Software Engineer II, Backend Developer

100% Remote.

The engineering team at Root strives to be one of the most transformative engineering teams ever. We’re changing the way an industry works by leveraging technology and data to build the best products possible. Even with our significant growth, we operate in small teams that are given ownership over projects and results. We’ve found that the people closest to the problems are the best at solving them. We’re actively hiring Engineers remotely and excited to announce that Root is a “work where it works best” company. Meaning we will support you working in whatever location that works best for you across the US. We will continue to have our headquarters in Columbus and offices in other locations to give more flexibility and more choice about how we live and work.

Our tech stack includes:

• Ruby / Rails backend, RSpec for testing
• Javascript / React Native frontend, Mocha for testing
• Small amounts of native iOS and Android
• Small amounts of Rust for high performance use cases
• Deployment to AWS ECS using containers
• Buildkite for CI

Our team excels at delivering software to solve the problems in front of us at Root: presently, a suite of world-class mobile, web, and server-based products obsessed with the customer experience. We’ve shaped our team and process around this; we know that constant iteration and experimentation produce the best results.

We divide the areas of responsibility for engineers into three major areas:

Technical: The skills and knowledge that make up an engineer’s basic problem-solving toolbox.

Planning and Execution: The ability to plan and execute assigned work beyond basic technical solutions.

Working with Others: The ability to work effectively with other engineers and people in other functions.

What we look for in Software Engineer IIs on URRO:

Our team is responsible for a number of high-priority projects for the company. We are focused on implementing full-stack features with the following goals: 

• Data collection and management to strengthen our underwriting operations
• Optimizing how we interact with third party data vendors and utilize incoming data 

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of dynamic languages, client-server architecture, and web technologies
• Incorporates testing and thinks about reliability as a natural part of delivering working software
• Experienced with multiple programming paradigms
• Substantial knowledge of databases, SQL, and version control tools
• Some understanding of infrastructure and devops

Planning and Execution

• Plans and completes medium complexity tasks/projects without supervision
• Foresees issues and requirements for projects and features
• Completes pre-planned tasks in an efficient manner
• Can break down initiatives into incrementally implementable deliverables with appropriate detail
• Thinks critically about work to guarantee business functionality
• Understands and takes into account business goals into their technical decisions

Working with Others

• Able to work with other engineers on the team to tackle complex issues
• Able to coach less experienced engineers on software engineering techniques and best practices
• Able to respond to feedback constructively and provide high-quality, actionable feedback to peers 
• Work closely with Product to deliver high-quality features
• Communicates clearly and proactively with teammates and stakeholders across multiple departments