Cześć, this will be in English (hopefully not against the rules). I speak Polish (parents from Poland) but not well enough to write this whole description in Polish ? Plus we're a SF-based startup, so everything is conducted in English. My co-founder does not speak Polish
Our mission
Polar is a learning and knowledge management tool aiming to democratize education. Two major issues with education are a lack of strong digital tools and a steep gradient between advanced and emerging locations. With Polar, we want to lower those barriers for anyone to receive a strong education. While solving this problem is bigger than only what Polar is offering, we strongly believe that one of the foundations to solve this is a tool that can be used by anybody in their education - be it around reading, note taking, memorizing information, or collaborating with others.
Our culture
We are a remote-first startup. We initially founded the startup in SF but moved fully remote in late 2019. At Polar, we're building a culture of mutual trust, openness, and strong ownership by each individual.
We are still a small team and you are one of our very first hires. This means, you joining us is a crucial decision. Based on our previous startup experience, we have a very clear idea what kind of startup we want to build. We want to make sure that this vision is in line with your ideal work place. In addition, we are looking to hire for the long-term. We are only interested in candidates who share our passion for education, our vision of democratizing education, and how we can get there as a team. We strongly respect your work life balance but we are looking for someone who is passionate about the product and role, not just another 9-5 job. We want someone whose incentives are aligned with ours and who is as passionate about building an early stage startup as we are. We are financially covered for the next few years, so stability in this role is provided.
Position overview
Our ideal candidate has a strong background in frontend development, a fullstack interest, and preferably some AI experience. Specifically:
- Min 5 years of frontend experience - Javascript, React, React Native, PWAs, NodeJS
- Decent understanding of developing on phone, mobile, and desktop
- Understanding of web browser internals and modern APIs (service workers, PWAs, offline, etc)
- Experience with Typescript and Firebase preferred
- Experience with PDFs or EPUBs big plus
- Strong preference for previous startup experience
- Analytical thinking. Deep respect for the scientific method and objective data analysis
- Compensation is a mix of equity and salary, with exact mix (or decision if any equity) is negotiable. Everybody viable candidate receives a cash-only offer and a mixed cash/equity offer. Our strong preference is for you to align your upside with ours (i.e., take equity) but we also understand that this is somewhat less common in certain parts of the world
Your challenge
Since we are a very small startup, your role will be more than just being one engineer in a big team. You will have major responsibilities from day 1. We provide hands-on mentorship and expect you to bring in best practices from your previous experiences. This includes making autonomous decisions, being clear and decisive about communication, and being a team player.
Screening criteria
We screen candidates across various facets. Technically, we want to see a strong set of hard skills and competent decision making. Culturally, we look for candidates who are confident yet humble, decisive yet open to others' opinions, and someone who wants to build a large vision as part of a long-term team.
To ensure a good team fit, the first two month is typically conducted as a probationary period. We want to make sure that you are the right fit for us but also that we are the right fit for you.
Details about working cadence
- We are a fully remote team and do not track working hours. You will only be judged on what you deliver, not face time
- We do not have a holiday policy - if you need time off, you take time off. Again, you will only be judged based on what you deliver
- Salary is determined differently for each candidate based on various criteria. However, the main criteria is your performance. Your salary is reviewed on a regular basis
- Similarly, your role and responsibilities are reviewed on a regular basis
- When you join us, we put together a development plan for every new joiner to ensure you continue developing professionally
About Polar App, Inc.
We are an EdTech startup with thousands of MAUs and early revenue. We are self-funded with funding right now and planning to raise a full round early next year.
We are a team of two founders with over ~35 years of combined experience in startups, tech, growth, and business.
- Kevin is founder and focused on development and product. He recently sold his last startup. Polar is his fourth startup. He is also one of the inventors of RSS
- Jonathan is founder and focused on product and growth. He received his PhD from Yale and worked at BCG (management consulting) for five years before founding Polar
- We recently filled our first full-time engineering role with some very dedicated engineers and you will be the fourth hire
We are SF and Boulder-based but are building a remote-first team. Your location is of secondary importance but we do need at least 4-5 hours of overlap to work effectively with you. We aim to build a very relaxed company culture and are implementing various methods from our previous experiences in startups and consulting for that.
If interested, please reach out per email to me (Jonathan). Please include your github, LinkedIn, and a few short sentences with your interest
