[JOB] Experienced Software Engineer at Loco2.com (Remote-working position)

[Jon Leighton]

Loco2 (http://loco2.com/) is an independent online agent for rail tickets in Europe. Our mission is to make booking a train as simple as booking a flight. We're integrated with the booking systems of major rail operators, and our ticket coverage is unrivalled and growing.

## About us ##

We're a small team of passionate people. Our technical director is former Rails core team member Jon Leighton. Meet the rest of the Loco2 family at http://loco2.com/about/team/.

Our customers are at the centre of what we do, and we're proud to have an average rating of 9.2 out of 10 (https://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/loco2.com).

We're growing quickly, and most of this growth is organic, as customers spread the word about the great experience they've had booking tickets with us.

We have an office in London, but our technical team works remotely and with flexible hours. Everyone in the company uses online tools like Hipchat, Trello, Github and Basecamp to work together.

We are not a VC-backed startup and we don't think caffeine-fuelled all-nighters are a very good way to grow a company that is built to last. We're driven to delight our customers, but we have lives outside of work too.

## Technical challenges ##

Our software stack consists of a modern Rails application, a PostgreSQL database and a pure-Ruby backend library which we use to communicate with train booking APIs.

We're currently integrated with 6 different European rail booking systems, which is how we achieve our very wide coverage. But it also means that we need to diligently manage technical complexity, as each system works in a slightly different way, with its own features and quirks. SOAP is (unfortunately) used by many APIs, which is why we released our open source library, LolSoap (https://github.com/loco2/lolsoap).

Some of the most difficult challenges we face relate to routing and making sense of lots of data. Which routes are best to get from A to B? Which booking systems should be queried? How might we cache data without affecting accuracy of results?

As well as improving and perfecting our product, we also need to scale the business as our sales continue to grow. This involves making sure that performance is optimised and customer problems are minimised.

## About you ##

We're looking for new engineers to join the team. An ideal candidate:

* Has 4+ years of programming experience
* Knows Ruby or another similar language
* Is comfortable designing object oriented software from scratch, not just implementing CRUD Rails apps; a pragmatist who can see the trade-offs involved in the different approaches to solving a problem
* Thinks independently and critically, striving to discover the root causes of problems rather than treating the symptoms
* Actively considers future maintainability when deciding how to implement something
* Communicates very well using written English
* Learns quickly and independently, but doesn't hesitate to ask for help when needed
* Enjoys getting their teeth stuck into complicated problems, as well as being willing to pitch in on some of the more routine tasks which inevitably arise
* Can be on call from time-to-time during some weekends, in case we need to respond to an emergency problem
* Can work hours that have some overlap with London daytime
* Is motivated by Loco2's mission

## How to apply ##

Email j...@loco2.com. Attach a CV if you like, but it's not required.

Here are a few things we'd like to know (but please do tell us other things we didn't know we wanted to know!):

* What are the most challenging/interesting programming tasks you have worked on?
* Why do you want to work for Loco2?
* What are your approximate salary expectations?

We welcome applications from everybody, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. To try to make the hiring process as fair as possible, if we are interested in your application then you'll be asked to complete a programming challenge which is judged anonymously. Our emphasis is on finding somebody with demonstrable skills rather than somebody who is good at self-marketing. This process helps us focus on that.

If you want to ask any questions before applying, please feel free to email us.

Closing date for applications: Friday 10th July 2015