Software Engineer, Core Data

WHY WE'RE LOOKING FOR YOU

Retool is changing the way software is built: we’ve developed the fastest way to build internal tools, saving companies time, resources, and engineering bandwidth. Since starting on our mission years ago as a frontend/view builder, we’ve since added products that help developers manage their controller and model layers – Workflows and RetoolDB, respectively. Retool’s multi-product surface area allows our builders to build full-stack apps all inside of Retool, or use the different products on a standalone basis to solve more bespoke requirements. We’re expanding our team and product surface area extremely quickly, and we’re looking for a leader to inherit and build out our new product lines, along with the platforms that power them.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Data is the fuel that powers Retool apps and workflows. The primary responsibility of the core data team is to make sure that this “data fuel” is readily available and accessible to support new use-cases built on Retool. This means:

1. We’ll make it possible to connect any type of data source, such that lack of ability to connect existing data doesn’t block new use-cases or customers.
2. We’ll provide built-in data resources, such that the lack or friction from supporting existing external data sources doesn’t stop a new app from getting built.
3. We’ll make it intuitive to work with these data sources, such that it’s far easier to work with data in Retool than outside of Retool.

Every Retool customer is a customer of this team.

IN THIS ROLE YOU'LL:

• Design, build and manage backend primitives so that users can focus solely on their business logic (eg. RetoolDB)
• Blend product thinking with API and backend design (eg. how can we make Kafka event streams intuitive to the user and easy for us to maintain, how can we help a user use Slack without needing to dive into its documentation?)
• Debug customer problems + build features for them (eg. "the Google Sheets integration doesn't support adding rows", and "what's the best way to support that? Via cell ranges, or via a lightweight, home-grown ORM?")
• Support 20M requests/day via 60+ ways to connect data

THE SKILLSET YOU'LL BRING:

• 4+ years experience in professional software development, ideally some of which you’ve spent in startups
• Experience owning technically challenging and demanding cross-functional projects
• Experience across the entire stack, from backend to frontend (and if you have a preference, we’d love to hear it!)
• Experience with JavaScript and TypeScript, as well with cloud based infrastructure like Azure, AWS or GCP
• Ability to make technical decisions quickly, while looping in key stakeholders, too
• A customer-first mindset and an interest in talking with customers to make sure what we’re building meets their needs
• Habit of introspection and understanding what’s helped you be successful in the past