Staff Engineer - Full Stack, Ruby on Rails

At Caribou, we care about giving people financial freedom so they can focus on what’s most important to them. Today, less than two percent of Americans refinance their auto loans despite drastic increases in the cost of new and used cars. We see huge potential to help folks reduce their monthly auto expenses, as well as increase the predictability of those expenses over time. We do this by building technology to pair customers with community banks and credit unions, and ushering them through the process quickly. On average, our drivers save $115/month on their car loans while protecting their investment long term. 

Caribou is led by leaders from the technology, automotive, and finance industries. We’re proud to be backed by a great team of investors, including QED Investors, Goldman Sachs, Moderne Ventures, Accomplice, Link Ventures, Motley Fool Ventures and others.

About the Role

Do you thrive on working across the full stack from DB models to the screens customers interact with, collaborating with product and design on product evolution, leading refactors and designs to reduce tech debt, and sharing your knowledge to grow team capabilities? Then this may be the job for you. The Loan Origination team builds our refinance platform, supporting both human-assisted and fully digital refinance from application through title transfer working in Ruby on Rails with the additional responsibility of overall stewardship of our rails monolith for all engineering. Our approach focuses on continuous improvement by learning the customers' needs and reducing friction.

What you'll do

• Work with other Staff engineers and leadership to improve our code, striving for flexibility and agility in the face of expanding and changing business requirements
• Aid in work breakdown and agile trade offs in our scrum process, efficiently and effectively delivering great software sprint by sprint
• Participate as a non-manager leader engaged with leadership on planning and partner business development discussions
• Partner with Product Owners to understand the market and business context for your product, participating in a collaborative environment for product design and evolution
• Mentor and coach the engineers on your team to expand their technical skills
• Play a leadership role in defining and evolving how Engineering works at Caribou

This role may work remotely from a state where Caribou operates.  Candidates in the greater Denver, CO market may also work hybrid or in-office from our Caribou office in downtown. 

About the Role

Do you thrive on working across the full stack from DB models to the screens customers interact with? This may be the role for you! We are seeking a full-stack software engineer who will collaborate closely with product and design to define requirements, drive iterative development, lead refactoring efforts to reduce technical debt and mentor teammates to build collective knowledge and capabilities. The Customer Acquisition team builds our borrower refi application UX and API for partner integrations, working in React/TypeScript/Node.js and Ruby on Rails monolith. We are embarking on a migration from React to Hotwire Stimulus in Rails. Our approach focuses on continuous improvement by learning the customers' needs and reducing friction.

What you'll do

• Work with other Staff engineers and leadership to improve our code, striving for flexibility and agility in the face of expanding and changing business requirements
• Mentor and coach the engineers on the team to expand their skillsets through peer programming, coaching, and being a multiplier of leadership
• Aid in work breakdown and agile trade offs in our scrum process, efficiently and effectively delivering great software sprint by sprint
• Participate as a non-manager leader engaged with leadership on planning and partner business development discussions
• Partner with Product Owners to understand the market and business context for your product, participating in a collaborative environment for product design and evolution
• Play a leadership role in defining and evolving how Engineering works at Caribou

This role may work remotely from a state where Caribou operates with a preference for the Chicago IL, Denver, CO, or San Francisco, CA markets.* Alternatively this role can be based out of our Caribou office in Denver, CO

Interview Roadmap:

• Recruiter phone interview (30 mins)
• At-home ruby coding assessment (30-60 mins)
• Hiring Manager video interview (60 mins)
• Final interview loop (combined 4 hrs scheduled across 1-4 business days):
  • System Design Interview (60 mins)
  • Pair Programing/Coding Interview (60 mins)
  • Interaction & Impact Interview (60 mins)
  • Partnership & Delivery Interview (60 mins)

What we look for

• Prior work leading engineers maintaining and improving a Ruby on Rails monolith 
• Customer-focused engineers with an understanding of and passion for well-crafted software
• Driven, life-long learners committed to expanding their skills in both leadership and engineering
• Full-stack understanding of production software systems from hosts and HTML, to containers and caches, to databases and DNS, to runtimes and REST
• Leaders with a commitment to bringing out the best in those around them as a measure of their success
• Seasoned engineers with experience deploying, operating, and owning their products in production, troubleshooting and resolving production incidents

How we will take care of you

Everyone at Caribou is a valued team member. Our compensation and benefits package includes: 

• Competitive compensation: $170-210k
• Eligible for annual performance based bonus
• Equity options
• 401k savings program
• Generous paid time off including: Flexible Time Off (FTO) for all employees and 100% paid parental leave for all parents.
• Robust wellness benefits including company-paid plans for health, dental, vision, mental health, disability and basic life insurance.
• Optional benefits to suit your individual circumstances such as HSAs, FSAs, supplemental life and medical insurance, and pet insurance.
• Up to $1,000 per year for eligible professional development expenses.

We come from all walks of life and are joined together by our shared values, which guide our work and how we work together. 

• Give a damn. What we’re doing matters. We show up determined to deliver results, and we love it.
• Velocity. We’re intentional about where we’re going and we race towards it.  
• Make the assist. We have diverse strengths. We offer and ask for help so we all win.  

Caribou is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, marital status, military or protected veteran status, genetics, or any other characteristic protected by law. This position is not restricted solely to the responsibilities listed above, and the scope and responsibilities are subject to change. A pre-employment background check is required as a condition of employment.

*Caribou does not currently have employee operations in AL, AK, AR, CT, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, ME, MI, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VT, WV, WY.

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