Senior Software Engineer

Job Description

\n Aboutrole:\n

Thisroleisthesecond-in-commandwithintheengineeringteam.Thetechleadsplitstheirtimeacrosscoding,managing,planning,andstakeholderwork-meaningforlargepartsofanygivenday,thispersonisthemostseniorengineeractivelyworkinginthecodebase.Theymakeimplementationdecisionsindependentlyandkeeptheteamunblockedduringworkinghourswhenthetechleadisunavailable.

Keyresponsibilities:\n

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1. Leadend-to-enddeliveryoffeaturesacrosstheLearningPortalandsupportingservices-scoping,building,andshippingrequiringjustminimaldirectiononimplementation
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2. Proposetechnicalapproachesandwritedesigndocsfornon-trivialwork,bringingforwardrecommendationsbyaligningwiththeteamandteamlead
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3. Givethorough,constructivecodereviewsonpeers'PRs
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4. Participateinplanningwithrealisticestimatesandsurfacedrisks
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5. Flagtechdebt,performancerisks,andarchitecturalconcernsearly.Notexpectedtodecidethefixforeverything,butexpectedtospotproblemsbeforetheyescalate
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6. Ensuretestcoveragewhereitmatters(notjustforcoveragemetrics)
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7. Keepdocumentationcurrentforallsystemstheyownsotheteamneverdependsontheiravailabilitytounderstandtheirwork
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8. Considersthestudentexperienceaspartoftechnicaldecision-making-notaboveengineeringstandards,butalongsidethem
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9. FollowandreinforceInnerSourceprinciples:cleardocs,async-firstcollaboration,modulardesign
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10. Keeptheteamunblockedduringworkinghours.Whenthetechleadisinmeetingsorunavailable,they'rethepersonothersturnto
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Corecompetencies:\n

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• Designingcleanboundariesbetweenserver&client,gooduseofbothframeworkcapabilities(Next)andconventionalwebdesignprinciples
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• DatamodelingdecisionsSupabase/Postgresschemadesign,etc.)
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• Consistentabstractions(hooks,APIpatterns,etc.)thattheteamcanfollow
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• Knowingwhennottoabstract-avoidingprematureDRY
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• Observability-logging,errortracking,understandingwhattomonitor
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• Authflows(SupabaseAuth,RBAC,middleware-basedprotection)
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• Inputvalidationatsystemboundaries
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• WritingPRsthatreviewerscanactuallyfollow
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• Breakinglargechangesintoreviewable,deployable+meaningfulincrements
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• Knowingwhentospike/prototypevs.planthoroughly
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• Shippingoverperfection-butknowingwheretodrawtheline
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• Goodsenseofprioritisationwhenitcomestoplanningoutissues
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• Makingbuild-vs-buydecisions(e.g.,usingSupabaseinsteadofrollingcustomauth)
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Idealcandidateattributes:\n

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• Knowswhentotradeoffscope,quality,andspeedappropriatelyforthesituation.Doesn'tover-engineerwhentheteamneedstomovefast,anddoesn'tcutcornerswhenreliabilitymatters.Makespragmaticcallswithoutneedingtoescalateeverydecision
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• Takesfeaturesfromstarttofinishwithoutneedingtobechased.Ifsomething'satrisk,raisesitearly
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• Structuredissues,thoughtfulreviews,cleardocumentation,andLinearworkflow.Communicatesclearlyenoughthatasyncworkdoesn'tcreatebottlenecks
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• Consistentlydeliversoncommitments.Theteamcancountonyourworkbeingdone,reviewed,andshippedwithoutsurprises.Focusedonoutputsandoutcomes,notinputsandhours
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• Figuresthingsoutwithincompleteinformation.Doesn'twaitforperfectspecsordetailedinstructionstomakeprogress
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