With so many tech companies hiring in Seattle right now, many eligible techies probably have no idea where to begin. So to help you get started, we’ve rounded up five of the city’s most interesting startups — all of whom are hiring for numerous roles right now. Looking to get in with Seattle’s newest homegrown unicorn? We got you. An out-of-towner with offices throughout North America? We got you, too. Is gaming more your thing? Scroll on down.
The point is this: you’ve got options. So take in those tech stacks, peruse the perks and see which company deserves your skills.
Convoy is cutting carbon emissions and boosting efficiency for truckers across the United States, with software that connects truckers with businesses looking to move goods. The company, which raised Seattle tech’s biggest round of funding last year, was founded by a pair of ex-Amazonians motivated by the realization that 40 percent of semi-trailers on the nation’s roads are hauling empty loads.
Headquarters: 1501 4th Avenue, Seattle
Favorite perks: Convoy covers 100 percent of medical, dental and vision premiums and 85 percent for family members, and offers company equity; multiple catered meals per week; fully-stocked fridges and pantries; flexible vacation policy; generous parental leave; and a fully-paid ORCA public transit card.
We’re building a business that’s never been built before, and we need employees who are excited to dig in and solve complex problems for our customers.”
Tech toolbox: Convoy is built with a modern cloud native architecture, leveraging TypeScript and Node.js to build horizontally scalable backend services. GraphQL is used instead of REST to dramatically accelerate product development. React Native powers mobile development with a unified code base and dynamic JavaScript bundle pushes, while React powers web apps.
Who they’re looking for: Depends on the team. Here’s what a few of Convoy’s team leaders had to say.
Senior Director of Commercial Business Nathan Cowan: “We look for people who have the grit to work through any challenge, the self awareness to accept failure as a step to getting things right and the desire to always work toward the right answer.”
Chief Product Officer Ziad Ismail: “We’re building a business that’s never been built before, and we need employees who are excited to dig in and solve complex problems for our customers.”
Senior Director of Engineering Viraj Mody: “I’m looking for people who are hungry to grow and comfortable with ambiguity.”
Senior Director of Operations Ryan Agresta: “Our ideal candidates are customer oriented and thrive in a fast-paced environment. Being able to move quickly while being thoughtful and deliberate about our mission is key.”
Millions of users have played DoubleDown Interactive’s range of social casino games around the world. Founded in 2010, the company was acquired and then sold by International Game Technology to DoubleU Games for $825 million in 2017. From its International District office, the company produces signature titles like “Firehouse Hounds, “Texas Tea” and “Player’s Suite Blackjack.”
Headquarters: 605 5th Avenue South, Seattle
Favorite perks: DoubleDown employees love their weekly massages; free breakfast on Wednesdays; annual Mariners game days; private advance screenings of Marvel movies and other titles related to game releases; catered lunches; paid maternity and paternity leave; 401(k) match; $100 per month stipend toward commuting costs; onsite gym; tuition reimbursement; stocked kitchen; happy hours; casual dress code; game room; open floor plan; and seasonal team and company-wide events.
We look for candidates who will bet it all on the big win by playing their best game alongside their teammates to continue adding to our history of success.”
Tech toolbox: On the client side, DoubleDown uses Unity, C#, HTML5 and JavaScript. On the server side of the house, the company works with Java, DynamoDB, RDS, Kinesis, Graphana, S3, SQL, Elastic Container Service/Docker, Redis, Lamda, CloudWatch and GoCD CI/CD tools. For business intelligence, they use Spectrum, RedShift, Node.js, Talend and Python, and in terms of tools the company uses Angular, Bootstrap, PHP, HTML, TypeScript and PrimeNG.
Who they’re looking for: “We look for candidates who will bet it all on the big win by playing their best game alongside their teammates to continue adding to our history of success,” HR Director Sarah Garcia said.
Lighter Capital provides an alternative funding model for early-stage tech startups, using revenue-based financing, where entrepreneurs agree to share a percentage of future revenue with investors in exchange for up-front investments. Loan payments are tied to monthly revenue, allowing breathing space when revenue is low and cashing in when things go well.
