[LRUG] [JOBS] Experienced Software Engineer at Loco2.com (Remote-working position)

[Jon Leighton]

Loco2 (http://loco2.com/) is an independent online agent for rail
tickets in Europe. Our mission is to make booking a train as simple as
booking a flight. We're integrated with the booking systems of major
rail operators, and our ticket coverage is unrivalled and growing.

## About us ##

We're a small team of passionate people. Our technical director is
former Rails core team member Jon Leighton. Meet the rest of the Loco2
family at http://loco2.com/about/team/.

Our customers are at the centre of what we do, and we're proud to have
an average rating of 9.2 out of 10
(https://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/loco2.com).

We're growing quickly, and most of this growth is organic, as customers
spread the word about the great experience they've had booking tickets
with us.

We have an office in London, but our technical team works remotely and
with flexible hours. Everyone in the company uses online tools like
Hipchat, Trello, Github and Basecamp to work together.

We are not a VC-backed startup and we don't think caffeine-fuelled
all-nighters are a very good way to grow a company that is built to
last. We're driven to delight our customers, but we have lives outside
of work too.

## Technical challenges ##

Our software stack consists of a modern Rails application, a PostgreSQL
database and a pure-Ruby backend library which we use to communicate
with train booking APIs.

We're currently integrated with 6 different European rail booking
systems, which is how we achieve our very wide coverage. But it also
means that we need to diligently manage technical complexity, as each
system works in a slightly different way, with its own features and
quirks. SOAP is (unfortunately) used by many APIs, which is why we
released our open source library, LolSoap
(https://github.com/loco2/lolsoap).

Some of the most difficult challenges we face relate to routing and
making sense of lots of data. Which routes are best to get from A to B?
Which booking systems should be queried? How might we cache data without
affecting accuracy of results?

As well as improving and perfecting our product, we also need to scale
the business as our sales continue to grow. This involves making sure
that performance is optimised and customer problems are minimised.

## About you ##

We're looking for new engineers to join the team. An ideal candidate:

* Has 4+ years of programming experience
* Knows Ruby or another similar language
* Is comfortable designing object oriented software from scratch, not
just implementing CRUD Rails apps; a pragmatist who can see the
trade-offs involved in the different approaches to solving a problem
* Thinks independently and critically, striving to discover the root
causes of problems rather than treating the symptoms
* Actively considers future maintainability when deciding how to
implement something
* Communicates very well using written English
* Learns quickly and independently, but doesn't hesitate to ask for help
when needed
* Enjoys getting their teeth stuck into complicated problems, as well as
being willing to pitch in on some of the more routine tasks which
inevitably arise
* Can be on call from time-to-time during some weekends, in case we need
to respond to an emergency problem
* Can work hours that have some overlap with London daytime
* Is motivated by Loco2's mission

## How to apply ##

Email jon at loco2.com. Attach a CV if you like, but it's not required.

Here are a few things we'd like to know (but please do tell us other
things we didn't know we wanted to know!):

* What are the most challenging/interesting programming tasks you have
worked on?
* Why do you want to work for Loco2?
* What are your approximate salary expectations?

We welcome applications from everybody, regardless of race, gender,
sexual orientation, etc. To try to make the hiring process as fair as
possible, if we are interested in your application then you'll be asked
to complete a programming challenge which is judged anonymously. Our
emphasis is on finding somebody with demonstrable skills rather than
somebody who is good at self-marketing. This process helps us focus on that.

If you want to ask any questions before applying, please feel free to
email us.

Closing date for applications: Friday 10th July 2015