Senior Backend Engineer

About the Role 

As a result of our rapid growth, we are looking for a Java Backend Engineer to join our existing Cloud Engineering team and take the lead in the design and development of several key initiatives of our existing Miko3 product line as well as our new product development initiatives. 

Responsibilities 

•  Designing, developing and maintaining core system features, services and engines
• Collaborating with a cross functional team of the backend, Mobile application, AI, signal processing, robotics Engineers, Design, Content, and Linguistic Team to realize the requirements of a conversational social robotics platform which includes investigate design approaches, prototype new technology, and evaluate technical feasibility
• Ensure the developed backend infrastructure is optimized for scale and responsiveness 
• Ensure best practices in design, development, security, monitoring, logging, and DevOps adhere to the execution of the project. 
• Introducing new ideas, products, features by keeping track of the latest developments and industry trends 
• Operating in an Agile/Scrum environment to deliver high quality software against aggressive schedules

Requirements 

• Proficiency in distributed application development lifecycle (concepts of authentication/authorization, security, session management, load balancing, API gateway), programming techniques and tools (application of tested, proven development paradigms)  
• Proficiency in working on Linux based Operating system. 
• Proficiency in at least one server-side programming language like Java. Additional languages like Python and PHP are a plus 
• Proficiency in at least one server-side framework like Servlets, Spring, java spark (Java). 
• Proficient in using ORM/Data access frameworks like Hibernate,JPA with spring or other server-side frameworks. 
• Proficiency in at least one data serialization framework: Apache Thrift, Google ProtoBuffs, Apache Avro,Google Json,JackSon etc. 
• Proficiency in at least one of inter process communication frameworks WebSocket's, RPC, message queues, custom HTTP libraries/frameworks ( kryonet, RxJava ), etc.  
• Proficiency in multithreaded programming and Concurrency concepts (Threads, Thread Pools, Futures, asynchronous programming). 
• Experience defining system architectures and exploring technical feasibility tradeoffs (architecture, design patterns, reliability and scaling)
• Experience developing cloud software services and an understanding of design for scalability, performance and reliability
• Good understanding of networking and communication protocols, and proficiency in identification CPU, memory & I/O bottlenecks, solve read & write-heavy workloads. 
• Proficiency is concepts of monolithic and microservice architectural paradigms. 
• Proficiency in working on at least one of cloud hosting platforms like Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, Azure etc.   
• Proficiency in at least one of database SQL, NO-SQL, Graph databases like MySQL, MongoDB, Orientdb 
• Proficiency in at least one of testing frameworks or tools JMeter, Locusts, Taurus 
• Proficiency in at least one RPC communication framework: Apache Thrift, GRPC is an added plus 
• Proficiency in asynchronous libraries (RxJava), frameworks (Akka),Play,Vertx is an added plus 
• Proficiency in functional programming ( Scala ) languages is an added plus 
• Proficiency in working with NoSQL/graph databases is an added plus 
• Proficient understanding of code versioning tools, such as Git is an added plus 
• Working Knowledge of tools for server, application metrics logging and monitoring and is a plus Monit, ELK, graylog is an added plus 
• Working Knowledge of DevOps containerization utilities like Ansible, Salt, Puppet is an added plus 
• Working Knowledge of DevOps containerization technologies like Docker, LXD is an added plus  
• Working Knowledge of container orchestration platform like Kubernetes is an added plus 

Job Responsibilities:

* Design, build, and maintain efficient, reusable, and reliable Java code

* Ensure the best possible performance, quality, and responsiveness of the applications

* Identify bottlenecks and bugs, and devise solutions to these problems

* Help maintain code quality, organization, and automatization

* Prepare the technical design of complex technology components

Mandatory Skills:

* Proficient in Java (JDK 1.7) or above JDK 8 preferable, with a good knowledge of its ecosystems with a knack for writing clean, readable Java code, writing reusable Java libraries along with knowledge of concurrency patterns in Java

* Solid understanding of object-oriented programming along with various design and architectural patterns

* Hands on experience with Spring, Spring Boot, JUnit

* Familiarity with concepts of MVC, Microservices, RESTful

• Implement best practices for the engineering team across code hygiene, overall architecture design, testing, and deployment activities
• Drive technical decisions for building data pipelines, data lakes, and analyst access.
• Act as a leader within the engineering team, providing support and mentorship for teammates across functions
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or equivalent job experience
• Experienced developer in large data environments
• Experience using Git productively in a team environment
• Experience with Docker
• Experience with Amazon Web Services
• Ability to sit with business or technical SMEs to listen, learn and propose technical solutions to business problems

·       Experience using and adapting to new technologies

·       Take and understand business requirements and goals

·       Work collaboratively with project managers and stakeholders to make sure that all aspects of the project are delivered as planned

·       Strong SQL skills with MySQL or PostgreSQL

• Experience with non-relational databases and their role in web architectures desired

 Knowledge and Experience:

• Good experience with Elixir and functional programming a plus

• Several years of python experience
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent organizational skills

Proven verbal and written cross-department and customer communication skills

Primary Responsibilities

• Design, architect and develop advanced software solutions in a cross functional Agile team supporting multiple projects and initiatives
• Collaborate with product owners and/or the business on requirements definition, development of functional specifications, and design
• Collaborate on or lead development of technical design and specifications as required
• Code, test and document new applications as well as changes to existing system functionality and ensure successful completion
• Take on leadership roles as needed

Skills & Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree required, preferably in Computer Science or related field
• 3+ years of software development experience using GoLang/Java programming language
• Experience with cloud technologies (AWS/Azure/GCP/Pivotal Cloud Foundry/any private cloud) and containerization is required
• AWS - experience in extensive use of AWS offerings like Redis, Kafka etc.
• Experience with a micro-services architecture is a plus
• Excellent communication, collaboration, reporting, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience with PostgreSQL or other Relational Databases
• Test-driven development mindset and a focus on quality, scalability, and performance
• Strong programming fundamentals and ability to produce high quality code
• Solid understanding of Agile (SCRUM) Development Process required

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.

Required Knowledge and technical skills:
- Expert level experience designing and building web services using Java
- Hands on experience in frameworks like struts , springs, hibernate
- Experience with multiple database platforms
- Experience with high volume, mission critical applications
- Experience building distributed systems at Internet scale
- Knowledge of commonly used design patterns
- Prior experience building internet platforms from the ground up
- Understanding Microservices patterns and architectures, enterprise design and industry best practices.

Required Qualities/ personal skills:
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Strong interpersonal skills and time management skills
- Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills
- Experience working in an Agile environment
- Experience working in a fast-paced delivery environment