Join a team dedicated to creating products people love as a Remote Principal Ruby on Rails Software Developer.

The Principal Ruby on Rails Software Developer role at thoughtbot mentors other thoughtbot developers and contributes to the development practices of thoughtbot and our community while working on client projects, but is a non-management position. It is ideal for people who have made significant contributions to the Ruby on Rails development community and want to continue to do so without having to take on the responsibility of directly managing other developers.

You'll work directly with clients on projects as a Principal Ruby on Rails Software Developer, leading by example with your communication and advocating for how we work as consultants, especially in difficult situations. You'll partner closely with product managers, designers, developers, and clients to help solve problems.

You'll deliver high-quality, well-tested software, mentor both client and thoughtbot engineering teams in software best practices, and advise on product prioritization, agile process, team culture, and communication.

During investment time, you'll contribute to the broader tech community, thoughtbot, and yourself. The majority of thoughtbot's open-source work and blog content is the result of investment time.

This is a remote position on the Boost team, which focuses on embedding with technical teams to address technical debt, implement process improvements, and mentor and upskill client teams.

thoughtbot is a remote company. Because we're looking for teammates who overlap with our clients' teams working hours, this is a remote position available to anyone throughout the Americas (UTC-3 through UTC-10).

Salary

Salary and benefits vary by location and country. The US salary range for this role is: $161,000.00-$189,000.00.

About thoughtbot

We believe that it is possible to continuously learn and improve the way people work while building higher-quality products that make positive contributions to the world. We work with companies in every step of the product development and maintenance process to help identify and solve problems. We lead and participate in product design sprints, build high-quality apps, and then deploy them.

We proactively work on improving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at thoughtbot. We aim to maintain an inclusive work environment where everyone can thrive professionally, as well as have full lives outside of work. Read about our DEI efforts in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion section of our Playbook. We acknowledge that DEI work is never done, and that we will make mistakes along the way. We are continuously working on learning, improving ourselves, and the company.

As a member of thoughtbot, you'll be part of our distributed remote community. We're continuously working to assure remote work is inclusive, collaborative, comfortable, and social.

Want to dig deeper? Read more about our Purpose and Values, and how we work in our Playbook.

Requirements

Principal thoughtbot software developers have either made significant contributions to the Rails community through activities such as open source, speaking at conferences, and blogging, or have extensive experience in Consulting and have founded or led a Rails development company for several years.

Principal thoughtbot software developers are able to build high-quality, test-driven applications with Ruby on Rails and JavaScript (or TypeScript).

Principal software developers at thoughtbot have an excellent knowledge of refactoring, application architecture, performance tuning, debugging, design patterns, and working effectively in legacy applications.

In addition to Rails, our clients often have frontend needs in JavaScript, TypeScript, and Elm, including frameworks like React and Stimulus. Experience with JavaScript or TypeScript is a must, and an interest in a continuing frontend education is a plus.

As consultants, we work closely with our clients. Experience with a client-facing role like consulting, teaching, or business development is also valuable, but not required.

We especially appreciate candidates that demonstrate commitment to valuing DEI and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment. We also understand that not everyone has had the opportunity to commit to this work, and that's okay.

We encourage you to apply even if you don't match 100% of the requirements. Let us know if you need any specific accommodations during the interview process.

thoughtbot cannot sponsor work visas at this time.

Benefits

Benefits vary by location. For US-based team members thoughtbot pays at least 90% of the medical insurance premiums for individuals, 80% for their families for all medical plans, and 100% of the premium for employees and their families for our core dental plan and vision coverage. We cover disability insurance, basic life insurance with the opportunity to buy up. We also offer a comprehensive 401(k) plan with company match and immediate vesting. Team members accrue 20 paid vacation days and receive 11 paid holidays per year in addition to 10 paid sick days. New parents receive at least 6 weeks paid parental leave, as well as the ability to take up to 6 months off.

Our team works in a relaxed and educational environment to develop excellent products for our clients. We work a sustainable pace of 40 hours/week. We also reserve at least 4 weeks per year for investing in ourselves, the company, and our community. Everything we do is predicated on having a great team and a culture of growing. We use the latest technologies and are always down to try new methods on both internal and client projects.

thoughtbot does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other reason prohibited by law in provision of employment opportunities and benefits.

thoughtbot does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate. Any unsolicited resumes not originating directly from a candidate and sent to thoughtbot or any thoughtbot's employees, including unsolicited resumes sent to a thoughtbot mailing address or email address, are rejected. thoughtbot will NOT pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. thoughtbot considers any candidate for whom the recruiter has submitted an unsolicited resume referred by the company free of any fees.