Software Engineer

**Rubie** Software Engineer; $150K–$250K + equity; New York City (On-site)

**About the Role** Product-minded full-stack engineers who own problems end-to-end — frontend, backend, infrastructure, performance, and security. Rubie calls its engineering team a "founders-in-training" program: you're expected to sit with customers, form a view on where the product should go, debate it with the team, and then ship it. The company just rebuilt its architecture to handle much larger data-movement workloads, opening new product surface — so there's a deep backlog of hard durability, security, workflow, and large-scale data problems to own.

**Responsibilities** - Own features end-to-end across frontend, backend, infrastructure, performance, and security. - Sit with customers, identify where the product needs to go, and drive it back into the roadmap. - Build on the new architecture for large-scale, reliable data movement. - Use AI heavily and agentically — while owning and standing behind everything that ships.

**Required Skills** A. 4–5+ years of software engineering experience (most hires are closer to 6–8 years); strong less-experienced candidates considered if they ramp exceptionally fast. B. Genuinely full-stack — can take a product slice from frontend through backend and infrastructure on their own. C. Proficient with the stack, or able to ramp fast: React, Tailwind, TypeScript (frontend); Remix/TypeScript (backend); AWS, Cloudflare. D. Track record of shipping production software end-to-end and owning the outcome. E. For the top of the comp band (5–7+ yrs): standout, "killer" engineers who could grow into a team lead — able to pull the team forward, not only operate as an IC.

**Bonus Skills** - Experience with large-scale data movement, migration, or systems-of-record integrations. - Comfort working in an AI-/agent-heavy engineering workflow.

**Logistical Info** - Location: New York City, in-person at the Flatiron office (near Eataly) 5 days/week — no exceptions. - Compensation: $150K–$250K + meaningful equity (everyone at Rubie is an owner). The top of the band is reserved for exceptional, senior hires — the bar rises with the comp. - Benefits/Other: Generous health insurance.

**Ideal Background** - Open-minded on pedigree and education — the current team is varied and no specific degree is required; logos and schools matter little. - What matters: can ship end-to-end and own the result, and can connect with the mission (customer empathy). - Wants product-engineering experience outside consulting environments (e.g., Thoughtworks). - Calibration: ticket-takers who want fully-spec'd work are not a fit; this is a high-ownership, product-engineering environment. Top-of-band hires should have team-lead potential.

**Green Flags** - High agency — debates product direction and then owns it. - Has compounded in past roles rather than job-hopping. - Resonates with the "make the internet liquid" / data-sovereignty mission (a slightly pirate-y, take-on-the-incumbents motivation). - Deep interest or excellence in a non-work pursuit (music, photography, etc.) — well-rounded people tend to do well (nice-to-have, not required).

**Red Flags** - Jumpiness — short stints with no evidence of compounding (a big stickler for Jimmy). - Ships "AI slop" / over-relies on AI without owning the output. - Consulting-only product engineering background (e.g., Thoughtworks), with no product engineering experience outside consulting. - Only comfortable pulling pre-defined tickets; can't operate end-to-end. - Purely big-tech background with no startup experience — has been a specific, repeated rejection reason (5x), even for strong technical profiles (e.g., a current Meta engineer).

**Interview Process** 1. Quick background conversation with the CEO. 2. ~1-hour take-home assessment (capture-the-flag style), in prep for the systems interview. 3. 60-min systems design / architecture review with the CEO and a team member. 4. On-site — ideally a 2–3 day paid work trial shipping with the team (flexible per candidate). Offer from there.