Carry1st

Empower is a high-growth financial technology company on a mission to expand access to fair credit to give anyone in the world the opportunity to improve their financial security and mobility. We dream up and launch one-of-a-kind features that help our members get money instantly whenever they need it, save for the future, and rewrite their financial story. Our members see Empower Cash Advance as a life-saver, Empower Automatic Savings as a game-changer, and the new Empower Thrive line of credit (currently in beta, launching soon) as a lifeline to low-cost borrowing and the only practical path to building good credit.

Empower is backed by Sequoia Capital, Blisce, and Icon Ventures. *Inc.* ranked Empower #55 in the 2022 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the US. *Fast Company* recognized Empower Thrive in their 2022 list of the Next Big Things in Tech.

Want to make a difference in someone's journey to better credit? Let's go.

**WHAT EMPOWER OFFERS**

Competitive salary

Generous equity package

Full healthcare and dental benefits

Technology  expense reimbursement

Work  from anywhere

**JOB DESCRIPTION**

As a Staff Backend Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the technical direction of our solutions. You will identify strategic technical needs, lead large-scale and complex product initiatives, and optimize our engineering processes. You will also take ownership of technological initiatives, from management and execution to solution design and progress reporting. In addition, you will serve as a lead interviewer, mentor other engineers, and lead incident responses.

Your role will also involve designing, building, and deploying server application code, implementing secure coding standards, and meeting sprint goals. You will monitor the performance of our server application, participate in the server ops on-call schedule, and work towards minimizing defects and improving reliability.

### Key Responsibilities

-   Identify opportunities to foster optimal product direction, collaborate closely with business stakeholders to streamline and simplify designs, and proactively identify areas of risk and tradeoffs that can be enhanced.
-   Ownership of technical initiatives, being accountable for the initiative's outcome, managing and executing the project, designing the solution and defining its requirements, reporting on the initiative's progress, and coordinating resources.
-   Perform as a lead technical interviewer
-   Lead technical reviewer of Empower Engineering blog posts
-   Mentor Engineers up to and including Senior levels
-   Lead SEV1 and lower incident response through to resolution
-   Lead engineering of  large scale and complex product initiatives
-   Culture leader across the engineering organization, delivery team and platform team

### Candidate Qualifications

-   Minimum 10 years, ideally 15+ years developing web APIs within .NET (C#)
-   Working experience with ORMs such as Entity Framework
-   Working experience constructing and optimising RDMS queries
-   Working experience within the asynchronous programming model
-   General knowledge of Messaging Queues eg. AMQP
-   General knowledge of PaaS environments eg. Azure

At Empower, we hire for people that push themselves to understand others and seek out ways to challenge their personal assumptions. Our hope is that by fostering such an environment, we strengthen our business and relationships by putting people first. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workspace where everyone (regardless of age, education, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any personal characteristics) feels like they belong. Even if your experience doesn't exactly match up to our job description, you should feel empowered to apply regardless!

Staff Backend Software Engineer - Hiring Globally

Carry1st is Africa's leading publisher of mobile games and digital content. Operating at the intersection of games, fintech, and web3, we scale awesome content in underserved frontier markets. Carry1st has a proprietary payments and ecommerce platform which allows players to acquire global content using locally-accessible payment methods. We are backed by awesome investors like: Andreessen Horowitz, Google, Riot Games, Avenir, Konvoy Ventures, and Nas.

As a Unity Developer you will be responsible for developing game features, work in close collaboration with studio designers and artists to make our shared vision of the game a reality.

**You will...**

-   Analyze and understand game development needs and feasibility to best serve the production team
-   Develop game features in Unity according to Game Design Documents
-   Develop internal Unity tools for Game Designers (i.e. level design, game variable changes)
-   Understand and integrate 3rd party SDKs/API (i.e. Firebase, IronSource, Singular, etc.) also 1st party SDK for our payment platform
-   Debug and optimize game performance to ensure smooth gameplay
-   Contribute to the planning and estimation of development tasks, providing technical expertise and recommendations
-   Collaborate with other engineers, artists, producers, product managers and designers
-   Stay updated with the latest trends and technologies in game development, sharing knowledge and best practices with the team

#### Requirements

**What makes you a great candidate?**

-   3+ years of experience of Game Development in Unity and C#
-   Experience with VCS tools (i.e. Git)
-   Passion for games and knowledge of the mobile gaming industry
-   Self-motivation, problem solving, and ability to work in a distributed team environment

#### Benefits

**What will it be like to work at Carry1st?**

Carry1st is a fast-growing, dynamic place to work. And while we are laser focused on building the flagship mobile internet company in Africa, our team is fully remote and 100% global - with people in 20+ countries! At Carry1st, you will...

-   Build awesome, industry-changing products, every day
-   Grow with a VC-backed startup at the intersection of gaming, fintech, and web3
-   Work from anywhere in the world with international teammates
-   Own shares in the Company - enabling you to benefit from the value you create

**Some additional perks...**

-   Co-working excursions: Travel to meet your colleagues in cities around the world
-   Awesome equipment: Get everything you need to work effectively
-   Remote working allowance: Put an additional $600 / year to optimise your WFH experience
-   Learning and development: Attend courses, conferences and training events
-   Social events: Participate in regular company events to relax and connect with teammates
-   Birthday leave: Enjoy a paid day off on your special day

We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. Join us!

Unity Engineer

**Position Summary**

Under the direction of the Vice President of Engineering, the incumbent will be responsible for developing, maturing, maintaining, and supporting Microsoft-based electronic payment applications leveraging .NET, C#, ASP.NET, Azure, SQL Server, and other technologies in a hybrid waterfall/agile software development lifecycle.

We strive to create a workplace culture where individuals can be authentic while working towards our company mission. We don't solely search for perfect candidates we look for candidates invested in helping us improve and improve ourselves

Responsibilities:

-   Hands-On Software Leadership/Management/Oversight
-   Software Architecture and Development
-   Software Testing and Verification
-   Documentation and Training
-   Security and Compliance
-   Operational Reporting and Support

#### Requirements

-   Expertise in Service-Based Architectures (Micro-Services Preferred)
-   Expertise in Microsoft .NET and C#
-   Proficiency Developing Mission-Critical, 24x7 Software Systems
-   Proficiency with Standardized Architectures, Design Patterns, and Refactoring Techniques
-   Proficiency in Secure Software and Systems Development
-   Proficiency in Software Quality Assessment, Assurance, and Test-Driven Development
-   Proficiency in Software Development for Microsoft Azure
-   Proficiency in SQL-based Databases (Microsoft SQL Server Preferred)
-   Experience in Leadership/Management/Supervisory Roles in a Plus
-   Experience with Agile SDLCs would be a Plus
-   Experience with Standardized DevOps would be a Plus
-   Experience in Electronic Payments would be a Plus
-   Experience in Algorithms Development would be a Plus
-   Experience as a Trainer and/or Coach would be a Plus

Candidate Must:

-   Exemplify Integrity, Excellence, and Professionalism
-   Be Dedicated, Solutions-Oriented, and Results-Oriented
-   Be a Self-Reliant, Self-Starting Go-Getter
-   Thrive in Fast-Paced, Dynamic Environments

Note: Successful applicants must submit to a pre-employment background check and drug screen.

Disclaimer: The job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.

#### Benefits

-   Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
-   Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
-   Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
-   Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
-   Short Term & Long Term Disability
-   Training & Development
-   Wellness Resources

Note: Successful applicants must submit to a pre-employment background check and drug screen

SphereCommerce is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.