Backend Typescript Engineer at Small DevTools Startup

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Flightcontrol is a 5 person developer experience startup founded by the creator of Blitz.js. But we’re not the macho, overworked team that “startup” might bring to mind. We’re intentionally building the most life-giving and fulfilling company possible, and we want you to join us! :)

Flightcontrol is solving the huge gap between Heroku and AWS

Today there is a big tradeoff between Heroku (and it’s derivatives) which is easy to use but very limiting and restricting, and AWS which gives you full power and control but is a nightmare to use. We solve this by providing a layer on top of a company’s own AWS account that makes it very easy to use while still letting them pop the hood and leverage the raw power of AWS directly.

We recently went through Y Combinator and have raised $3.3M.

Intrigued? Read more about our company here.

Meet Our Current Team of 5

1. Brandon Bayer, Founder and CEO. Dayton, Ohio. You might know me as the creator of Blitz.js. Although highly technical, my strengths are product design and marketing. My superpower is simplicity. My top values that define everything I do are excellence, equality, inclusion, and freedom. Outside of work I love traveling, flying airplanes and helicopters, and rock climbing. My intention is to build the best company to work for in the world. I’m here to support you and help make your dreams come true.
2. Mina Abadir, Cofounder and CTO. Toronto, Canada. Mina is the technical genius that brings our core product features to life. He’s deeply authentic and caring, loves to laugh, and greatly enjoys a good video game. His superpower is empathy.
3. Aleksandra Sikora, Lead Blitz Maintainer. Poland. She joined last fall as our first employee, mostly maintaining Blitz but has also been helping tremendously on Flightcontrol. She’s incredibly intelligent and talented, and loves traveling, hiking, and rock climbing. She brings so much joy and life to our team!
4. Dillon Raphael, Senior Blitz Maintainer. Toronto, Canada. He joined at the end of March and has such passion and drive to create amazing things in the world. He’s incredibly sincere and loyal, and loves boxing. He brings so much passion and connection to our team!
5. Blake Bayer, Junior Software Engineer. Dayton, Ohio. Formerly a nurse, Blake just recently joined at the end of April. This is his first job in tech, and he continually impresses everyone on the team with his ability to learn and implement complex things quickly. He loves motorcycles, rock climbing, and learning new things.
6. You? 😉

We need you to help us design and build our core product features

You will work alongside Mina, cofounder & CTO, to design and develop our core platform functionality. You can see our public roadmap here. There are a ton of hard problems you’ll help us solve.

Our core product boils down to a very sophisticated orchestration system that integrates with many different services, currently all in AWS but we’ll also be adding third-party integrations too.

Technology

We use Typescript and Temporal to build all our AWS integrations. Temporal is an incredible technology that came out of Uber for managing complex backend workflows. It simplifies complexity in a similar way to how async/await simplifies promises and callbacks. We don’t expect you to know Temporal — we’ll help you get up to speed on it as much as you need.

For Flightcontrol features, we usually use a Cloudformation stack to create the initial service, but after that we use the AWS Typescript SDK to make direct API calls for updating and changing services.

Responsibilities

1. Help design, build, and support core features
2. Help with customer support
3. Help onboard new customers
4. If you are interested, also DevRel work (writing, livestreams, speaking at conferences)

Requirements

• 1+ years experience with backend software engineering
• Know JavaScript or Typescript
• Some experience working with AWS

Nice to have

• Experience with Docker and Linux
• Experience with CloudFormation
• Experience with both server and serverless infrastructure
• Advanced experience with AWS
• Understanding of security and networking best practices
• Experience with Temporal

You Are Someone Who

• Is Kind. We are a team that seeks to work really well together by building deep relationships. We have each other’s backs. We care about and check in on each other, and we enjoy being together. We have company retreats 2-3 times per year for 1-2 weeks at a time.
• Is Collaborative. We all work closely together to design and develop the best product possible. We want someone who is humble but will bring your own ideas on how to be more excellent.
• Takes Ownership. We offer significant equity because we want you to think at a higher level than just your daily tasks. We want you to help us shape the business. We need someone who loves to dig in and do what it takes to figure things out. And we want someone who is good at turning vague ideas into magnificence.
• Has a Growth Mindset. It matters more where you are going than where you are today. We’re looking for someone who loves to grow, improve, and learn new things.
• Is good at Communication. You need to be fluent in english and good at writing.
• Within timezone UTC-7 (PST) to UTC+2 (CEST)

Your Typical Week at Flightcontrol

On Monday, depending on your timezone, you’ll start your morning or afternoon with a coffee chat where everyone is together for causal conversation. After that, you’ll join our Flightcontrol planning session with the entire Flightcontrol product team. In this planning session, we prioritize tasks for that week that vary between key customer issues, bugs, and new features. We’re currently working in 1 week cycles, but we’re always monitoring if we need to change our process to work more effectively.