Headquarters: 1201 3rd Avenue, Seattle
Favorite perks: Outside of Lighter Capital’s robust health benefits, the company loves its morale and team-building events, open work spaces with stand-up desks and views of Puget sound, fully-stocked kitchen flush with healthy snacks and an on-site gym.
If our main goal is to help entrepreneurs of early-stage companies be successful, then we need to be just as hardworking and dedicated in order to exceed their expectations.”
Tech toolbox: Lighter Capital’s web stack centers around Microsoft, using .Net, C# and SQL. Alongside the relational databases, the company also utilizes MongoDB. Lighter Capital’s engineers use data science across all their new features (though we hear there’s still plenty of legacy Razor lying around) along with liberal use of SignalR in those new interfaces as well. The entire platform is hosted in the cloud, most of which sits on AWS.
Who they’re looking for: “As a growing company, we are hyper focused on hiring people that will help drive us to be better,” Investment Team Senior Analyst Casey Estrada said. “This means finding individuals that are confident in having the autonomy to not just solve problems but identify those opportunities in the first place. We want to put people in place that have the ingenuity to come up with creative solutions that push us to improve our processes and strengthen our offerings. If our main goal is to help entrepreneurs of early-stage companies be successful, then we need to be just as hardworking and dedicated in order to exceed their expectations.”
The days of posting paper schedules on the break room wall are over with Shiftboard’s digital scheduling tool for hourly workers. Managers use the cloud-based software to build master schedules, employee profiles and pools of flexible employees willing to cover extra shifts if someone calls in sick. The company’s customers include United, Disney and the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police.
Headquarters: 1215 4th Avenue, Seattle
Favorite perks: Shiftboard offers excellent medical, dental and vision benefits; commuter benefits; flexible paid time off; paid parental leave and a mother’s room; healthy snacks, beer, wine, cider, kombucha, soda, cold brew and iced tea; catered breakfasts on Fridays and catered lunch on the last day of the month; a 401(k) plan; and several “appreciation events” throughout the year, including an annual winter party tickets to sporting events, musicals and film festivals.
We look for people to bring creativity, pragmatism, and a conviction that they will succeed in their role.”
Tech toolbox: Most of Shiftboard’s system is written in Perl using Apache and MariaDB/Postgres databases. Their front-end web code is written in Javascript using the React framework, and their native iOS and Android apps are written in Swift and Java, respectively. The company is using Python for some of its AI subsystems and Javascript (on Node.js) for some middleware and integration services. Shiftboard’s source code is stored in Git, and uses JIRA for ticketing. The company’s engineers are heavy users of AWS — namely the base services of EC2, RDS and S3 but also SQS, Elasticache, QuickSight, Route53 and others.
Who they’re looking for: “We look for people to bring creativity, pragmatism, and a conviction that they will succeed in their role,” CTO Kevin Fink said. “We hire smart, driven people and provide the environment for them to collaborate to offer a great service to our customers.”
Through its online platform, Varsity Tutors connects students with tutors in their local area. The company’s tutors are vetted experts in their subjects, and are available to lead one-on-one sessions at the time and location given by a student. Headquartered in St. Louis, the company has tutors on the ground in cities and campuses across the United States.
Headquarters: 1201 Alaskan Way, Seattle
Favorite perks: Employees at Varsity Tutors enjoy competitive healthcare plans with medical, dental, vision and life insurance; a 401(k) company matching plan; a flexible schedule that allows working in-office and remotely; 8 hours of “volunteer time off” for community service and charity work; 52 hours of free learning sessions per year, which can be transferred to family members and a waterside office by Pier 56.
When a need arises in a startup environment, we need people who are willing to step in even if it doesn’t fit in perfectly with their job description.”
Tech toolbox: Varsity Tutors uses GoLang, Python, Ruby on Rails, React, JavaScript and AWS, and works in an Agile environment with two-week sprints.
Who they’re looking for: “We are looking for passionate people who believe in our mission,” Senior Product Director Doreen Fasen said. “We need people who are great at what they do and who aren’t afraid to dive into something new and learn as they go. When a need arises in a startup environment, we need people who are willing to step in even if it doesn’t fit in perfectly with their job description. With people like this on the team, we are able to do what is right for the business — and it gives people new opportunities for learning and growth.”
