Ruby on Rails Developer

Summary

Join a fast-growing PropTech startup as their first backend engineer and play a foundational role in building their MVP and scaling their platform. Work remotely with a flexible schedule, collaborating directly with the founders and front-end engineer. Build the backend using Ruby on Rails or Node.js, developing RESTful APIs and integrating with third-party vendor APIs. In the initial phase, focus on rapid iteration and MVP development, then transition to more scalable services as the product matures. This role offers significant ownership, impact, and professional development opportunities.

Requirements

• 3–6+ years of backend engineering experience, ideally in product-focused environments
• Strong in at least one of: Ruby on Rails, Node.js, TypeScript
• Skilled in API design, authentication flows, pagination, and rate limiting
• Experience integrating with third-party systems (REST, EDI, or webhook-based APIs)
• Pragmatic mindset: can prioritize trade-offs and avoid gold-plating in the MVP phase
• Comfortable wearing multiple hats, iterating quickly, and owning the backend product decisions
• Experience in B2B SaaS, marketplaces, real estate tech, or procurement platforms

Responsibilities

• Build the backend using a pragmatic stack like Ruby on Rails (monolith) or Node.js + TypeScript (serverless or monolith), balancing speed of development and maintainability
• Develop RESTful APIs and internal services to support core workflows: vendor integration, user auth, PO/Invoice management
• Connect to third-party vendor APIs (e.g., Home Depot, Ferguson) and build lightweight wrappers for real-time procurement data
• Handle core business logic around approvals, ROGs, and invoice reconciliation
• Use platforms like Heroku (or similar) for fast deployments, built-in CI/CD, and observability
• Prioritize simplicity and reliability over theoretical scale — iterate fast, keep things lean
• Experience with documenting the code and using patterns like RDoc for Ruby
• Refactor into more scalable services (e.g., modular architecture, serverless/event-driven workflows) as product-market fit emerges
• Support event-driven integrations, EDI pipelines, and background job orchestration
• Implement observability best practices (logging, monitoring, alerting)
• Help define engineering standards and make long-term architectural decisions

Benefits

• Professional Development : Annual learning budget for books, courses, and conferences
• Mentorship : Learn directly from startup veterans (ex-Looker, GitHub, Mulesoft)
• Impact : Help shape a growing brand with a voice that influences fintech innovation
• Inspiring Workspaces : Offices in Berlin, New York, and London, with travel opportunities
• Flat Hierarchy : Work directly with founders and have your ideas heard
• Flexible Work Setup : Equipment of your choice, strong home office support