Senior Software Engineer - Beast Academy

At AoPS, we are world leaders in teaching advanced mathematics. We train many of the most elite mathematicians in the world, including all members of the US International Math Olympiad team. Despite this impact, AoPS remains relatively unknown to the broader public.

AoPS is unique because it is vertically integrated: it develops its own curriculum, runs its own physical learning centers, employs teachers, and has a robust and capable product, design, and engineering team. Today, our curriculum and academic programs are absolutely world-class, but our digital experiences are dated. Your job will be to reimagine Beast Academy - the digital learning experience for our youngest learners - and to push the upper bounds of great teaching and learning.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will play a key role in reimagining the digital learning experience for elementary students learning advanced mathematics. You'll be a core member of a small, mission-driven team in San Francisco, partnering directly with our Head of Beast Academy, curriculum designers, and the broader AoPS engineering organization to build products that make math irresistible to young learners.

What You'll Do:

• Build Products That Matter: Architect software that engages, challenges, and inspires students to go deeper. Whether it's through gamification, AI-powered support, cleaner interfaces, or seamless integration with our paper books, you'll explore multiple approaches to create learning experiences that truly resonate. When the path forward isn't obvious, you'll pioneer the solutions that move our mission forward.
• Drive Strategic Evolution: Be a champion for continuous improvement—transforming legacy systems into modern platforms, refining our testing and deployment practices, and evolving our architecture for the future. When you spot technical debt or opportunities to adopt current frameworks, you'll take initiative to address them strategically. This isn't just refactoring, it's charting the technical path forward while keeping our products rock-solid for the students who depend on them.
• Elevate the Team: Through thoughtful code reviews and hands-on mentorship, you'll help teammates level up their skills. You're not just writing code, you're shaping how we think about architecture, design, and technical excellence across the team.
• Own the Entire Journey: From initial user conversations with Product and Design through launch and beyond, you'll be deeply involved in shaping what we build and how we build it. Your technical insights will influence product strategy, and you'll see your ideas come to life in the hands of real learners.
• Communicate Fearlessly: Keep stakeholders informed with clear timelines and early warnings when challenges emerge. No surprises: just transparent, proactive communication that helps the whole team move faster.
• Stay Sharp: Be curious about emerging web technologies and best practices, always expanding your toolkit and bringing fresh ideas to the team.
• Build AoPS Culture in SF: Help establish and amplify AoPS culture in our SF office. You'll get to know how we approach problem-solving through our values, mission, and collaborative spirit and translate that culture to the Bay Area while fostering strong connections with our teams at HQ.
• Prototype and Iterate: Prototype solutions quickly, test with families and iterate based on what you learn. Dig into user feedback and data to understand what's resonating and what's not.
• Work Across the Stack: Make technical decisions that balance moving fast with building foundations that scale, working across everything from React components to database schema and more.

The ideal candidate has:

• 4+ years professional experience in full stack web development
• Strong proficiency with TypeScript, React, Next.js, and RDBMS such as PostgreSQL
• Strong understanding of the JavaScript language and ecosystem
• Experience building culture in an early stage startup environment
• Ability to thrive in an ambiguous and fast-paced environment
• Proven ability to build delightful consumer experiences
• Ability to provide technical leadership on full stack design and code
• A track record as a thought leader on product/development strategy and owner of large projects
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and creative skills

Why Join AoPS:

This is a hybrid full-time position based in our San Francisco office. The full salary range for this position is 134.62k-180.2k. Here are some things you can look forward to:

• Flexibility: Casual work environment with flexible scheduling
• Benefits: Multiple options for Medical, Dental and Vision plans
• Future Planning: 401K with company match
• Quality of Life: PTO Plan and supportive leadership that gives you the work-life balance you deserve
• Ease of Transition: Relocation bonus (if currently located outside of San Francisco)
• Mission-Driven Work: Join a small, scrappy team reimagining how students experience world-class mathematics education
• Impact: Your work will directly affect hundreds of thousands of students who are falling in love with math

Background Check:

Please note that employment is contingent on the successful completion of a background check.

Work Authorization:

Please note that in order to be considered for this position you must be legally authorized to work in the US. We are unable to offer sponsorship, including STEM-OPT and H-1B.

About AoPS and Beast Academy:

Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) is on a mission to discover, inspire, and train the great problem solvers of the next generation. Since 2003, we have trained hundreds of thousands of the country's top students, including nearly all the members of the US International Math Olympiad team, through our online school, in-person academies, textbooks, and online learning systems. While our primary focus has been math for most of our history, through the years we have expanded our unique problem solving curriculum into more subjects, such as language arts, science, and computer science.

Beast Academy is our award-winning program that makes advanced mathematics irresistible to elementary students through engaging comic books and an online platform where learning feels like playing. We're now building a new team in San Francisco to take Beast Academy to the next level.