Staff Software Engineer, Back-End Focus

Kin is redesigning insurance to be smarter, faster, and centered on the customer. We use intelligent pricing, offer seamless bundling, and make every step (from purchasing, servicing to claims) simple and friction-free, especially in the places traditional insurers often ignore.

We empower people to protect what matters most, starting with their homes and expanding to all they value, in a world where climate risks, rising costs, and outdated systems leave too many behind. Our approach has fostered amazing growth, attracted marquee investors, and earned us accolades, including being named to:

• Built In Chicago's Best Places to Work, Midsize Companies (2021-2025).

• Forbes' America's Best Startup Employers (2021- 2024, Ranked #37 in 2024).

• Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.

• Forbes’ Fintech 50.

Simply put, our people are what make us great – we need forward-thinking, inspired game-changers like you to join us in our mission.

So, what’s the role?

As a Staff Engineer at Kin, you'll develop the products and features that make Kin operate. We're a Ruby on Rails environment with Typescript front-end and PostgreSQL database, and we apply Agile methodologies to our product and software development processes. In your role, you will have the opportunity to work on more complex engineering problems while collaborating with peers in Dev, Product, QA, and other cross-functional teams. As a senior team member, you'll have the opportunity to mentor more junior engineers, and on occasion lead small teams.

A day in the life could include: 

• Writing clean, maintainable, and efficient code in Ruby on Rails and occasionally some Python and Typescript

• Setting the standards for the Engineering team by example

• Leading pair programming sessions and providing mentorship to team members

• Driving and fostering advanced design or architectural tasks

• Developing technical roadmaps

• Participating in daily stands and weekly retros

• Collaborating with cross-functional team members, including our Insurance Product and Actuarial teams

• Providing subject matter expertise and support

I’ve got the skills… but do I have the necessary ones?

• 6+ years of professional software engineering experience

• 5+ years experience coding with Ruby on Rails

• Strong understanding of SQL and RDBMS, with exposure to NoSQL

• Experience in designing and implementing scalable, API-first systems

• Experience with event-driven architectures

• Experience in big data engineering on AWS and/or DataBricks is a plus

• Ability to articulate value of technical investments

• Ability to operate with little-to-no technical guidance

• Experience mentoring engineers

• Comfortable in a startup environment – we’re fast-paced, self-motivated, and determined to change the industry

• A fast learner, ready to bring previous knowledge to this position and continue developing along the way

• Location in Central or Eastern US time zones (CDT & EDT) strongly preferred

• At this time, we are unable to sponsor employment visas

Oh, and don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! 

We offer a comprehensive benefits program, allowing you to choose the
benefits that are best for you and your family including: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Short and Long Term Disability Insurance options, Employee Assistance Program, as well as elective voluntary benefits such as accident insurance, hospital indemnity, critical illness, legal assistance and pet insurance. Kinfolk become eligible for benefits on the first day of the month following their start date.

In addition to these benefits, we also are excited to offer the following: 

• Competitive salary and company equity through Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), granted as part of our standard compensation package and based on role and level.

• 401K with company match of up to 4% of eligible earnings

• Flexible PTO for exempt employees (employees typically take 15-20 days annually), along with 8 company-observed holidays

• A paid parental leave program that provides 100% salary continuation of up to 14 weeks for birthing parents and 8 weeks for non birthing parents

• Continuing education and professional development opportunities

Applications for this role are accepted on an ongoing basis

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