Lead Software Engineer

About the Role

Up until now, the business has developed successfully with only one part‑time software engineer. But now we are growing fast, and we need a full‑time, experienced full‑stack software engineer to join our team—to take over and own our custom internal software. This position combines both a) hands‑on development work (primarily in Django and deployed on AWS via containers) with b) interpersonal collaboration across internal and external teams, including close coordination with our external Word Press developers.

This is a hybrid role

You must be based in the NYC metro area (New Jersey, Westchester, Connecticut, etc.). You will need to work with a hybrid team collaboratively and be available to meet during our core working hours of 10 – 4 EST.

First 2 months in NYC in‑person (~5 days/week). Next 4 months of remote/in‑person (~2 days/week in NYC). Afterwards—~2‑4 days per quarter in NYC.

• Extend, architect, and maintain our custom internal system built on Django (Python).
• Maintain the speed, security, and uptime of the systems in Production through monitoring and automated testing.
• Design and integrate APIs for third‑party systems.
• Deploy and manage infrastructure on AWS using Docker, nginx, PostgreSQL.
• Close collaboration with R&D team to implement feature updates.
• Help evaluate technical considerations for the technical roadmap, contribute to “build vs buy” analysis, and evaluate potential integration options.
• Support and implement a data analytics tool that leverages all our company data for real‑time analysis.
• Collaborate closely with our Word Press development team, which manages our consumer‑facing website, franchise website, and Woo Commerce backend.
  • Act as the main technical point of contact for internal staff and franchise owners who have questions or issues.
  • Triage and resolve questions or issues directly where possible.
  • Help inform the UI & roadmap for the enhancements to the Word Press site, including a running list of future feature updates.
  • Ensure seamless integration and data flows between Django and Word Press.
  • Work closely with the Word Press development team to ensure they have quick answers about and support for their integration with the ERP system.
• Co‑develop with our Head of Curriculum an intro to coding class using the Hummingbird platform. This intro class will need to have aspects of how to teach students the benefits of using AI for coding (e.g., commenting code, getting starting points for logic, QA, code reviews, debugging, code refactoring, explaining in plain language what code is doing, etc.).
• Create and maintain multiple chatbots –
  1) for managing trade‑secreted data for internal use,
  2) franchise development data for franchise recruitment, and
  3) customer‑facing AI for answering questions.
• Secure all the software you develop and maintain.
• Liaise with IP lawyer to ensure IP is secured.
• Maintain best practices, technical documentation, and internal tooling. For now, you’ll be the only person working on our internal software, so your software and services must be well‑documented and clear.

• 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• Solving software problems with curiosity and efficiency.
• Able to work with multiple, simultaneous coding agents.
• Deep experience with web development, including SQL.
• Hands‑on experience with AWS, containers, and container orchestration.
• Understanding of security best practices.
• Experience working with cross‑functional or external development teams.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills — able to explain technical topics clearly to non‑technical stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills/customer service skills with the knowledge that as a corporate entity, our role is always to fully support our franchise owners across the brand.
• Excitement about growing a cutting‑edge franchise system and bringing robotics to kids throughout the world!
• Understanding of the importance of IP and protecting trade secrets including custom code bases.
• Alignment with our Company Values.

• Exposure to infrastructure‑as‑code tools (e.g., Terraform, Cloud Formation).
• Experience designing or working…