Ruby on Rails Software Engineer

This is a remote position for candidates in the US ET time zone.  Consulting rate $65-70 an hour, W2

Responsibilities:

Create

• Write software programs ranging from process automation to interactive Web applications.
• Develop and implement APIs and provide support for all clients that use API services in a Service Oriented Architecture.
• Maintain and make basic improvements and updates to existing projects and systems.
• Perform troubleshooting to isolate and diagnose common application problems.
• Debug and analyze best responses to flaws in applications already in production.
• Develop prototypes rapidly for evaluation and validation purposes.
• Create and maintain documentation for systems put into production use.
• Strive to keep all deployed applications simple, elegant, minimal, and maintainable by application administrators.
• Participate in reviews of own and others’ software code.
• Quickly become familiar with various business data models (e.g. insurance, customer service, liturgy).

Consult

• Represent the Software Engineering department in meetings with our internal customers and colleagues.
• Evaluate development tools and languages and make recommendations for incorporating those tools into projects.
• Understand the firm’s diverse operating environments, including basic network and web applications infrastructure and assist in identifying improvements to be made in existing systems and development practices
• Consult with Infrastructure Group system administrators and network administrators to identify developers’ needs, and assist in assessing, validating, and improving these environments.
• Keep abreast of current technologies and trends, including mobile web APIs

Requirements:

• “Generalist” mindset experienced with utilizing and developing a broad range of systems and tools. Since many different software and hardware environments exist in the company, successful candidates will be extremely agile, rapid learners with a demonstrated diversity of experience in Information Technology systems as well as in-depth programming skills.
• Excellent oral, written, and communication skills, including comfort with teleconferencing to conduct business with colleagues and clients.
• 6 months proven experience with object-oriented programming and experience writing applications in Ruby and/or C# as well as using Ruby On Rails and/or .Net MVC (Ruby on Rails is preferred).
• 6 months experience with HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, JavaScript, react.js, Backbone, Foundation and Sass
• Experience with Agile software development practices a plus.
• Experience with JIRA, Confluence, Git, and Jenkins a plus.
• Knowledge of Linux and Windows essentials.
• Comfort with most common command line tools.
• Understanding of when to choose between compiled and interpreted languages, and ability to use both language compilers and script interpreters.
• Understanding and ability to perform troubleshooting to isolate and diagnose common application problems, including compiler linkage errors, run-time bottlenecks, multi-threaded race conditions, and database query optimization.
• Experience with MySQL and/or equivalent database systems.
• Solid understanding of ACID database properties, query isolation levels, and SQL coding practice to avoid database deadlock scenarios.
• Experience using Apache and/or equivalent web server software.
• Working knowledge of Perl, Bash, PHP, ColdFusion a plus.
• Some experience developing high-performance APIs is a plus.
• Some experience developing in a Service Oriented Architecture is a plus.
• Objective-C or Swift experience is a major plus, as mobile application development is part of the product roadmap.
• User experience with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X systems.
• Understanding of customary source control practices and procedures in a team environment. (SVN or GIT)
• Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree in software engineering, science, technology, engineering, mathematics or similar field, or combination of equivalent education and experience.