Tuesday is a no meeting day for several of us, so you’ll be focused on your work.

On Wednesday you’ll have your weekly 1 on 1 with Brandon, the CEO. This is your time to ask for what you want, bring up issues, ask hard questions, and give and receive feedback. Brandon takes feedback very seriously and is quick to make needed changes.

Thursday and Friday are your time. Sometimes we’ll have another causal company hangout for anyone who wants to join.

Overall, your work hours are flexible and up to you. Some of us work a standard 9-5 type of deal while others have varying schedules.

You’ll do some pairing with Mina, or someone else on the team, any time you need extra help or context. Or if you simply want some social time since we’re remote, and we don’t have typical in-person social things.

Since we’re a startup, the journey from idea to building to shipping will certainly be a bit of a roller coaster. But we're all on the roller coaster together, learning and iterating as quickly as we can. As long as we stick to our values and show up for each other with curiosity, compassion, and collaboration, we can likely overcome just about anything together.

You Can Growth With Us

We want you to grow with us as much as you desire. As we scale, you’ll be able to grow into almost any role you can imagine. Want to become one of the very best developers in the world? We’ll help train you. Want to become a manager? We’ll make it happen. Want to be an executive? Let’s figure that out. We want you to be with us as long as you are extremely happy. If we get to place were you aren’t happy, we’ll do everything we can to help you find a place where you are.

Our Code of Excellence

• Go above and beyond. We’re not here to half-way do anything. If we’re going to do something, we’re going to do a stellar job.
• Tell the truth even when it hurts. We don’t tell white lies, and we don’t deceive. Even when it costs.
• Take care of you and yours first, work second. Nothing matters more than family and close relationships. We never sacrifice them for work.
• Treat people better than they deserve. Kindness and generosity guides how we treat everyone, including teammates and customers.
• Give and receive feedback. Feedback is essential for growth. We highly value giving and receiving informal, constructive feedback between all members of the team, and then taking prompt action on that feedback.
• Have a life outside work. It can be anything, hobbies, side projects, reading, etc. As long as you have something and work isn’t all you live for.
• Eradicate stress. Stress is a killer, and we work to eliminate it through any means, including systems, exercise, and meditation.
• Nothing is impossible. We believe we can create any future we imagine, and we lean into solving the things that seem impossible.
• Build a legacy. We are here to do our very best work. Work that will inspire generations for years to come.

Salary & Benefits

• Salary USD: Junior: $80k | Mid: $110k | Senior: $145k
• Potentially Life Changing Equity via Stock Options
• Fully Remote
• Health Insurance Fully Paid For
• 32 Hour Work Week - More and more companies are finding that people accomplish the same amount of work in 32 hours as in 40 hours. Because it's hard to be fully productive at tech work for 8 hours every day.
• Minimum 4 Weeks PTO - It's critical to have good work life balance, so you must take at least 4 weeks PTO each year.
• Menstrual Leave - There's no use trying to be productive when you are suffering. Take the day(s) off as PTO, no explanation needed.
• Unlimited Sick Leave - If you are feeling crappy, you aren't going to be doing your best work. So rest, get better, then come back energized.
• 2+ In-Person Company Retreats Per Year (our next one is in Italy at the end of June)
• Open Source - We are passionate about open-source and encourage you to contribute on company time to anything that will benefit the company.
• Equipment - We'll make sure you have all the equipment you need to have an ergonomic, productive environment, including a standing desk and external monitors.
• Conferences - We're a big fan of in-person conference experiences, and encourage you to speak at and attend them. We'll fully pay for you to attend 2 conferences per year.
• Education - Budget for books or courses that are at least tangentially related to your work.