[Hiring] engineering team lead (payments) @soona

about the engineering team lead (payments) role:

soona is looking for an engineering team lead with a passion for craft and an eye for quality. at soona you will be a major player in the ongoing development of soona’s unique tech platform and client experience, specifically focused on driving our payments processing capabilities. engineering team leads at soona are responsible for leading, developing, and managing the staff that develops, supports, and maintains technical solutions within the technology department. this includes system development, deployment, integration, and management. you will also get to play a vital role in growing a new team, mentoring teammates, developing the department culture, and creating the next wave of exciting tech that will unlock soona’s ability to scale up in 2023 and beyond.

this is a full-time remote position that will report directly to the senior director of engineering.

about tech at soona:

at soona, we’re focused on building a world-class engineering and data organization. we’re developing a highly-scalable platform for real-time customer engagement with our studio creatives and technology that optimizes the content they create. our typical engineering and data projects blend SaaS with e-commerce, providing opportunities to work on everything from app engineering and cloud/server architecture to computer vision and logistics/routing optimization. our tech stack consists primarily of ruby on rails, javascript vue, and python. we pride ourselves on our culture of innovation, community engagement, technical mentorship, and caring for the individual.

about soona:

soona makes it possible for brands to create professional photo and video starting at $39. our studios give customers a playground for creating their content and our online platform makes it possible for any product company in the world to experience a remote shoot. we are creating a fast casual content revolution!

soona is currently supporting a remote work environment for this role; however, candidates should be able to work in mst or cst time zones. for flex hybrid work environments, we also have office spaces in Denver, Colorado + Minneapolis, Minnesota, if that’s your thing.

our hiring philosophy:

at soona, we look for representation across all intersectionalities of identities, specifically within underrepresented groups. it is these differences that push us towards innovation, curiosity, and success in our business. we believe in providing equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by laws or regulations in the locations we operate.

this means that timelines of processes may be impacted, depending on our applications. the first round interviews for this position will begin the week of February 20.

Requirements

an ideal candidate can:

• maintain and take ownership over payments processing - handling millions of dollars per year.
• handle payment processing including, but not limited to, credit and debit cards, account credits, and ACH payment.
• implement and deliver new payment features leading to higher checkout conversion.
• troubleshoot transaction issues and solve customer inquiries in a timely fashion; coordinate solutions with operations, finance, product, and technical teams.
• provide solution implementation including systems configurations, integration testing, and user training.
• refactor existing services to improve scalability, security, and reliability.
• personally connect with each individual teammate through weekly one on ones to better understand what they need to be successful, ship high quality code at a high output, and ultimately ensure retention of our top performers.
• demonstrate a high level of creativity, listening skills, and technical skills.
• exceptional ability to receive and deliver actionable feedback in all directions.
• represent and advocate for the team at company and division-wide meetings.
• act as an extension of senior leadership when communicating initiatives, process changes, and project requirements.
• translate the more technical work and decisions to various stakeholders, allowing those who are working hands-on with the project to focus on the task itself when necessary.
• keep projects aligned with the company’s goals and values, and consistently remove blockers from teammates’ workflows.
• ability to balance retention and recruiting requirements. aid in identifying top performers and high leadership potential teammates.
• demonstrate advanced coding skills while also committing to managing people and priorities.
• develop psychological safety within the team. more specifically, encourage an environment where there is collective understanding that everyone can speak up, contribute ideas, make mistakes, and grow without embarrassment or punishment.
• more than anything, demonstrate a willingness and desire to go above and beyond in supporting the company’s massive goals, the department's rapid growth, and their peers' professional development.

has experience in:

• BS in Computer Science preferred but not required - or related field (ie: finance, mathematics, etc.)
• understanding of the payments processing industry.
• managing software development teams and software development lifecycles.
• making decisions regarding resource allocation, personnel required management, and vendor management.
• ACH/EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) and credit card payment processing.
• PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) requirements.
• hands-on coding including Ruby on Rails, Vue JS, PostgreSQL, and modern distributed system architecture such as AWS.
• strong with relational database design and querying (PostgreSQL).
• experience developing a number of Ruby on Rails multi-tier web-based applications or equivalent.
• experience with front-end web development (Javascript, Vue).
• experience with developing APIs and Microservices.
• various Agile development methodologies.
• strong familiarity with payment compliance regulations.
• experience working with payment processor integrations, preferably (but not restricted to) Stripe; other examples would be Adyen, Paypal, Sepa, etc.
• solid experience in building highly scalable, distributed, loosely coupled systems.
• experience working with both inbound (from customers) and outbound (to vendors) payment processing.
• 5+ years of server-side software development experience.
• 5+ years of experience in object-oriented programming, preferably in (but not restricted to) Ruby on Rails.

Benefits

we can offer:

• strong starting salary: $160,000 - $190,000
• stock options in a booming startup
• benefits & perks + unlimited pto + intentional culture
• really badass headshots

candidates should:

• share their favorite twitter or instagram feed in their cover letter