build our product & business. We’re transparent in our communication: with users & each other, always willing to listen, learn and take on feedback
  • We care - We care about our users/publishers/partners & about creating a more fair and sustainable solution for learners globally. We care about our impact on the world and each other. We think before we act and act with kindness, always
  • What you’ll get - At Perlego we believe in the key role you will play to achieve our shared mission. You'll belong to a culture of dreamers, team players and avid learners with a flexible, value-based approach. Here, you can become your best self, and through your talent, make a real impact in the world of education

Company HQ

Holborn, London, UK

Leadership

Serial founder, having previously started Iconic Matter, a youth oriented marketing company

Started Perlego straight after his degree in Computer Science at Warwick


People progressing

Joined as a Graphic Design Intern, promoted to Junior Designer 8 months later

Joined as a UX/UI Designer, promoted to Head of Design after 7 months, then again to VP of Product after 9 months

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Perlego

Ashleigh Otter headshot

Ashleigh Otter (COO)

  • Perlego's mission is to make education accessible to all. Beyond our product, we believe we have a responsibility to support diverse communities to have equal opportunity within our industry.
  • We have partnered with LMF, a global not for profit focused on empowering, enabling & educating women and minority groups into tech, entrepreneurship & digital. Our VP of People, VP of Product, Design Director, Partner Success Director & Partner Success Manager have all signed up to be mentors to women who are breaking into the tech/digital industry
  • We have also invested in a Perlego Scholarship & Bursary program to support people from diverse backgrounds in the US & the UK to receive education in computer science and/or engineering
  • We try and foster an environment and culture of openness, to encourage and allow everyone to bring their authentic selves to work *(this well never be 'done' and is constantly evolving as we learn how to improve)*
  • When recruiting, we are proactive in our hiring process to ensure all pipelines are balanced, and we use assessment methods to remove bias from the interview process. We also offer a flexible interview process, which can be tailored to each candidates needs/availability, and make sure we are using a broad range of hiring platforms, making sure to actively include platforms that are accessed by a broad spectrum of candidates
  • This is by no means an exhaustive list of activities. As an ed-tech company we value learning, and we're committed to continuing to learn and better ourselves

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