The company

Hi, we're Rarely Decaf—a strategic technology partner that helps businesses craft purpose-built software without the time, cost, and headaches of traditional software implementations.

We’re not a software implementation agency that builds on rigid, outdated systems that require multi-year contracts, nor are we a traditional dev shop where custom software projects start with a six-figure price tag.

Instead, leveraging our experiences as business operators and our passion for modern technology, we design, build, and iterate bespoke business applications on timelines measured in weeks, not months—empowering our partners to drive their next chapter of growth.

Read more about our tech stack on the full job description here.

The role

We are seeking an experienced software engineer to join us as our part-time Technical Lead and Software Architect, spearheading the architecture, planning, management, and oversight of the development of our clients' web applications using modern visual development platforms.

In this pivotal role, you will act as a systems architect, technical advisor, and planner, collaborating closely with our founder, product manager, product designer, and developers to transform business requirements, process diagrams, and UX/UI designs into scalable and secure enterprise applications.

As our first senior technical hire, you will assume key responsibilities previously held by our founder, becoming the cornerstone of our engineering efforts. Your primary focus will be on system architecture, database design, and technical planning and management, ensuring our applications adhere to best practices in security, scalability, and performance.

You will provide crucial guidance, mentorship, and support to our developers, who are experts in visual development platforms and will handle the majority of the hands-on execution. You'll lead the week-to-week technological planning and architecting, collaborating closely with the development team to plan work, review implementations, address technical challenges, and foster their growth. This role involves ensuring alignment with architectural principles and technical strategies through regular interaction with the team.

You will play a crucial role in improving our problem-solving approaches, engineering practices, development processes, and team culture. By taking on the lead solution engineering work currently shared between our founder and developers, you will have the opportunity to directly shape the technical future of Rarely Decaf, steering the technical direction and development processes of the company.

Key Responsibilities

Architect and design technical solutions: Lead the design of scalable, secure, and performant web applications in the context of our unique technology stack. Focus on system architecture, database design, and high-level technical planning. Translate business requirements into technical solutions, utilizing digital white boarding tools for planning and system design.
Collaborate with and manage the development team across multiple client projects: Work closely with developers who specialize in visual development platforms. Supervise and coordinate the work of several developers simultaneously across different client projects. Provide guidance and support to ensure that implementation aligns with architectural plans and best practices. Foster a collaborative environment where technical challenges are addressed collectively. Note: the part-time engagement will start with collaborating on 1 client project with 1 developer.
Mentor and support developer growth while managing workloads according to quarterly goals: Act as a mentor and technical advisor to developers. Plan and manage team workloads, aligning tasks with quarterly goals and project deadlines. Support their professional growth by sharing knowledge, providing constructive feedback, and encouraging continuous learning. Conduct “code reviews” and offer guidance on technical designs and problem-solving approaches.
Plan and oversee development execution, including sprint planning: Guide the development team in planning and executing projects within our technology stack. Run sprint planning sessions, backlog grooming, and utilize agile methodologies to deliver projects effectively. Break down complex projects into manageable tasks, follow modular programming principles, and ensure effective execution. Oversee development timelines and ensure that projects stay on track.
Enhance the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and development management systems: Refine our SDLC processes by integrating best practices tailored to our platform-as-a-service technology. Leverage your experience from previous roles in small companies or dev shops where you've built or improved management systems. Implement strategies to improve development workflows, such as using different data environments and branching, while balancing the need for rapid iteration. Document processes and ensure team adherence.
Influence technical strategy and innovation: Collaborate with the founder to advance our Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) approach. Make strategic decisions on system integrations, custom code usage, third-party packages, and microservices. Stay updated on emerging technologies and guide the team in leveraging them effectively.
Ensure quality, performance, and reliability with a 'get things done' attitude: Implement best practices to enhance our application quality, security, and performance. Monitor applications, set up alerts, and proactively address errors or performance issues. While your primary focus is management and oversight, be prepared to jump in and assist with hands-on development when necessary, whether it's fixing a critical bug or helping a team member with a complex problem. We're a small team, and we value leaders who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves to ensure project success.
Collaborate in shaping technical requirements: Engage early in the feature and product conception process. Work with the product manager and founder to evaluate and provide technical input on user activities, stories, and scenarios. Help shape requirements and designs from a technical perspective to develop optimal solutions and reduce late-stage changes.

Compensation & perks

We are initially seeking a part-time team member to assist primarily with one client project. We envision this role as a stepping stone, with strong potential to evolve into a permanent, full-time position as we continue to grow.

Our initial budget is $2,000 to $2,500 USD per month. We expect the ideal candidate to commit approximately 30 to 38 hours per month, depending on experience and the agreed-upon rate, which works out to about $65 to $85 USD per hour.

As we collaborate and expand, this role has significant potential to transition to a full-time position, offering increased responsibilities and compensation.

If you were to come aboard full-time, these are our perks—

Work Hours: Embrace a flexible, 35-hour work week that emphasizes a healthy work-life balance.
Vacation: Enjoy 30 days of paid vacation, accumulating 2.5 days per month. This includes local holidays.
Company Holidays: Benefit from a handful of company-wide holidays each year.
Work Environment: Experience an asynchronous-first, calm, and deep work environment inspired by successful remote companies like Doist, Buffer, and GitLab. Learn more about the async-first philosophy here.
Stipend: Receive a learning and productivity stipend of $1,500 a year to enhance your work and personal life. This includes funding for AI tools like ChatGPT and membership to professional learning communities.
Growth Opportunity: Opportunity to get in at the ground-level of a growing company, with the potential to shape the future of how we deliver our services.