Grok is hiring!

Lead Software Engineer

At Grok Academy, our mission is to educate all learners in transformative computing skills, knowledge and dispositions, empowering them to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the future. To us, computing encompasses basic digital literacy through to advance computer science and related disciplines, and the application of these skills across all disciplines.

Our passion is education, and we’re looking for people who share that passion to join us as we reinvent learning for students across Australia and the world. We don’t just build resources for students – we build interactive learning experiences that excite and challenge students. We want to see every student succeed, whether they’re in pre-school, K-12, the tertiary sector or engaging in their own self-paced learning.

We believe our platform is a fantastic way to develop a deep understanding (that’s what Grok means!) of computer science, and we’re looking for someone who wants to share that understanding and inspire the next generation to code.

As a Lead Software Engineer for Grok Academy you will be working on a diverse range of existing and greenfield projects as we develop our next generation learning platform. We work in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, PostgreSQL, and HTML/CSS. Experience with React, Django, AWS infrastructure or Docker would be an advantage.

We need someone who:

  • has strong software skills with at least 7 years' experience working in a professional software development team and exposure to a broad range of technologies,
  • can take ownership of the design and implementation of Grok applications and architecture and ensure it aligns with the portfolio and enterprise strategies
  • is an advocate of software engineering principles and best practices with great attention to software architecture concepts and methodologies,
  • has excellent interpersonal skills with a high degree of empathy and emotional intelligence,
  • has great troubleshooting skills and can break down complex technical tasks,
  • can manage time effectively and work independently in a goal-focused environment,
  • is a team player and can be a mentor for other team members.

Position Details

We are hiring for several Lead Software Engineer roles in our growing engineering team. Roles are available for full-time or part-time staff. Our offices are in Sydney, but we have employees working across Australia and are open to hiring from anywhere in Australia

At Grok we are inspired by our purpose - we learn about education and technology every day and share our learning with our community. All staff are employed under the Grok Academy Group Enterprise Agreement, which offers generous salary and conditions including:

  • A 35-hour working week;
  • flexible working arrangements to promote a work-life balance,
  • generous leave entitlements, including annual shutdown and up to 26 weeks of paid parental leave (12 weeks for the non-primary carer); and
  • Salary packaging arrangements.

How to apply

Send an email to Kylie Williams (jobs@grokacademy.org) with the following:

  1. A 1-2 page response with reference to the position description explaining:
    • why you want the role
    • what you would bring to the role and what you would get out of it; and
    • an achievement that you are most proud of.
  2. A current curriculum vitae; and
  3. Two referees with a thorough knowledge of your work performance.

Any offer of a position will be subject to a Working with Children Check and National Police Check.

Position Description

Your position as a Software Engineer will include but is not limited to the following duties:

  • Designing and developing software to support our products and educational activities;
  • Assessing the technical work required, scoping and specifying software features;
  • Implementing quality code, writing tests, deploying code, and debugging problems;
  • Participating in peer review to ensure quality (robust, maintainable) code;
  • Writing developer and user documentation: describing the code base, product features and their use, our system architecture, and relevant processes used by the team;
  • Investigating issues reported with our platform (diagnosing, reproducing, and describing impact on our customers) and providing solutions to address them;
  • Monitoring our production systems and taking action to mitigate issues that arise;
  • Assisting the customer success team to resolve customer issues efficiently, communicating effectively with customers as needed;
  • Collaborating closely with Educators to develop and refine the software features required to support learning content in the platform;
  • Working with all portfolios to maximise the efficiency of their operations.

All staff will:

  • Collaborate with your team (communicate, help, coach and learn from each other) to achieve team or project objectives.
  • Work effectively with your manager to perform your role.
  • Evaluate your work against Grok’s strategic goals.
  • Perform other work as reasonably directed by management.