Software Engineer (Backend/API)

TL;DR This is a good job, you should apply.

About Eedi

Eedi makes software that helps children learn maths.

Education is changing. In the AI-age, kids will have access to personalised resources based on their own unique learning that adapts to their progress, misconceptions and achievements along the way.

We are a startup but we’ve been around for a while. Our unfair advantage is a decade’s worth of learning data (probably the largest/richest dataset in the universe). We can already spot where students will struggle and we know why those knowledge gaps exist.

We’re impressing the right people, we've secured a $12M grant from a prestigious US foundation and have partnered with major education providers and other big (household name) companies.

We’re on a mission to sustainably improve learning outcomes for 1 billion students by 2030.

Sounds exciting right?!

About the stack

• Backend is C#/.NET ← this is where you’ll primarily live
• Frontend is React + React Router + Vite
• DevOps on Azure

About you

You:

• Consider yourself a mid to senior level developer and .NET feels like an old pair of slippers (you can code)
• Create things from scratch. Maybe you’ve led a team or have an impressive hobby project (you can ship code)
• Are productive and have the ability to make an impact (you like to ship code)
• Know what a well designed API looks like (you ship good code)

You’re not:

• Someone that thinks “microservices” is a good idea for version 1
• Someone that GETs their POSTs and PUTs in a mix (sorry, we’re looking for experienced people. We don’t have the capacity to give you the support you’ll need)
• Reliant on working in big teams with dedicated QA/QE resources (we don’t have anyone to throw it over the wall to)

What you’ll be working on:

Here’s some examples of the types of work you’ll be doing:

• Maybe you’ll be improving existing features on Eedi based on teacher feedback/data.
• Or, you’ll be designing a new API for a brand new grant project.
• Then perhaps, you’ll work with the Behavioural Science team to test an assumption that children learn better with fewer distractions
• Oh, and the Data & Research team might need help creating an API for a LLM based app that lets a teacher talk to a maths question…

In short, there’s lots going on…

Why work for Eedi?

Working for an Edtech startup might not feel like the most obvious career move—I get it! However, the rewards make it worthwhile:

• You’ll get to work on meaningful things that have an impact on the lives of teachers and children. I’m sure lots of people say that, but it’s true!
• You’ll have the autonomy to write and ship code independently (did we mention we like shipping code?)
• You’re not siloed into a team dedicated to improving the efficiency of one tiny slice of a business, you get to work on everything and get stuck in to lots of things.
• The team is still small enough that you’ll always get a say. You’ll get to know everyone in the company—we can all still fit into one pub.
• Everyone who works here is pretty smart + friendly + ambitious. Which I think is quite a rare combination!
• We’re not driven by money, but we are well funded and profitable

Benefits

• We’re trialing 4 day work week in 2025
• Competitive salary + stock options
• 5% pension contribution
• 30 days holiday + Christmas break
• Private health care
• Cycle-2-work scheme/EV lease scheme
• Home office budget (chairs, screens etc)
• Truly flexible working - we appreciate real work life balance
• Quarterly off-sites
• Learning budget - we're an education business!

Application Process

At Eedi, we love and embrace AI. However, we only hire humans. We want to get to know you and not the GPT version of you, so please…do not use AI during your initial application.

1. Apply with your CV or a link to your LinkedIn, a cover letter and answer some basic qualifying questions. A good cover letter can easily put you in the top 10% of applicants. Check the FAQ below for some ideas.
2. You’ll be sent a link to a short technical test. Although there’s no time limit, it shouldn’t take longer than 30 mins.
3. You’ll be sent a link to book your first interview. This interview will likely be with me (Mike, Head of Engineering) and a HR rep. It’ll be 30mins long and give us a chance to get to know you, and you to get a better feel of Eedi.
4. If you’re successful, you’ll be sent a link to book a half day hackathon. You’ll be paid for 4 hours work, you’ll be added to a Slack channel with other members of the team. You’ll join a Google Meet at 9am or 1pm, spend 30 mins getting you setup locally with a simple .NET app. You’ll have 3 hours to implement a feature based on a requirements doc + a Figma file. You’ll get as much help as you need, but this is your chance to prove you can ship. At the end of the day you’ll spend 30 mins with a person with a C at the beginning of their job title (usually Ben or Iris) for a few more questions and any remaining big questions that Mike didn’t know the answer to!
5. All going well… congratulations, you’re hired!

Frequently Asked Questions

Where will I work?

Eedi is fully remote. From Brighton to Sheffield. From Porto to New York. We still meet up often though.

What does a typical day look like? We keep meetings to a minimum. We have async standups most days. You’ll work on tasks from a Kanban style board that will be discussed during Monday morning planning meetings.

What’s your process to build/ship code

We avoid process until it’s completely necessary. You’ll work in a feature branch. Every commit gets automatically built with a URL that is helpful to demo work in progress. When you’re happy with the feature, you can ask for it to be QA’d by someone else and code reviewed in a pull request to the develop branch. Once everyone is happy it can be merged. To release, the develop branch is merged into master. Hooray, you just shipped!

What happens at the company off-sites?

They’re a mix of company stuff and fun stuff. Often a morning of presentations, talks/unconference and an evening of food, drink and an activity. Think Crystal Maze, or AR darts, or a hike, or a live Murder Mystery. Even for “corporate-mandatory-fun” it’s actually good fun! They’re often in London but we’ve had off-sites in Brighton, Manchester, The Chilterns… Matlock… I’m hoping for Portugal 2025

4 day work weeks, did I read that right?!

Yes! You can optionally choose to compress your full time hours into 4 days and take an extra day off a week. We have Tuesday and Thursday as core days where everyone works.

What should I include in my cover letter? Didn’t they go out of fashion in 1998?

Sorry, but I do love a cover letter…

I’d recommend you start your cover letter with something like “Hello!” instead of “Dear Eedi Hiring Department”.

The cover letter field is optional but it’s likely your application will be rejected without one. Generic/AI generated cover letters will be double-y rejected as you forced me to read it.

This is the only real place for you to make a good first impression (just like our place for a good first impression is this job ad!)

When’s the deadline for applications

I’m in no rush, I’m going to leave this job open until the right person applies. There’s no deadline… but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply immediately!

When can I start?!

Now.

I’m a recruiter, do you want to see some CVs?

No thank you!

Just one more thing

There's one more, very important thing. At Eedi, we're committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. We believe that bringing together individuals with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives leads to more innovative solutions and better outcomes for our students. We're proud of the progress we've made in increasing representation across our organisation, and we're always working to do better. We are an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

We don't expect you to be an expert in everything listed above. We're looking for candidates who excel in some areas and have a strong foundation or interest in others. If you meet many of these qualifications but not all, we still encourage you to apply!

We can't wait to hear from you! Let's change the future of learning together!