Senior Software Engineer
Chicago, IL

Job Description

The engineering team at Root strives to be one of the most transformative engineering teams ever. We're changing the way that car insurance works. We're competing with companies that have been around for a century and comprise a $200B industry-and we're doing it with an astonishingly small team. We're building an Engineering Team in Chicago that will be working very closely with our telematics data. This team will play a major part in where we're headed, so we're searching for experienced Software Engineers who are looking to have a significant impact by building and leading a team from scratch.

Our tech stack includes:

Ruby / Rails backend, RSpec for testing

Javascript / React Native frontend, Mocha for testing

Small amounts of native iOS and Android

Deployment to AWS ECS using containers

Buildkite for CI

We recently raised one of the largest VC rounds ever for an Ohio technology company:

https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/22/a-new-unicorn-is-born-root-insurance-raises-100-million-for-a-1-billion-valuation/

Our team excels at delivering software to build Root's products: presently, mobile apps and a backend platform for personal auto insurance. We've shaped our team and our way of working around this. Our engineering team would not be the most transformative team at building a mobile operating system. We'd be quite bad at that. We're exceptionally good at building the type of software that is necessary to invoke change in the insurance industry.

For more information on engineering at Root see https://eng.joinroot.com/

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.

Scope of Impact: Team/Initiative/Company

What we look for in Senior Software Engineers:

Technical Skills

* Deep 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 several programming paradigms
* Solid knowledge of databases, SQL, and version control tools
* Adequate understanding of infrastructure and devops

Planning and Execution

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

Working with Others

* Provides effective and accurate technical feedback in code reviews
* Able to work across teams to tackle complex issues
* Able to positively influence other engineers, both directly and indirectly
* Works with product owners, analysts and other functions to move company's priorities forward