Staff Engineer

Hi 👋 we’re Genio. We create beautifully simple learning tools that boost knowledge, skills, and confidence.

• We’re a SaaS scale up and one of the fastest growing tech companies in the North. 


• There’s 100+ of us around the UK with our HQ in Leeds. 


• Our software is award-winning and used by 100,000s of students at over 800 universities & colleges worldwide. 


• We’re growing so we can achieve our mission to support 1 million students to become better learners by 2030. 

🚀 About the role

As Staff Engineer at Genio you will be a technical expert, dedicated to advocating for engineering excellence across their squads and the wider engineering team, solving complex technical challenges and influencing technical decisions.  You will have a key role in driving forward Genio’s technology goals and advocating for our Engineering Principles.

👥 Meet the team: 

Technology at Genio is a cross-functional function made of Engineering, Product, Product Marketing, User Experience, Customer Experience and Data.  This filters down to our product squads where we have at least one team member from each discipline working together to build the best product for our users and customers.  

You’ll be joining one of four stream-aligned squads; Buyer Admin & Distribute(internally known as BEAR), Buyer HE solution (known internally as Loch HESS), Note-taking (known internally as GOAT), Learning (known internally as Egg).

You’ll work closely with the whole Engineering team, and you can learn more about the Leadership team here. You’ll be managed by one of the Engineering Line Managers; Natasha (owns a dog called Bailey), Charlene (owns a sausage dog called Spud), or Mark (Nomad policy champion, Genio Pride organiser).

Heading up the line managers is Mala, Head of Engineering.  If you want to know more about joining Genio, you can hear from Mala here.

💪 What you’ll be doing: 

Technical Expertise and Execution:

• Complex Problem Solving: Tackle highly complex technical challenges that require in-depth analysis, creative solutions, and a deep understanding of system architecture and design.


• Technical Leadership: Provide technical guidance and direction to other engineers through pairing or mentorship, influencing technical decisions and ensuring alignment with Genio’s goals.


• System Design and Architecture: Contribute to system design and architecture, ensuring scalability, performance, and maintainability.


• Code Quality and Standards: Champion code quality and coding standards within the squad(s), ensuring alignment with Genio’s Engineering Principles. 


• Performance Optimisation: Identify and address performance bottlenecks and optimise systems for efficiency and scalability.

Delivery and Squad Impact:

• Delivery Ownership: Take ownership of critical projects or features, driving them from conception to completion with minimal supervision, fostering a culture of open communication by sharing timely updates on progress, issues and blockers with stakeholders.


• Mentorship and Collaboration: Guide more junior engineers through pairing and mentorship, fostering their technical growth and development.


• Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate effectively with product managers, UX designers, and other stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of features.


• Technical Decision Making: Play a key role in technical decision-making, weighing trade-offs and considering long-term implications.

Strategic and Leadership Contributions:

• Technical Vision: Contribute to the technical vision and strategy for the squad(s).


• Process Improvement: Identify areas for improvement in the software development process and drive initiatives to enhance efficiency and quality.


• Innovation: Explore and evaluate new technologies and approaches to improve existing systems or develop innovative solutions.


• Knowledge Sharing: Actively share knowledge and expertise with the squad(s) and the broader engineering community.

💡 About you: 

• Software Crafting: Significant object-oriented and/or functional programming experience.


• Front-End Technologies: Highly proficient in HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript frameworks (TypeScript and React).


• Back-End Technologies: Deep experience with Kotlin for server-side development.


• Mobile Development: experience with mobile application development, especially web-based hybrid apps powered by Capacitor as we replatform our mobile app.


• Databases: Strong knowledge of SQL (PostgreSQL) and NoSQL.


• Testability: Understand and advocate for best practices in automated testing, continuous integration, automated deployment, and code quality.


• Collaboration: Actively mentors others, fostering trust, and contributing to a positive team culture.


• Adaptability: Advocate and champion continuous learning, developing new skills, and promote a flexible, team-oriented mindset.


• Communication: Strong skills with "passionate views, loosely held" – articulate ideas clearly but remain open to other perspectives.


• Problem Solving and Debugging: able to analyse complex technical problems, breaking them down, identifying patterns, and using critical thinking to craft and evaluate solutions with clear trade-offs and collaborative insight.


• Proactively leverage AI tools (e.g., code assistants, automated analysis, workflow agents) to enhance development velocity, code quality, and problem-solving effectiveness.

Not every one of the above is essential, but hopefully it gives an idea of what we find useful day to day.

💰Salary and benefits:

£72,000- £80,000 dependent upon experience 

🏖️ 33 days annual leave (Inclusive of bank holidays)

🎄 3 gifted days off at Christmas

💰 EMI Share Options Scheme

🎓 Generous individual learning and training allowance 

⌚ Truly flexible hours to suit when you work best 

💻 Full home working set up and beautiful collaborative office space 

🚗 Free Leeds City Centre office parking

🌴 Nomad working policy with family travel insurance 

🍼 Enhanced 26 weeks maternity and 4 weeks paternity (fully paid)

🤝 2 volunteering days per year

🤍 Health cash plan (from glasses to massages) 

💸 6% employer pension contribution

Location: 

We have a beautiful office space in Leeds and we love it when we get together to collaborate in person. We typically operate a hybrid way of working, however some of our roles support remote working within the UK, if you live more than 50 miles from the office. 

We will discuss ways of working with you at interview however if you have any questions before you apply please reach out to [email protected] 

💡 What to expect next: 

We’ll review your application and provide a response within 1 week. Even if it’s not the news you’d hoped for, we appreciate it’s good to know either way. 

Ahead of your interviews you will receive a confirmation email outlining who you’ll be meeting and when, anything you’ll need to prepare in advance and any resources we think you might find helpful. 

If we invite you to meet with us for interview, here’s an overview of what the process will look like: 

1. Screening interview with someone in our Recruitment team (30 minutes). 


2. Technical test via Github; you will have 1 week to complete the test when it suits you best. The test isn’t timed. 


3. Pairing exercise (1 hour 15 minutes) with two of our Engineers.


4. Final stage interview which includes a 1 hour culture and values interview, plus a 30 minute interview around your CV and experience. This will be with our Head of Engineering and other members of the team.

👀 Interested in learning more about a career at Genio? 

Here are a few further resources:

About Genio

Life at Genio

Case studies and user stories

💌 Not quite the right role for you however you’d love to be a part of Genio’s journey? 

Let’s connect! Reach out to [email protected] and we’ll add you to our network, to keep you updated with any future opportunities we think you might be interested in.

📄 Applicant Privacy Notice 

We think it’s important that you understand how we use and handle your personal information, so here’s a link to our privacy notice. By submitting your application, you’re confirming that you’ve read and understood this notice.