Staff Engineer

Overview

Launched in 2017 in New York, N.Y., UPSTACK is transforming the way infrastructure is sourced and sold. Through a powerful combination of the industry's leading advisors, advanced technology, and dedicated customer support resources—UPSTACK uses actionable business intelligence to architect and source customized technology solutions for businesses of all sizes. With UPSTACK, business buyers streamline IT procurement by tapping into a single source for mission-critical technology services from hundreds of proven providers, along with the professional guidance to identify and evaluate the best solutions.  

UPSTACK recently secured a substantial equity investment from Berkshire Partners, a firm with over 35 years of investment experience and deep sector expertise in technology and communications. The investment is being used to evolve UPSTACK's intuitive technology platform, expand its product and service portfolio and accelerate its direct investments in the industry's top-producing sales agencies. To date, the company has acquired over twenty-five independent agencies to become the largest and fastest-growing agency in the technology industry. 

About the Team

At UPSTACK, the Engineering team is responsible for building software to help manage complex business processes and implementing complex system integrations. The Engineering team also works closely with the Product organization to develop and drive the long-term roadmap for our suite of software. 

Engineers at UPSTACK prioritize clarity over cleverness and done over perfect. We write testable, well-documented code that thoughtfully answers the needs of the company. We remember the human, whether that’s the user at the other end of the system or our fellow engineer. 

About the Role

The Staff Engineer is responsible for providing technical execution and leadership on UPSTACK’s growing tech team. This is a full-time role. 

Ideal Candidate Profile 

You have experience leading a team as a non-manager, by influence rather than authority. You know that the more advanced you are at understanding machines, the more important it is to understand the needs of the people using them. You have made both good and bad technical decisions and learned from all of them. You’ve worked in an environment with a high focus on system integration and data. You’re excited at the prospect of establishing engineering best practices as the organization grows. 

You are an enthusiastic teammate, who engages in collaboration and proactive discussion. You are an effective communicator who can explain technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences. You work with confidence and without ego. You have deep knowledge and exercise a high degree of ownership in your daily work. You have loosely-held, defensible ideas, and advocate for what you believe is right. You can surface your unarticulated assumptions. You are also adept at identifying and evaluating trade-offs, willing to be proven wrong, and quick to support your fellow teammates.  

Responsibilities

• Lead projects and programs from design through delivery 
• Collaborate with Product on projects, setting expectations and finding solutions 
• Participate in hiring: vet job descriptions, interview 
• Model effective development practices 
• Make tool recommendations throughout the stack 
• Architect new systems, and fit new apparatus smoothly into existing ones 
• Design and implement APIs 
• Mentor engineers 

Current Stack

• Languages 
  • Python 
  • Ruby 
  • JavaScript
• Web Frameworks
  • Rails
  • React 

• Data Storage
  • Postgres
  • Redis  

• Cloud Technologies
  • AWS
  • Lambda
  • RDS
• Data Transformation & Analysis
  • Fivetran
  • dbt
  • Tableau 

Requirements

• Able to work legally in the US 
• Willing to work during standard work hours for the US East Coast  
• Experience with React and either Rails or Python  
• Cloud technology experience (AWS, GCP, or similar)  
• Outstanding communication abilities, particularly with non-technical audiences 

Nice to Haves

• Experience with AWS  
• B2B and/or enterprise software experience  
• Collaboration with off and/or near-shore development teams  
• IT Infrastructure industry experience  
• Experience with Salesforce 
• Experience with DevOps 
• Experience with secure development practices 
• Experience with sales enablement technology 

Education Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience   

What Else We’re Expecting

• History of operating successfully in a fast-paced, high-growth technology organization 
• Exceptional core values – not only does the right thing, but does the thing right  
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills 
• High attention to detail 
• Curious, resilient self-starter with a “can-do” attitude 
• Not only adapts to but embraces change 
• Collaborative with a willingness to roll up one's sleeves and work on projects and tasks even if they fall outside of stated job responsibilities   
• Solutions-oriented problem-solver that is focused on execution 
• Entrepreneurial by nature. Not afraid to challenge the status quo in order to find better ways to get the job done 
• Data fluent; leverages empirical evidence to inform decisions and opinions 
• Demonstrated ability to work across multiple time zones and cultures