Senior Software Engineer, IDE

Posit creates great software that helps people understand data and make better decisions. Our core offering is an open source data science toolchain anchored by the IDE.  As a Public Benefit Corporation, we aim to make it available to everyone, regardless of their economic means.

About the team:

The IDE team builds the core of the Posit ecosystem: the IDE, so your work will directly impact millions of users.  The most widely-used version of the IDE is open source and free, and the team also builds Pro desktop and server versions.  We work closely with the Workbench team, which builds our professional server product that launches the IDE in a cluster.  We develop the RStudio IDE primarily in C++, Java and Typescript, with some R and Python, on Windows, Mac, and Linux. We don’t expect you to be an expert in all of these languages and we are happy to support your professional development. 

Data scientists use our tools to build R and Python applications used in the fight against COVID-19, in academia, business analytics, research, and anywhere data is important.  We are passionate about creating the world’s best software for professional data science.  We fundamentally believe in open source software, and our team is active in the Posit and R communities.

About you:

You’re a well-rounded senior software engineer with significant experience developing desktop applications in either C++ or Java, on Windows or Mac.  You have a deep understanding of modern web application technologies.  You share our commitment to building great software, and you have an appreciation for clean code that is easy to understand. Data science experience is not required to join the IDE team; you’ll develop an understanding of the domain along the way.

What you’ll own:

• Development (in C++ and Java) of IDE features used by data scientists to develop R and Python applications 
• integration of Quarto with the IDE
• architectural design, implementation, and unit testing  for your features
• gathering stakeholder feedback about features (we are fortunate to receive a wealth of feedback from our huge user base!)

What you’ll help with:

• user interface design
• creating automated tests
• interactions with the IDE and R communities, gathering feedback to improve the IDE
• improving our build system (Jenkins, build scripts, container image creation)

What you’ll teach:

• advanced C++, Java skills
• Windows development (much of our team is on Mac)
• solid programming practices

What you’ll learn:

• an appreciation for data science workflows
• practical data science using R and Python – with the opportunity and resources for mastery

After 1-month:

You will have implemented your first couple of small features or bug fixes in the IDE. Your development environment will be set up, and you will be comfortable with the basic development process of the team.  You can debug on your primary development environment.

After 3-months:

You have several bug fixes and small improvements completed, and you’ve started working on a more significant feature.  You have an initial understanding of the needs of IDE users. You may have identified a particular area of the product where you want to take a deeper dive and eventually take ownership of that area.  You are contributing to the code reviews of other team members, particularly for your areas of expertise.  You can debug on Windows, Mac, and Linux environments.

After 6-months:

You are involved in the design of features being developed by other team members.  You feel comfortable making changes in any area of the product.  You have an understanding of our build and automated test system and are able to investigate failures and add new features and automated tests to them.

About us:

• Posit is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) and a Certified B Corporation®, which means our open-source mission is codified into our charter. As a result, our corporate decisions balance the community's interests, customers, employees, and shareholders. Hear more about why we think this matters here.
• We welcome all talented colleagues and are committed to creating a supportive and diverse company.
• We prioritize giving ourselves “focus time” to get deep work done. We minimize meetings and attempt to operate asynchronously.
• We are a learning organization and take mentorship and career growth seriously. We hope to learn from you, and we anticipate that you will also deepen your skills, influence, and leadership as a result of working at Posit.
• We operate under a unique, sustainable business model: We have over 50% of our engineering dedicated to creating free and open-source software. As a result, we are profitable, and we plan to be around decades from now.

Notable:

We offer competitive compensation with extensive human-first, people-focused benefits to prioritize your personal and financial well-being.

• 100% of medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums are covered for employees and their families! Fertility and gender-affirming healthcare is included in all of our plans.
• Supplemental mental health and wellness benefits are available via Ginger even if you don’t opt in to our insurance plans, including Ginger for teen family members.
• Posit's gender-neutral paid parental leave policy covers all new parents, including foster and adoptive parents.
• Our 401k matches up to 50% of the maximum employee contribution after six months.
• An annual profit-sharing bonus for employees recognizes our team’s contributions to company performance across the year.
• We are a 100% distributed team. You are also welcome to come into our Boston office.  We offer an allowance to help set up your remote office.
• We provide a flexible environment with a generous vacation policy that encourages a minimum of four weeks PTO per year plus 13 paid company holidays.

Posit is committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage applicants of different backgrounds, cultures, genders, experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, physical disability, or length of time spent unemployed.

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