Have you or a close friend been affected by the housing affordability crisis? Do you believe good design can not only transform a space but also positively impact a person's mental state? By and large millennial homeowners are priced out of urban centers and turnkey homes. With 80% of homes now older than 20 years old, the options for affordable housing are typically dated and underwhelming. The need for cost-effective, stylish renovations has never been higher, but the process hasn't changed in decades.

Skipp is building a product with world-class architects, designers, and technologists to not only make the process of transforming a home easier and affordable but also fun and inspiring. We are an early-stage, VC-backed startup using AI, data-driven design, and the latest in spatial technology to simplify the renovation process and democratize access to elevated designs for the everyday homeowner. Skipp's technology can generate real-time pricing, architect-grade documentation, visualizations, and material schedules. With our approach, homeowners can not only access world-class designs for their actual space immediately, but can also efficiently manage their budget and have all the documentation needed for a streamlined RFP and construction process.

We are looking for a Clojure backend or full-stack engineer with start-up experience. This will be an early hire for the company, one of the first non-founding members on the engineering team with an opportunity to influence the strategic technology direction and company culture.

We value talent that likes to experiment with new technologies, new techniques, and new processes. We're building something that no one has seen before, and we want fresh ideas matched with a “get it done” attitude. As part of a small team, you will be expected to share your ideas, seek feedback and provide recommendations on other areas of the system. The best team members will know how it all fits together.

Our backend is written in Clojure with a Datomic database, all deployed on AWS. Clojurescript on the frontend. We also use Python for some integration and DevOps work. Overall, our technology stack is designed for rapid iteration, application of Machine Learning, and scale.

QUESTION

Given what you know about Skipp now, the AEC space, and the technologies we're using, what would you propose as a Hack day project?

QUALIFICATIONS

• Three years or more with server-side programming languages.
• At least one year of experience with Clojure (or Java plus another functional language)
• Comfortable working at a startup, prior startup experience (fast-paced, rapid iteration, evolving requirements)
• Willingness to own features from beginning to end
• An understanding and preference for data-driven architectures
• Must have ideas and opinions. What do _you_ want to explore?

• Bonus: Any experience with AEC (Arch, eng, constructions) appreciated. Have you worked in the AEC industry before? Have you engaged in your own home renovations? Have you changed a light fixture or painted your home? Anything?  
• Bonus: Experience with AWS ecosystem and services such as S3, ECS, Fargate, Dynamodb, networking, etc. We use the AWS CDK for Infrastructure as Code (previously used Terraform).
• Bonus: Previously worked with or explored Datomic 
• Bonus: Clojurescript and UI development
• Bonus: Python (for scripting and integration)

FUNCTIONS

• Participate in all phases of the work: design, coding, debugging, documentation, etc
• Performs system analysis and programming activities that may require research.
• Gather requirements from the product, marketing, and operations teams
• Responsibility for managing your own tasks and sprints

PROJECTS

As part of a small team, you will be asked to work on a wide range of projects which will shift over time. You will have a lot of say in which projects you are interested in and will want to focus on. Potential projects include improvements to the Layout Engine, integration with the rendering engine and other tools, internal tools to support catalog maintenance, workflows, etc.