Back-end Software Engineer - Companion
ZOE
Software Engineering
Remote · Lancaster, OH, USA · United Kingdom
Posted on Tuesday, November 7, 2023
We are redefining how people approach their health
ZOE is combining scientific research at a scale never before imagined and cutting-edge AI to improve the health of millions.
Created by the world’s top scientists, our personalised nutrition program is reimagining a fundamental human need – eating well for your own body. Currently available in the US and the UK, ZOE is already helping > 100k ZOE members to adopt healthier habits and live better. Our work and expertise in biology, engineering, data science, and nutrition science have led to multiple breakthrough papers in leading scientific journals such as Nature Medicine, Science, The Lancet, and more.
To learn more, head to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Audible to listen to our Science & Nutrition Podcast (with 3 million listens!)
A remote-first, high-growth startup, we are backed by founders, investors, and entrepreneurs who have built multi-billion dollar technology companies. We are always looking for innovative thinkers and builders to join our team on a thrilling mission to tackle epic health problems. Together, we can improve human health and touch millions of lives.
We value inclusivity, transparency, ownership, open-mindedness and diversity. We are passionate about delivering great results and learning in the open. We want our teams to have the freedom to make long-term, high-impact decisions, and the well-being of our teammates and the people around us is a top priority.
About the team
In the Companion team, we design the experience of ZOE's main page on the app. Acting as both a platform and a product team, we gather various types of content from other teams at ZOE and produce a feed tailored to the user's personal taste and place in their nutrition journey. We build frontend, backend, and ML-based content recommendations, as well as provide APIs for other engineering teams to interface with us.
About the role
You will be one of our backend engineers helping us build and expand the platform, working on new product features, integrating with other teams, and monitoring experiments in prod. We're looking for someone who can dive deep into multiple technologies, understanding our current stack, but also setting direction for our future and designing the upcoming versions of Companion.
You'll be
- Solving complex backend problems while working closely with product managers and UX designers to provide the best in class customer experience
- Designing systems ranging from data collection, recommendation, search, content delivery, or modelling complex domains like the relationship between foods.
- Writing code across our microservices and data pipelines.
- Shipping in production. Preferably daily or more!
- Participate in code reviews and provide constructive feedback to your peers.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, develop, and deploy new features.
- Mentoring and supporting engineers in other teams.
- Learning, learning, learning! There is always a new challenge to tackle.
We think you will be great if you
- Are an engineer with experience as a backend engineer and some experience in DS/ML projects.
- Good knowledge of one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Python, Java, or Kotlin).
- Write clean maintainable code across microservices and data pipelines.
- Are a great communicator that can be highly collaborative with other engineers.
- Have experience working in a fast-paced environment. You lead by example, contribute to the roadmap, get your hands dirty and get things done.
Our hiring process consists of the following stages:
➡️ Talent Acquisition Screening: Selected candidates will be contacted for an initial phone interview with our Talent Acquisition Partner. This conversation will help us assess your qualifications, experience, and your fit for our team. Duration 45min
➡️ Hiring Manager Screening: Selected candidates will be moved forward in the process and meet an Engineering Manager. This conversation will focus on diving deeper in regards to your qualifications, experience, and your fit for ZOE. Duration 30min
➡️ Technical Interviews: You will be asked to complete two technical interviews, which evaluate your coding and system design experience. Duration 60min/each
➡️ Behavioural Interviews: You will be asked to complete two behavioural interviews, which evaluate your present and past experience from a behavioural standpoint. Duration 45min/each
⏰ Expected Timeline: The entire hiring process typically takes around 3-4 weeks from the Talent Acquisition Interview to the job offer. We understand the importance of your time and aim to provide timely feedback and updates at each stage.
These are the ideal skills, attributes, and experience we’re looking for in this role. Don’t worry if you don’t tick all the boxes, especially on the skills and experience front, we’re happy to upskill for the right candidate.
Life as a ZOEntist – what you can expect from us:
As well as industry-benchmarked compensation and all the hardware and software you need, we offer a thoughtfully-curated list of benefits. We expect this list to evolve as we continue supporting our team members’ long-term personal and professional growth, and their wellbeing.
Remote-first: Work flexibly – from home, our London office, or anywhere within the EU
Stock options: So you can share in our growth
Paid time off: 28 days paid leave (25 holiday days, plus 2 company-wide reset days, and 1 “life event” day)
Enhanced Parental Leave: On top of the statutory offering
Flexible private healthcare and life assurance options
Pension contribution: Pay monthly or top up – your choice.
Health and wellbeing: Like our Employee Assistance Program and Cycle to Work Scheme
Social, WFH, and Growth (L&D) budgets. Plus, multiple opportunities to connect, grow, and socialise
We’re all about equal opportunities
We know that a successful team is made up of diverse people, able to be their authentic selves. To continue growing our team in the best way, we believe that equal opportunities matter, so we encourage candidates from any underrepresented backgrounds to apply for this role. You can view our Equal Opportunities statement in full here.
A closer look at ZOE
Think you’ve heard our name somewhere before? We were the team behind the COVID Symptom Study, which has since become the ZOE Health Study (ZHS). We use the power of community science to conduct large-scale research from the comfort of contributors’ own homes. Our collective work and expertise in biology, engineering, and data/nutrition science have led to multiple breakthrough papers in leading scientific journals such as Nature Medicine, Science, The Lancet, and more.
Seen ZOE in the media recently? Catch our co-founder Professor Tim Spector (one of the world’s most cited scientists) and our Chief Scientist Dr Sarah Berry on this BBC Panorama, and listen to CEO Jonathan Wolf unpack the latest in science and nutrition on our ZOE podcast.
Oh, and if you’re wondering why ZOE? It translates to “Life” in Greek, which we’re helping ZOE members enjoy to the fullest.