Staff Engineer Full Stack, Ruby on Rails

As a Staff Engineer Full Stack, Ruby on Rails at Caribou, your core responsibilities encompass leading the Loan Origination team, enhancing our Ruby on Rails platform, and overseeing the technical debt management process. You will collaborate closely with product and design teams, mentor fellow engineers, and contribute to agile work processes, ensuring the delivery of top-notch software. Additionally, you'll play a vital role in defining engineering practices within Caribou.

To apply for the Staff Engineer Full Stack position at Caribou, candidates should have substantial experience in leading engineering teams, particularly with Ruby on Rails applications. A full understanding of production software systems, effective troubleshooting, and a customer-centric mindset are essential. Additionally, applicants should demonstrate their commitment to personal growth and mentoring others in the engineering space.

Caribou fosters a vibrant and inclusive company culture that prioritizes collaboration, growth, and innovation. As a Staff Engineer Full Stack, you will work alongside diverse teams that support personal development, prioritize customer needs, and actively engage in problem-solving. Caribou's core values emphasize delivering results, helping each other, and racing towards collective goals in a supportive environment.

At Caribou, professional growth is a cornerstone of our culture. As a Staff Engineer Full Stack, you can expect numerous opportunities to expand your skills through mentoring, collaborative projects, and leadership roles. We encourage lifelong learning and provide up to $1,000 annually for professional development expenses, along with a supportive environment that values your contributions and insights.

Yes! Caribou offers flexible work arrangements for the Staff Engineer Full Stack position. While our office is based in Denver, CO, we welcome candidates who prefer to work remotely from select states, particularly those in markets like Chicago, IL, and San Francisco, CA. We believe in providing the flexibility that aligns with both the company's and employees' needs.

When leading a team as a Staff Engineer Full Stack, I prioritize open communication and collaboration. I believe in setting clear objectives, fostering an inclusive environment, and mentoring team members to help them grow. My approach also includes regularly assessing our progress and encouraging innovative solutions to challenges we encounter.

I have extensive experience developing and maintaining applications using Ruby on Rails. My background includes optimizing existing codebases, leading refactoring efforts, and enhancing application performance. This hands-on experience equips me with the skills to effectively contribute to Caribou's platform while ensuring we deliver a seamless user experience.

To mentor junior engineers, I focus on providing guidance through hands-on coaching, establishing regular check-ins, and encouraging them to take ownership of small projects. I also create a safe space for them to ask questions and share challenges, facilitating open discussions to enhance their learning and confidence.

In an agile environment, I prioritize work by closely collaborating with product owners and stakeholders to align tasks with business objectives. I employ backlog grooming sessions to ensure our sprints are focused and actionable, regularly reviewing priorities based on evolving team and customer requirements.

One challenging technical problem I faced involved a significant performance bottleneck in our application. I utilized profiling tools to identify the root cause, which was related to inefficient database queries. I refactored those queries, implemented caching solutions, and coordinated testing to verify the improvements, successfully enhancing our application’s response time.

To ensure code quality, I emphasize the importance of code reviews and pair programming sessions within my team. We also adopt automated testing practices, ensuring we have robust test coverage before merging any new code. Continuous integration pipelines further help us catch issues early in the development process.

My experience with performance optimization includes conducting thorough assessments of application performance metrics. I implement strategies such as query optimizations, caching techniques, and leveraging CDN for static assets. I am always on the lookout for areas of improvement, continually testing and fine-tuning as needed to enhance overall performance.

I want to work at Caribou because I resonate with the company’s mission of providing financial freedom to individuals. The opportunity to contribute to meaningful technology that directly impacts customers' lives excites me. Additionally, I admire Caribou's commitment to team collaboration, continuous learning, and innovation in a challenging industry.

I approach feedback as an essential part of my growth process. I actively solicit input from peers and superiors, ensuring I remain open to constructive criticism. I view every piece of feedback as an opportunity to refine my skills and enhance my contributions to the team, fostering a culture of openness and continuous improvement.

Empathy plays a crucial role in engineering teams as it helps us understand the diverse perspectives and challenges faced by team members. By fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and heard, we can enhance collaboration and creativity, leading to better problem-solving and stronger team cohesion.