Speed&Function

At Speed & Function, we build custom software and the high-trust teams that power it. We are currently deploying a senior engineering leader into a high-leverage, transitional role inside a growing SaaS company in the higher ed marketing space.

This is not a routine “full stack” job. It is a technical leadership embed with a dual focus: modernizing a production platform (Rails + React) and helping stabilize and uplift an engineering team in the midst of architectural change, team re-alignment, and leadership turnover.

If you have led a product through messy scaling, served as a startup CTO, or stabilized a fragile team post-founder transition, this may be one of the most meaningful opportunities you’ll see this year.

🧭 Context:

The client is a US-based SaaS company offering a specialized CRM for universities and colleges. Their platform is actively used and revenue-generating, but the codebase is overburdened, the infrastructure is uneven, and the founding architect is stepping away.

CIO leads transformation. You will be Speed & Function’s embedded technical leader, placed inside this ecosystem to help stabilize delivery, guide architectural decisions, and support the team in shifting from reactive work to more intentional systems.

You won’t just be writing code. You’ll be leading quietly, structurally, and relationally—helping shape what comes next.

🔨 What You’ll Actually Do:

• Lead platform modernization alongside client stakeholders: refactoring legacy Rails code, introducing modular patterns, optimizing cloud infrastructure, improving observability, and addressing performance bottlenecks.
• Participate in and influence a cross-cutting architectural review, including monolith decomposition, data ingestion flows, QA coverage, and AWS right-sizing.
• Act as mentor and stabilizer to the client’s existing mid-level engineers, without dominating them.
• Translate between product vision, delivery constraints, and technical decisions - partnering closely with the client’s CIO.

• Represent Speed & Function as a trusted engineering advisor embedded into a complex moment.

   

✅ What We’re Looking For:

• 5+ years of experience building and leading complex web applications (Rails + React).
• Experience serving as a startup CTO, Staff+ engineer, or lead architect in high-growth environments.
• Proven track record of stabilizing and evolving technical teams in real-world production systems.
• Ability to read organizational dynamics - not just code. You earn trust through presence, clarity, and follow-through.

• Strong written and verbal communication. Able to hold your own with technical and business leaders alike.

   

👤 Who You Are:

• You’ve led teams through ambiguity, not just scale.
• You care as much about team culture as infrastructure.
• You know when to ask “why” - and how to ask it in a way that creates alignment, not friction.

• You’re energized by turning entropy into architecture - and by helping others succeed without always needing credit.

   

🤝 Engagement Details:

• Start: Early September (client’s transition window is live)
• Mode: Full-time or part-time via Speed & Function
• Location: Remote. Must have 4+ hours of overlap with US Eastern Time
• Initial Term: 3-6 months, with possible extensions based on roadmap
  
   

To Apply:

 

Send your resume or LinkedIn and a short note on how you’ve helped a system or team evolve - technically, culturally, or both. Bonus for founder stories, architectural war stories, or examples of change-making without formal power.

We're hiring a full-stack engineer to join a long-term project for one of the most recognized media brands in the United States, reaching millions of users. (Curious who? Just ask – we’ll share during the interview.) You’ll be working closely with a small, committed team where variety and experimentation is encouraged and performance is non-negotiable. Every feature you touch will need to be fast, scalable, and thoughtfully designed.

What You'll Do

• Build and maintain scalable, performant features across both frontend and backend.
• Participate in code reviews and testing sessions with a sharp eye for quality.
• Help shape the architecture, brainstorm with the team of engineers and products; and contribute to documentation that makes sense to others.
• Be an embedded partner to the client’s engineering team, participating in daily Agile rituals.
• Work shoulder to shoulder with developers, product managers, designers, QA, and DevOps.
  
   

What We're Looking For

You likely have your own internal standards – your own sense of what good engineering looks like – and you’re looking for a place where that’s not only respected but expected.

• At least 5 years of experience as a professional software engineer.
• You’ve worked across cultures and time zones, and know how to make distributed collaboration work.
• You’re confident in how you communicate and comfortable voicing your perspective.
• You learn fast, ask smart questions, and aren't afraid to step into new territory.
• You enjoy working with complex teams and systems.
• You own your decisions. You can explain them, adjust them, or stand by them.
• You don’t just take direction – you help shape it.
• Negotiation skills are helpful, but curiosity and clear thinking matter more.
• You take your growth seriously and want to be around others who do the same.
• You're not stuck in your lane. You understand how things connect and you move fluidly between disciplines when needed.
• You think at the system level, not just about your next ticket.
   

Technical Proficiency

We're looking for depth in some of these areas and familiarity with others:

• React
• Next.js
• GraphQL
• Apollo
• PHP
• Node.js
• TypeScript
• AWS
   

What We Offer

• Meaningful work with autonomy and room for impact
• A culture that encourages personal growth and professional evolution
• Access to coaching, internal development programs, therapy reimbursement, and English lessons
• Flexible hours and remote-first setup
• Commission incentives as the project scales
  
   

Why This Role Might Be Right for You

At Speed & Function, we’re building more than software. We’re building a culture of conscious development – for our team, our clients, and the ecosystems we help shape. We aim to become a Deliberately Developmental Organization, where human growth is integrated with technical excellence. This is not just a place to code – it’s a place to contribute meaningfully to how software gets made and how people grow while making it.

About Us

Since 2006, Speed & Function has partnered with startups and enterprise clients to craft high-impact software. We don’t see ourselves as vendors – we’re collaborators, co-creators, and team members. Our goal is to redefine how software teams work together in the 21st century. We invest in both the craft and the culture of engineering.

