At a Glance
- Tasks: Develop large-scale Ruby on Rails applications to combat food waste.
- Company: Join OLIO, the world's only neighbour-to-neighbour food sharing app.
- Benefits: Remote work, personal development opportunities, and a fun team culture.
- Other info: Be part of a global movement with ambitious growth goals.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in reducing food waste while enjoying a dynamic work environment.
- Qualifications: Experience in Ruby on Rails and a passion for our mission.
The predicted salary is between 59400 - 72600 £ per year.
Your mission is to solve the problem of food waste in the home & local community, at scale. We do this by connecting anyone with spare food – which can be households or food businesses – with neighbours living nearby who would like it. Globally, over one third of all the food we produce gets thrown away, which is worth over $1 trillion; and in a country like the UK half of all food waste takes place in the home. OLIO solves this problem with our award-winning mobile & web app.
Over the past 7 years OLIO has grown from a local initiative in North London to a global movement. We now have just under 5 million users who have given away 34 million portions of food, in 60 countries. OLIOers have also given away 3 million household items in our non-food section. Underpinning OLIO’s incredible growth has been our volunteer programme, with over 75,000 people reaching out to spread the word about OLIO in their local community. We also work with over 4,500 business locations across the UK via our Food Waste Heroes Programme to enable them to have zero food waste locations.
We have a bold ambition to have 1 billion OLIOers by 2030, given that reducing food waste has been identified by Project Drawdown as the #1 most important thing humanity can do to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis. Our work has been widely recognized, most notably by the United Nations who highlighted OLIO as a "beacon” for the world, and by Vivatech who awarded OLIO "Next European Unicorn".
Your profile
Our ideal candidate will first and foremost be as passionate about our mission as we are! In addition to this, you will have the following experience and skills:
- A proven track record developing large scale Ruby-On-Rails applications
- Familiarisation with using and improving our build and automation tools
- Unit and integration testing new features
- Evaluating new technologies and seeing if/how they could benefit our products and processes
- Ability to keep up to date with newer versions of JavaScript as new features become available
- A ‘product manager’ mind-set, which means you seek to improve specs and designs where possible
- Ability to work with/learn new technologies/languages/frameworks as they arise
All OLIO team members share these attributes:
- Mission obsessed
- Self-starters with a ‘can-do’ attitude
- Resourceful and creative
- Thorough, but able to move quickly and decisively
- A ruthless ability to prioritise
- Excellent communication skills
- Diverse (18 nationalities, 21% LGBTQT+, early 20s to 45+)
- Fun to work with ☺
Why us?
In order to accelerate OLIO to its next level in growth and impact, we are recruiting new Ruby-on-Rails Developers. You will be joining one of the teams in our tech team. We're looking for a Senior Ruby-On-Rails developer to help continue to grow our volunteer platform in order to give our users the best and most optimal experience for their use case. Right now our Food Heroes are a main contributor of listings to our system so it's important we support them with the best tool as much as possible.
We've also started advertising in and around London after years of successful organic growth and are now starting to see massive growth in our user base, and we’re starting to see hockey-stick style growth!
Technologies we work with are:
- Ruby on Rails (currently Rails 5.2 but working on the upgrade to Rails 6)
- AWS (Aurora / S3 / cloudfront / ELB / ECR / Cloudwatch / Lambda / Fargate)
- Docker
- Redis
- Travis-CI
- Sidekiq
- Activeadmin
- Google maps / mixpanel / mailgun / trevor.io
- Stripe
Once you have proven yourself you will have great freedom and autonomy, coupled with an enormous opportunity for personal development. All of our roles are remote working roles, but we do try and have quarterly/half-yearly in person meetups with the larger tech team/company (when possible). We live for our mission, but like to have fun along the way!
All candidates must be eligible to work & reside in the UK. This is an incredibly exciting time to join OLIO and help us unlock our full potential! OLIO is a remote-first company with an incredibly strong culture and was last year listed as a top 5 place to work by Escape The City.
Senior Rails Developer employer: Your mission OLIO
At OLIO, we are not just about reducing food waste; we are a passionate community dedicated to making a meaningful impact. As a Senior Rails Developer, you will thrive in our remote-first environment that champions autonomy and personal growth, while being part of a vibrant team that values creativity and collaboration. With opportunities for professional development and a fun, mission-driven culture, OLIO is an exceptional place to work for those looking to contribute to a global movement.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Rails Developer
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Your mission OLIO or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Your mission OLIO.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Your mission OLIO.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Your mission OLIO that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Rails Developer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Your mission OLIO.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Your mission OLIO and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Your mission OLIO
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Your mission OLIO uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
