Backend Platform Software Engineer, Top Hat
Interactive software for higher education
Be an early applicant
Interactive software for higher education
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
201-500 employees
Company mission
To empower educators to engage students and unleash their potential.
Role
Who you are
- Our tools feature Python (FastAPI and Django), TypeScript (React), and PostgreSQL
- While experience with these technologies is preferred, we are open to candidates with strong systems programming experience who are interested in working with them full-time and can demonstrate their ability to use them effectively during our hiring process
- Experience: Four (4) or more years of industry experience, or two (2) or more years of industry experience with a relevant research-based master's or PhD degree
- At least two (2) of those years must have been spent working with large code bases (roughly one million lines or more) featuring complex algorithms and data structures, such as those found in content management systems, high-frequency trading systems, database engines, web browsers, game engines, operating systems, and other performance-sensitive systems
- Knowledge: You possess a deep understanding of web fundamentals, including TCP/TLS/HTTP protocols, cache architectures, queuing theory, concurrency primitives, database internals, information security, and Linux/POSIX systems programming
- Strong Analytical Skills: Your ability to quickly navigate and understand large, unfamiliar code bases to identify key components and implement effective solutions
- Autonomous Problem Solving: You can independently break down problems with clear outcomes but limited direction into manageable steps to solve, seeking and incorporating feedback to guide your approach and refine your deliverables
- Data Orientation: You focus on data and efficient operations when designing solutions, rather than on code structures. You use measurements and data to improve the design of new and existing solutions
- Desire to Dive Deep: A proven ability to remove abstractions and work at lower levels to maximize the performance and reliability of the systems you work on
- Strong Communication Skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, active listening skills, and the ability to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical audiences
- A Commitment to Quality: You take pride in writing reliable, tested, and well-documented code. You take full responsibility for the quality of your work and the existing code you work on
- You actively engage with the feedback of others during code reviews and pay close attention to detail when providing feedback on others' work
What the job involves
- We are looking for a Software Engineer to join our Core Backend Team
- This team is responsible for building and maintaining the underlying systems and tools our developers and customer support rely on every day
- Our team thrives on a deep understanding of our technology and direction, and collaborates with people across the company to build the foundation they need to be successful
- With autonomy and data-driven iteration, you'll play a critical role in building and maintaining Top Hat's backend systems and tools, empowering developers to build products that spark better teaching and learning for a brighter world
- A role for a developer's developer. You'll be working on tools and systems that help other developers in the company
- This role is all about creating and maintaining tools and services that make daily tasks easier, boost workflow, and improve processes
- Responsibility to keep the most important systems in a company working well and make them even better
- You'll be solving problems related to improving and contributing to the largest systems that have the most significant impact behind the scenes. People to learn from and share with all the time
- Since our work covers the whole codebase, you'll get to learn about different systems, tools, and architectures
- You'll get to work with some of the smartest people out there, gaining a deep understanding of systems and technology and applying it to real-world systems at scale
- The freedom to shape your own projects and work in a way that suits you best. We trust you to take the lead and make decisions that matter
- It’s all about giving you the space to be creative and do your best work
Our take
Top Hat is at the apex of two major trends in education: the digitisation of platforms for content and the rising costs of higher education for students. By digitising work largely created by professors, Top Hat has delivered engaging content at lower cost for students across Canada and North America.
Where traditional publishers rely on analogue processes to provide high-quality but largely unengaging, uninteractive and expensive textbooks, Top Hat markets the platform to professors to publish their own interactive multimedia online textbooks. This gives them a cut and builds a holistic student experience on top.
The product has now had so much success that Top Hat’s strategy has evolved to include buying those conventional publishers of postsecondary course materials. This means the company can shift those quality materials into digitally distributed versions and make them available on a subscription basis.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
12% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Feb 2021
$130m
SERIES E
Feb 2020
$55m
SERIES D
Total funding: $234.9m
Company benefits
- Professional learning and development for all role levels
- The latest and greatest technology to do your job
- An awesome and welcoming Toronto HQ
- Competitive benefits and health/lifestyle spending accounts
- A management team focused on performance, growth, engagement and connection
- Employee-led, exec sponsored employee resource groups
Company HQ
Downtown Toronto, Toronto, ON
Leadership
Maggie (Moylan) Leen
(CEO & CMO)Formerly VP of Marketing and Communications, Medical and Healthcare at Adtalem Global Education. Also spent 14 years at Pearson and 2 years at Community Advocates.
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