NYC, Any
Experienced Backend Developer
Sanctuary Computer (sanctu • compu) is a technology studio with a heart in NYC and a team that’s globally distributed. We’re building a different type of agency and are looking for great people to join the safest place on earth for creatives.
We're a small team of makers focused on building just a few high quality products each year. We don’t have account managers, middle managers, or project managers. Our designers and developers work directly with our clients to stay nimble and to quickly ship high-grade work with precision.
Since 2015, we’ve helped industry leaders like Adobe, General Electric, Nike, Stripe, and The Nobel Prize. We also build compelling digital products for early-to-mid stage startups across web, Android/iOS, and IoT so long as the project aligns with Our Moral Compass.
? We care deeply about building great products for a diverse set of users, and to do that well, we need people who think through a wide lens of different experiences.
At the current time, we are holding space for individuals who are underrepresented in our industry. If you feel that's you, please reach out!
Garden3D (our collective umbrella studio) currently consists of:
Garden3D (our collective umbrella studio) currently consists of:
- 55.88% White, 44.12% BIPOC
- 55.88% Male, 32.35% Female, 11.77% Transgender, Gender-Fluid, Nonbinary, and Gender-Nonconforming
→ We track these statistics closely, talk about them openly, and work to improve them year over year.
? Who we’re looking for:
Right now, we’re looking for a late-mid-to-senior level developer with an interest in functional programming, IoT, backend and systems engineering.
This person should have at least 3+ years experience working in a similar engineering role, a computer science degree, and total fluency with at least one of the following: Ruby on Rails, Elixir Phoenix, Python's Django (Server rendered & API).
The person we’re looking for is happy, relaxed and easy to get along with. They’re flexible on anything except conceits that will lower their usually outstanding work quality. They work “smart”, by carefully managing their workflow and staggering features that have dependencies intelligently — they prefer deep work but are OK coming up to the surface now and then for top level / strategic conversations.
We believe people with backgrounds or interests in design, art, music, food or fashion tend to have a well rounded sense of design & quality — so a variety of hobbies or side projects is a big nice to have!
? Key Technology Competencies:
- Extensive Backend Experience with one of Ruby on Rails, Elixir Phoenix, Python Django, or Node Express.
- Extensive Javascript Experience with one of React, React Native, Ember, Angular, Vue or Elm, and general familiarity with at least one other.
- Fluency in SQL & database operations, and extensive experience with one of PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL or even SQLite.
- Fluency in HTTP, Status Codes, Security Standards and other Web protocols & patterns.
- Extensive experience with API Design, and knowledge of oAuth2.0, JSONAPI, GraphQL, JSON Web Tokens and other such patterns.
- Extensive experience with AWS (or equivalent) and a core understanding of best practices such as IAM & credential management.
- Production Experience with one Heroku, Cloud66, Elastic Beanstalk, EC2 or Docker.
? Nice to Have Competencies:
We’re always pitching for new and exciting technology niches. Some of the areas below are relevant to us!
- Elixir Phoenix, Django, Rocket, .NET or similar, and a general familiarity with the backend landscape.
- Open Source Contributions & experience with Semantic Versioning.
- Experience in Hardware, Firmware, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality.
- Native IDEs, Languages & Low Level experience, XCode, Android Studio, Swift, Rust, C & C++, Clang & LLVM, Electron, Nan & V8.
- eCommerce Experience, ideally with Spree, Solidus, Swell, Stripe & Stripe Connect.
- Hands on experience Zenhub, Trello, Jira or similar.
? How we interview:
Our interview process starts with a call to where you get to meet a few members of our team. From there we’ll ask appropriate candidates to take part in a technical exercise which helps illustrate skill level and comfort.
→ It’s also a great way to see what it’s like to work with us and help support folks who may not have the ‘right title’ but have the experience and technical know-how for the role.
? How we set salaries:
Most (normal) companies will offer a potential employee a salary. At Sanctuary however, we ask that our potential employees offer a salary back to us, using our skill tree - the same system we use to allow individuals to set their own salaries through peer reviews.
→ This is something we do to fight inherent bias and salary discrimination in the tech industry (and you know your own skills a lot better than we do)!
?? How we work:
We believe that there’s a better balance between the poles of freelancing & full time, and for that reason Sanctuary works differently to most shops:
- Profit Sharing: Every 12 months, we put aside a portion of profit earned throughout the year to be distributed to every member, through a simple calculation based on the overall team efficiency throughout the year, and time that each team member has been with Sanctuary.
- 100% Healthcare, Dental & Vision: Unlike most US companies, we offer at least one of our four healthcare plans at 100% employer coverage (no cost to the employee). This usually means a saving of 3 - 6k USD a year for the individual!
- Freedom Fridays: In the spirit of Yvon Chouinard’s “Let My People Go Surfing”, the last Friday of every month is a day off. We think that well rested, calm and thoughtful team members make far better decisions, and 12 extra long weekends each year helps everyone stay focused.
- 150% Carbon Negative: Our studio offsets 150% of the carbon we use to do business each year, dated back to our founding in 2015. We turn down work that is not in-line with our morals, and we encourage our peers to do the same. We were certified climate neutral earlier this year.
- A TON of Time Off: We take 15 days PTO, 7 days sick leave, all major US holidays, the last friday of every month, and we close between Christmas & New Years, making for 40+ paid days off each year.
- Strong Morals: This year alone, we've turned down somewhere between $200k - $300k of work that didn't meet our moral standards. (Most of that was DTC brands that can't show a valid sustainability initiative).
- Generous Parental Leave Policy: We give new parents 4 months paid leave, and make no distinction between primary and secondary care givers.
- Async & Decentralized: We use tools optimized for calm, thoughtful communication, and opt for async whenever possible. We fight hard to maintain our focus time.
- Choose your own Timezone & Work Hours: We don't mind where or when you work. Just look out for your team, get your work done, and make your meetings.
- Remote Friendly: In the wake of COVID-19, our company has transitioned to remote working, and in the process have evolved to make our workplace more decentralized, and democratized in the process.
- Optional 401k: Our payroll provider integrations with Slavic401k to provide Sanctuary employees a way to save for retirement, without all that tax.
- Optional 4-Day Employment: Prefer to work 4 day weeks? Opt in at 80% of our salary and benefits.
- Transparency & Ownership: We release out Profit & Loss statements to the community each year, open source our best ideas, and talk business & money with everyone in the company. We’re proud to run our business with integrity, and for that reason we share everything with our team & community.
- Ideas & Products: In our spare studio time, we work to build our own open source or internal products to diversify & bolster our income. We create amazing technology products for our clients, so why not for the studio?
→ Read more on our Substack, over here, or our Medium, over there.
View the full job description (with pictures!) here.
View the full job description (with pictures!) here.
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