Frontend Engineer Full-time

We’re looking for a frontend engineer to work on Mathesar, a brand new open source project that will enable users of all skill levels to store, visualize, and collaborate with others on data. We’re currently working hard on our alpha version, which we are aiming to ship by November 2021. We’re based out of the nonprofit Center of Complex Interventions (CCI) and are advised by Joi Ito and Reid Hoffman.

The Position

You’ll be collaborating closely with everyone on the existing Mathesar team to build out the frontend for the project. Our frontend stack is Svelte and TypeScript, and our initial roadmap for the MVP is on GitHub.

We’re working on interesting problems related to simplifying and automating database operations to make them easy to work with for non-technical users without sacrificing flexibility for advanced users. We’re still working on the first version of the product, so there’s ample opportunity to provide input into the direction of the project from both the technical and usability perspectives. You’ll also have opportunities to contribute to backend and infrastructure work if you desire – we are an informal team.

This position also involves ownership in building an active community around the product, including participating in conversations with both contributors and users, mentoring for programs like Google Summer of Code, and maintaining documentation, reviewing pull requests, and so on.

We are a fully distributed team and work mostly asynchronously via Matrix and GitHub Discussions. You can be located anywhere in the world, as long as you are can make time between 2 PM and 8 PM UTC for occasional video calls and team events.

Qualifications

We expect you to:

• have had production experience with architecting, building, and deploying complex data-driven frontend applications using a modern JavaScript framework such as Svelte, Vue, or React.
• have had experience with ensuring frontend accessibility, scalability, and performance.
• have experience working professionally within an engineering team.
• have excellent verbal communication skills in English.
• enjoy explaining your ideas quickly, clearly, and comprehensively in writing.
• work indpendently, build good working relationships remotely, and communicate proactively.
• be an advocate for an exceptional user experience.
• be interested in building an open source community and helping others contribute to the project.
• be curious and enjoy learning new things.

You get bonus points if you have experience with any of the following:

• Svelte and TypeScript.
• Python (especially Django or SQL Alchemy).
• Relational databases and SQL.
• Open source contribution or community building.
• Remote (especially asynchronous) work.
• Collaborating with designers.
• Usability testing.

Interview Process

The interview process will consist of four rounds:

• Round 1: 1 hour technical interview with our frontend engineer.
• Round 2: We’ll assign you an open issue on the Mathesar repository and ask you to complete it. This is aimed at giving everyone involved a look at what it would be like to work together day to day.
• Round 3: 1 hour interview with our designer and backend engineer.
• Round 4: 45 min interview with our project lead.

The final candidate will also have a conversation with CCI’s Executive Director to learn more about the organization.

Salary and Benefits

You will be a salaried employee if you’re in the US and an independent contractor otherwise. We offer a competitive salary in the nonprofit sector. We also have a budget for learning material (books, courses, etc.) and conferences.

US employees have the following benefits:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage (CCI covers 80% of employee costs and 70% of dependent costs for medical insurance and 50% of employee costs for dental and vision insurance).
• Life insurance coverage
• 401(k)

How to Apply

Please fill out this application form.

You are also welcome to join our community and ask any questions you might have or contribute to the project.

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

The Center of Complex Interventions, Inc. (CCI) is an equal opportunity employer. CCI complies with and adheres to all United States state and federal anti-discrimination laws with respect to its employment practices. CCI does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin or ancestry, age, or disability or any other category protected under state or federal law. This policy extends to recruiting, hiring, compensation, benefits, assignment, working conditions, termination, re-employment, employee treatment, and all other terms, conditions and privileges of employment. All employment-related decisions are made on a nondiscriminatory basis so as to further the principle of equal employment opportunity.