Position Description

We are MSP (Mathematical Sciences Publishers; https://msp.org), a scholar-led nonprofit publisher whose mission is to serve the math community through high-quality publishing at reasonable prices, and help others do the same. In addition to publishing our own growing portfolio of 15 journals in mathematics research and related areas, we prepare articles for publication for third-party journals, develop software for managing journals and peer review (EditFlow), and celebrate the people of mathematics (https://celebratio.org). Our work is appreciated by our readers, authors (https://msp.org/authquotes), and users (https://msp.org/editflow/quotes).

MSP is looking for a 100%-remote full-stack Software Engineer to join our small and highly efficient team. We offer a friendly, fully remote work environment so there’s no need to relocate. We also offer flexible hours, comprehensive training, room to grow in terms of compensation and responsibilities, and frequent interaction with supportive colleagues.

What you bring

Must have:

• Familiarity with basic programming concepts like variables, functions, loops, if/else statements, arithmetic operations, and operations on strings (like concatenation).
• The ability to use the Linux/macOS command line to navigate file directories and edit text files.
• The ability to discuss technical subjects clearly, verbally and in writing: as a remote company we rely on clear communication.
• The ability to solve problems both collaboratively and on your own.
• The humility to recognize when you’re stuck and seek help.
• If you have no background in making software, a strong technical background: eg, an education in math, physics, computer science, or an engineering field.
• If living in the United States, you must be a US citizen, permanent resident, or hold a visa allowing you to work and have income in the US. MSP will not sponsor candidates for visa purposes.

Stands out:

• Familiarity with more advanced programming concepts like classes.
• Experience building full pieces of software.
• Familiarity with any of the technologies we use at MSP: Docker, Cypress, Git/GitHub, SSH, Visual Studio Code, MySQL, PHP, JavaScript, Python, Perl, HTML, CSS, and Linux/UNIX.
• Understanding of web development concepts like servers, clients, front-end vs. back-end, APIs, etc.
• A software portfolio (eg, on GitHub).
• Graphic design or UI skill.
• Familiarity with the academic publishing process.

What you’ll do

As a Software Engineer at MSP:

• You’ll spend most of your time working on EditFlow, our fast-growing peer-review management software tailored specifically to the needs of research journals in mathematics and related fields.
• You’ll work on a large variety of other projects and in many programming domains, for internal and external clients.
• You’ll quickly develop software engineering skills and intuition by pair programming with senior engineers.
• You’ll learn pragmatic engineering patterns that are transferable between programming languages and problem domains.
• You’ll add new functionality, fix bugs, and write tests, and you’ll have a say in all architectural, design, and technology adoption decisions.
• You’ll learn how to read, manage, refactor, and eventually even appreciate thorny legacy code.
• You’ll respond to emails from our customers as part of our “everyone on support” model (“everyone” includes the CEO).
• You’ll work 40 hours a week with no overtime or on-call requirement. Your schedule can be flexible, but to ensure enough overlap with other developers roughly 32 hours should be during business hours in some North American timezone.
• You’ll report directly to the lead software engineer.

Compensation and benefits

• Starting compensation between $30 and $36/hour depending on skill and experience. You will learn and grow rapidly in your role as a software engineer and your compensation will grow accordingly.
• Health insurance stipend (or Kaiser plan for CA residents).
• Computer/monitor/general office equipment benefits.
• Accrue 2 weeks of PTO per year.
• 14 paid holidays/year.
• MSPfest: an annual company-wide gathering with plenty of dedicated hangout time.

Why you’ll apply

• You’re looking for a supportive environment that will help you grow into a highly skilled engineer while letting you maintain a good work-life balance.
• You want to work at a nonprofit organization doing something that matters in the world of academia.
• You’re looking to work at a company that appreciates diversity of thought and background. We encourage women, people of color, and LGBT+ folks to apply.
• You want to work at a small company where your voice will be heard.
• You want to be surrounded by smart and friendly people who support and care about each other, in a company culture that is relaxed and informal, but respectful.
• You want to work from home wherever you live (or want to live) with a high level of flexibility.
• You want to be trusted and determine your own schedule. We trust you’ll get your work done without installing spyware on your computer, we trust you to use resources wisely, and we trust that you’ll ask for help and run ideas past your team members without micromanagement.
• You want to have dedicated time to pursue professional development opportunities and learn technologies you find interesting.
• You like the sound of having few fixed meetings and plenty of independent time, but also that text, voice, and video support from your teammates will be just a Slack message away.

About your colleagues

We are a tight-knit team of recovering mathematicians. We keep in constant contact and solve problems quickly. We value dumb questions and saying “I don’t know.” We have strong opinions, lightly held. We aim for clean, clear, and simple communication and code. We enjoy solving problems with others and are delighted when others untangle our thoughts, notice our blind spots, and find solutions that are better than ours. We give and accept constructive criticism without judgment, and we admit our failures. We believe that failure is inevitable in software and should be an opportunity for the whole team to learn. We don’t use a particular agile methodology, but we ship software quickly given our team size and responsibilities.

Please apply using our webform at https://msp.org/forms/jobapp.