Job Description: Lead Backend Engineer

Contact: Ryan Jordan, ryan@dancefightapp.com

 

Introduction

There are countless competition shows on TV, but for Gen Z, there is no competition platform on their medium of choice – mobile.

Based in Austin, Texas, DanceFight is the world’s first mobile video competition platform. We are moving quickly into blockchain with our own coin-based game economy, NFTs and a presence in the Metaverse in partnership with Animoca Brands and The SandBox.

DanceFight has started with a focus on dance but will expand to other user generated content verticals (and to a more all-encompassing brand) including singing, bball trick shots, comedy, rap – you name it! DanceFight will gamify the social experience with voting, leaderboards, levels, rewards, accolades and more.

And while building and scaling this first-of-its-kind platform, our mission and top priority is to create the safest, most inclusive, diverse and inspiring community for young people on the planet! In 2020, we won MassChallenge’s top award for social impact. To learn about DanceFight’s origin story — how it was born out of an international non-profit uniting youth from all over the world — check out How It Started.

 

Other Background Info


Sony Music is an equity holder as well as acclaimed artists Pitbull and Andre3000. Sony and Warner have full catalog deals in place with us and UMG is coming onboard soon. Deutsche Telekom is also an investor and strategic partner in Europe.

It’s a top priority for us to not only create a user community that’s safe, inclusive, diverse and inspiring, but also a team that reflects these values as well. We’re lucky to already have an amazing team made up of people who are deeply passionate about what we can achieve and put out into the world together. 

DanceFight has launched in both the App Store and Google Play Store. 

 

Position Overview


Let’s build something special together!

We are looking for a senior engineer to join our fun, fast-paced, exciting startup and lead our backend development efforts. 

This person will be hands-on in all aspects of back end development and operations. They will be responsible for managing and building out our backend development and operations teams and ensuring the smooth running of all production systems.

You will work closely with the rest of the team as we revolutionize the head-to-head competition experience by using blockchain to transform our content, making it community-owned and community-led.

Currently, we have a distributed team of developers in the US, Argentina, Vietnam and Thailand. This position will be mostly remote with opportunities to work together in-person.

Salary will be commensurate with experience; equity compensation included. Medical and dental benefits offered. 

 

Responsibilities & Requirements:

 

Responsibilities

  • Improve processes and systems to ensure availability of production systems
  • Management of the back end delivery team including
    • task design, creation, prioritization, allocation and monitoring
  • Management of devops team
  • Provide regular status updates on all back end and devops activities
  • Provide input into System Architecture & Design
  • Design, develop and deploy new back end features / improvements
    • Primarily APIs for integration with mobile applications
  • Develop and deploy secure blockchain back-ends, such as blockchain networks and related tooling and scripts to support the different operational needs
  • Develop and deploy different types of Smart Contracts including tokens, marketplaces, escrow contracts and game mechanics. Provide the highest level of reliability with contract codes 100% tested
  • Perform code reviews and manage PRs
  • Release and change management
  • Provide mentoring to junior team members
  • Troubleshooting and bug fixes
  • Provide technical support to mobile application development teams
  • Maintain documentation

 

Requirements

  • 5+ years experience as a back end developer (NodeJs or Python, NoSQL)
  • 3+ years experience leading a technical team in an Agile environment
  • In-depth understanding of all the technical aspects of Blockchains, including scalability solutions
  • Experience with Smart-Contracts development and deployment
  • Experience in cryptocurrency and blockchain development
  • Experience managing Cloud platforms as a service & Infrastructure as a service
  • Experience managing multiple code bases in a version control system
  • Experience with CI/CD systems
  • Knowledge of Systems Architecture & Design relating to cloud platforms
  • Understanding of Mobile Application Development
  • Understanding TCP/IP networks
  • Familiarity with Jira
  • Knowledge of 
    • Video delivery 
  • VOD
  • encoding & transcoding
  • low latency delivery trends and technologies
  • Content Delivery Networks
  • Video Content Moderation
  • Recommenders/Main Feed Algorithm

 

Soft skills

  • Technical Leadership 
  • Product Development 
  • Effective communicator of technical topics to non-technical people 
  • Empathetic listener 
  • Committed to growth both personally and professionally
  • Mission-oriented
  • Pragmatic thinker – tactical & strategic, build vs buy
  • Experience with Agile Project Management & Tools
  • Technical Writing

Interested? Please contact Ryan Jordan – ryan@dancefightapp.com