Lead Ruby on Rails Software Engineer

Lead Ruby on Rails Software Engineer needed to join the Engineering team. This is a technical leadership role for someone with deep Ruby on Rails expertise and a strong understanding of technology architecture, programming languages, systems, and security models, who can drive the architecture and delivery of complex software solutions, mentor engineers, and lead cross-team technical initiatives.

The role combines hands-on technical ownership with people leadership: you’ll be responsible both for the systems you design and for the growth of the engineers around you.

Responsibilities

• Leading the architecture, design, and development of Ruby on Rails applications
• Planning and overseeing large technical projects involving multiple engineering teams
• Coordinating tasks and assignments within complex cross-team projects
• Driving technical direction, coding standards, and engineering best practices
• Mentoring and developing junior, intermediate, and senior engineers
• Collaborating with Product, Engineering, and Architecture teams to deliver scalable solutions
• Identifying technical risks and driving resolution strategies
• Identifying team-specific technical issues and proposing or implementing solutions
• Evaluating new technologies and recommending solutions aligned with business goals
• Leading prototyping and research initiatives for future platform improvements

• 7+ years of experience in software development
• 5+ years of professional experience with Ruby on Rails
• Experience designing and scaling APIs, distributed systems, and web applications
• Experience with MySQL or other relational databases
• Experience with Git and modern CI/CD practices
• Expert-level software development, debugging, testing, and analytical skills
• 2+ years of experience planning and executing cross-team technical projects
• Expert-level knowledge of relevant sector technologies, engineering processes, and security models
• Strong written and spoken English (interviews are conducted in English)
• Ability to freely communicate in Russian or Ukrainian

Nice to Have

• Experience with microservices and service-oriented architectures
• Experience integrating third-party platforms and APIs
• Leadership, team-building, and mentoring skills
• Strategic thinking and ability to evaluate alternative technical approaches
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• Data-driven decision-making and analytical mindset
• Expertise in using generative AI tools to improve software development, code quality, debugging, testing, documentation, and engineering productivity
• Experience working on multiple projects in various stages simultaneously

Compensation: Up to $6,000 gross/month

What’s Offered

• Stable, long-term position with a well-established American company (many team members have 5+ years of tenure)
• Significant ownership and responsibility for the systems you develop
• Dynamic, continually growing company culture where your contributions make a real difference
• Fast, agile development within a smart, highly collaborative, and dedicated team
• Cutting-edge, open-source tech stack and large-scale, global applications with real impact on students, classrooms, and institutions of higher learning
• Friendly and supportive team culture

Contract type: Independent contractor (sole proprietor / IP), incubator arrangements are not accepted.

A well-established US education-technology company with a global presence, providing digital learning content and platforms to a large user base for over two decades. Distributed, international team working on products used by millions of active users worldwide.