How to Apply

If this speaks to you, send us a brief cover letter. We’d love to hear:

• Why this opportunity feels like a fit for where you’re headed
• When you’re available to start
• Your hourly rate
• Your level of English fluency

Role Overview

As a Senior Full Stack Engineer, you’ll help lead the evolution of our client's platform architecture, with a Ruby on Rails backend, React/TypeScript front-end, hosted on AWS. You’ll collaborate with cross-functional teams across product, design, DevOps, and data to deliver secure, scalable, and high-performing solutions.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role where your ability to mentor peers, influence architecture, and implement best practices will shape both our product and team culture.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and maintenance of our client's web application using Ruby on Rails, React, and TypeScript.
• Drive the architecture and technical design of our client's system with an emphasis on scalability, maintainability, availability, and performance.
• Design and maintain our high-availability cloud infrastructure hosted on AWS and managed with Terraform.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and fellow engineers to define and deliver new features and core improvements aligned with higher education workflows.
• Optimize performance and scalability across the platform, including backend services and frontend UI.
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code, ensuring system reliability and rapid iteration.
• Monitor and maintain platform health using Datadog and other observability tools.
• Lead by example with clean code, thoughtful pull requests, and proactive mentorship of senior and mid-level engineers.
• Champion a culture of technical excellence, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications

• 5 - 10 years of experience designing, building, and deploying large-scale full stack applications and distributed systems.
• Proven experience in system design and architecture of SaaS products or enterprise-grade web platforms.
• Strong backend skills in Ruby on Rails, with production experience building and maintaining high-availability APIs and services.
• Frontend proficiency with React and TypeScript, with strong UI development sensibilities.
• Familiarity with testing frameworks such as RSpec, Capybara, and Chromatic/Storybook.
• Practical experience with AWS, including services like IAM, ECS, RDS, and S3.
• Deep understanding of SQL, query optimization, and relational data modeling.
• Experience managing infrastructure-as-code using Terraform.
• Experience with CI/CD tooling such as CircleCI and AWS CodeBuild/CodePipeline.
• Familiarity with monitoring, tracing, and alerting via Datadog or similar tools.
• Strong debugging skills.
• Ability to lead initiatives and mentor peers while collaborating cross-functionally.
• Excellent communication skills—able to articulate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A self-driven mindset: curious, resourceful, and passionate about education technology and impact-driven development.

Nice to Have

• Experience in edtech, lead management, or compliance-heavy applications.
• Experience building integrations with CRMs like Salesforce, IdPs like Google and Entra, and advertising platforms such as Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snap.
• Contributions to open source or technical community engagement.
  
   

What We Offer

• Meaningful work with autonomy and room for impact.
• A culture that encourages personal growth and professional evolution.
• Access to coaching, internal development programs, therapy reimbursement, and English lessons
• Flexible hours and remote-first setup.
• Commission incentives as the project scales.
  
   

Why This Role Might Be Right for You

At Speed & Function, we’re building more than software. We’re building a culture of conscious development – for our team, our clients, and the ecosystems we help shape. We aim to become a Deliberately Developmental Organization, where human growth is integrated with technical excellence. This is not just a place to code – it’s a place to contribute meaningfully to how software gets made and how people grow while making it.

About Us

Since 2006, Speed & Function has partnered with startups and enterprise clients to craft high-impact software. We don’t see ourselves as vendors – we’re collaborators, co-creators, and team members. Our goal is to redefine how software teams work together in the 21st century. We invest in both the craft and the culture of engineering.

How to Apply

If this speaks to you, send us a brief cover letter. We’d love to hear:
 

• Why this opportunity feels like a fit for where you’re headed
• When you’re available to start
• Your hourly rate
• Your level of English fluency

About Us
At Speed & Function, we’ve been creating custom web and mobile applications since 2006 – but our real mission goes beyond technology. We believe in a regenerative approach to building teams: every hire should not only fit our needs but also make the whole system – people, culture, and company – stronger than before.
Our culture is built on DDO (Deliberately Developmental Organization) principles: we treat growth as a daily practice, and we see recruitment as the first step in that journey.

Your Mission
As our Senior IT Recruiter, you’ll do more than fill roles. You’ll take charge of hiring, turning recruitment into a force that strengthens our people, our culture, and the way we work together.

 

What You’ll Do

• Manage full-cycle recruitment for IT roles – from sourcing to offer stage.
• Use creative and human-centered sourcing methods (LinkedIn, networking, communities, referrals).
• Build authentic connections with candidates, focusing on long-term relationships, not just transactions.
• Partner with hiring managers to design roles that allow people to grow and contribute meaningfully.
• Keep our talent pipeline alive with diverse, skilled, and motivated professionals.
• Take charge of recruitment processes, making sure they’re consistent, high-quality, and easy to scale.
• Introduce new tools, approaches, and metrics to strengthen how we hire.
• Act as a partner and advisor for hiring managers, bringing market insights and recruitment best practices.
  
   

What We’re Looking For

• 4+ years of experience in IT recruitment (agency or in-house).
• C1 English – comfortable with global communication.
• Strong people skills, empathy, and curiosity about people’s stories.
• Able to handle multiple tasks without losing a personal touch.
• Experience in driving recruitment initiatives and process improvements.
• A proactive mindset with a passion for creating lasting impact.
  
   

What We Offer

• Work with a diverse, international, and growth-oriented team.
• A regenerative workplace culture: feedback, learning, and mutual support are part of the job.
• Flexibility – both in schedule and location.
• Opportunities to develop your professional and personal skills continuously.
• Competitive USD-based salary.
• A chance to shape not just individual hires, but the whole recruitment approach.
• The chance to influence how our culture evolves.