Backend Engineer

We are looking for a PHP Developer responsible for managing back-end services and the interchange of data between the server and the users. Your primary focus will be the development of all server-side logic, definition, and maintenance of the central database, and ensuring high performance and responsiveness to requests from the front end. You will also be responsible for integrating the front-end elements built by your co-workers into the application. Therefore, a basic understanding of front-end technologies is necessary as well.

Responsibilities

• Integration of user-facing elements developed by front-end developers
• Build efficient, testable, and reusable PHP modules
• Solve complex performance problems and architectural challenges
• Integration of data storage solutions (may include databases, key-value stores, blob stores, etc.)

Responsibilities:

• Supporting system design, development, and maintenance
• Taking responsibility for personal technical quality standards within the team
• Assisting in defining structured practices, especially in source code management, building, and deployment
• Optimizing applications for maximum speed and scalability
• Taking initiatives to build better and faster solutions to the problems of scale

Requirements:

• Experience with NodeJS for at least 3-5 years
• Experience with technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS
• Experience with other programming languages such as Go, Python, and Java
• Experience being in a leadership/ mentorship position for 2-3 years
• Should have built systems that have scaled to at least ten thousand users
• Should have an open mind to learn and experiment with new technologies as our needs change

Strong proficiency with one of the Vue.js, Angular JS, React JS JavaScript Techologies
2. Knowledge of Node.js and frameworks available for it , such as Express JS, Strong Loop, etc
3. Understanding the nature of asynchronous programming and Promises and its quirks and workarounds
4. Good understanding of server-side templating languages (such as Jade, EJS, etc depending on your technology stack)
5. Good understanding of server-side CSS pre-processors such as Styles, Less
6. Basic understanding of front-end technologies, such as HTML5, CSS3, and Bootstrap
7. Understanding accessibility and security compliance
8. User authentication and authorization between multiple systems(Internal or Third party), servers, and environments
9. Integration of multiple data sources and databases into one system
10. Understanding fundamental design principles behind a scalable application
11. Understanding differences between multiple delivery platforms, such as mobile vs. desktop, and optimizing output to match the specific platform
12. Implementing automated testing platforms and unit tests
13. Proficient in code versioning tools, such as Git or TFS

About us:

Strata is a commercial real estate investment platform that offers investors the opportunity to invest in pre-leased commercial assets such as offices, warehouses, and retail spaces across India.

We are one of the fastest-growing PropTech platforms in India and are backed by Elevation Capital, Mayfield, Kotak Investment Advisors, Gruhas (a venture by Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha) and DLF Family Office.

Our headquarter is in Bangalore, India.

We are a small yet close-knit team of 35+ people.

About you:

You have a knack for product and strongly equipped with engineering skills to make it a reality. You don’t jump into implementation unless you have clearly understood the problem/requirements and have a written design. You don’t hesitate asking questions and giving critical reviews while respecting others’ opinions. You are a fearless engineer, and not afraid to fail, not on production though ;) You have a strong sense of ownership. You have a startup experience. You don’t feel annoyed if required to work on off days in case of production incidents (no development).

Your responsibilities:

You will primarily work on the backend maintaining the existing platform and writing new enhancements and features. Apart from your own features, as a senior member of the team you will be expected to be actively involved in overall design discussions and peer code reviews. You will factor in extensibility, maintainability, scalability and security in designs and code. You will ensure that best engineering practices are followed. You will support your team members when they are facing challenges, and mentor them when appropriate. You will strive for overall engineering excellence.

Must-have Skills:

• 4-8 years of total experience
• 2+ years of experience in Django and DRF. You must be pro at it. The team will be looking up to you for making most out of DRF.
• Designing and building  scalable web applications
• Good understanding of REST principles
• SQL database design and queries
• Working knowledge of AWS

Good-To-Have Skills:

• Angular or any other JavaScript frontend framework
• Designing microservices
• DevOps experience

FAQ's.

1. Your technology ingredients?

Programming languages:
Our backend is written in Python using Django framework. And the frontend is in AngularJS. Currently there is no mobile app.

Infrastructure:
We are an AWS shop and use their services for most needs, Docker for containerization and ECS as orchestrator, RDS as database, S3 for storage and SQS as messaging backend.

Other tools:
BitBucket for Git and CI/CD pipeline, Trello for project management; and Google Meets and Slack for communication.

2. Your hiring plan?

Currently the engineering team comprises of 3 engineers, and we plan to grow it to 8 by the end of 2021.

3. Your Interview process?

We will try to finish the process within two weeks. In case we can’t go ahead with  your candidature, we will clearly and immediately let you know. But in case of competing applications, we may request you to wait for a week or two.

1. 15 minutes introductory call to discuss requirements and expectations
2. 30 minutes online coding assignment on a screen sharing session
3. 1 hour technical interview covering problem solving, code review and aptitude
4. 15 minutes call with co-founder for final discussion

In case of inability to come to a conclusion from either side, we may go for an additional round.

4. Your WFH and WFO policy?

Due to Covid-19 the team is working from home and will continue till March-2022. After that we will work from the Bangalore or Pune office (yet to be finalised). You should be open to relocate to any of the cities.

5. Your funding status?

In March 2020, Strata raised $1.5 million in seed funding; and $6 million in Series-A in July 2021.