Senior Full-Stack Engineer
(all genders) ☠️
Are you a Senior Full-Stack Engineer with a taste for adventures on the high seas of US parcel shipping? Do you enjoy solving real-world problems with a healthy dose of pirate spirit? We are team La Louise, we are hiring, and we'd love to hear from you!
Summary
Team: La Louise (product team, shipping/reconciliation domain)
Position: Senior Full-Stack Engineer (all genders)
Location/Remote-Work: We are open for remote positions, but you should be able to occasionally attend team meetings on-site, such as our "All Hooks Below Deck" planning days which we facilitate on a four-monthly basis.
Languages: German and English (B2 is the minimum level for both)
Your Role
We're searching for a Senior Full-Stack Engineer to join our cross-functional product team "La Louise", named after an old pirate ship from the 18th century.
Here, you'll help us to improve processes with our carrier partners to handle price adjustments for our customers when a package turns out to be heavier or bigger than anticipated after the label has already been charged. You’ll be collaborating closely with fellow engineers, as well as with product management and design – and you'll dive into product discovery yourself: sparking ideas, sitting in on user interviews, and translating customer and support feedback into real world improvements.
We work in self-organized teams, so we're counting on team players who bring their own initiative. You'll help shape how we work together and take ownership of far more than just your code. You can have a real voice in decisions, help set priorities, and nurture a culture where learning and experimenting go hand in hand.
What We're Looking For
We’re searching for an experienced Senior Full-Stack Engineer, ideally with experience in SaaS projects. Here's where your knowledge will come in handy…
Must-Haves:
- PHP8
- SQL/MySQL
- Experience with TypeScript
- Understanding of object-oriented programming (OOP)
- Understanding of domain-driven design (DDD)
- Understanding of distributed systems and asynchronous data processing
- Experience with unit and integration tests (PHPUnit, Codeception, Cypress)
- Fluency in git and corresponding workflows, CI/CD (Gitlab, Docker)
- Understanding of design patterns, and best practices for clean code
- Experience with agile software development practices
Nice-to-Haves:
- Experience with Apollo/GraphQL
- Experience with functional programming in JavaScript (React)
- Experience with NoSQL databases and key-value stores, e.g., Redis
- Knowledge of security best practices, fraud detection, and penetration testing
You can check out our full tech stack in our Tech Radar.
Mastering every area is not necessary. What matters most is that you share our values and are a good fit with our crew. We value personal growth and provide the space for it. Strong English language skills are essential, as we regularly communicate with colleagues in the US and write documentation in English. At work, we communicate mostly in German, but we can all speak English. If you speak pirate that wouldn’t hurt either – YYYAAAARRRRrrrrrr!
The Team
Team "La Louise" helps merchants through the reconciliation process of US parcel shipping. We keep the books straight long after a parcel has set sail — handling adjustments when a package turns out heavier or bigger than expected, and making sure our customers always know where they stand, and why. Basically, we match what was paid during label creation against what the carriers actually charged, helping our customers to understand and solve the issue.
Right now, we're working on topics and projects including:
- Improving the reconciliation process for our customers
- Expanding and optimizing our test suite (PHPUnit, Codeception, Cypress)
- Improving the modularization of existing code and refactoring legacy code
Diversity
We're committed to diverse teams and especially welcome applications from women and non-binary people.
Who we are
Since our founding in 2014, we’ve been disrupting the package shipping market in the US with our software.
Our mission is to make the complex parcel shipping process as simple, user-friendly, and affordable as possible. We operate in multiple locations in the US and serve the American market exclusively. However, the development of our web app has always had its home base in Hamburg-Ottensen.
Together with our overseas colleagues, we work daily to deliver the best possible product for our users. This is what we're valued for, and it’s the wind in our sails.
Our Values & Culture
As an owner-managed company with a crisis-proof product in a growth-oriented market, we can combine high-quality standards, attention to detail, and an attractive working environment with great conditions. We believe creativity and room for personal ideas provide the optimal environment for innovation, progress, and quality. Trust and helpfulness, combined with many opportunities to take on responsibility, enable personal growth. This means working with little hierarchy and a pull, not push, approach to tasks.
This agile, self-organized way of working requires a high level of personal responsibility and enthusiasm for close teamwork. We give each other quick feedback and aren’t afraid of conflict, but always find fair, solution-oriented consensus. In doing so, we learn a lot from each other, and value diversity as opportunity.
To ensure long-term collaboration, we do everything possible to make family and work compatible.
What Doesn’t Fit
You won’t be happy here if you expect complete, end-to-end processes like in large corporations. On our ship, some things are still not perfectly tied down, but we work together to improve systematically. You’ll also be unhappy if you’re a lone wolf, apathetic, or expect to be told exactly what to do. And if you happen to be a macho, fascist, or conspiracy theorist, you’ll be quickly keelhauled!
Anything Else?
We haven’t listed the usual perks like free fruit, beer, foosball, or ball pits. If you’d like those, let’s chat. We either already have them or can make them happen!
We offer the following conditions:
- You decide whether to work remotely or on-site at our Hamburg-Ottensen office
- We’re hiring in Hamburg and surrounding areas, as we occasionally meet in person for special events; nevertheless, we might be able to make exceptions possible, i.e., if you're living in Berlin
- Part-time work is possible
- 30 days of vacation
- We have a flexible working time model
- We offer an extensive budget of EUR 3000 per year for learning through conferences or trainings
- Regarding development environments: we use a lot of macOS, but also Ubuntu. Windows isn’t supported and isn’t planned. You’ll work with a MacBook or ThinkPad. Most of us use PHPStorm, Vim, or VS Code for development.
Next Steps
If you think you’d be a good fit for our team, feel free to reach out via anheuern@pirateship.com
What to expect
- Introduction call (50-60min): Spend time with our Engineering Manager, align on the responsibilities of the role, and answer your questions.
- Get to know the team (50-60min): You'll meet the Software Engineers and Product Manager on the team and learn more about the current challenges.
- Technical Deep-Dive discussion (60-90min): You'll get to solve a little coding challenge at home as a conversation starter for a technical Deep-Dive discussion afterward.
- Offer to come on board (30 min): At this point, the team is excited about you.
