Staff Engineer / Tech Lead, Zum
Backend Platform
$220-260k
+bonus and equity
Office located in Redwood City, CA
Student transportation services
Open for applications
Student transportation services
101-200 employees
Open for applications
$220-260k
+bonus and equity
Office located in Redwood City, CA
101-200 employees
Company mission
To bring student transportation into a new age enabling equality, innovation, efficiency, and sustainability.
Role
Who you are
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or equivalent degrees
- 8+ years industry experience as a Software Engineer and/or Tech Lead
- Experience in building enterprise software platforms
- Hands-on architecture design and coding skills
- Experience working with relational and non-relational databases
- Experience in one or more programming languages - Node.js, Java, Python
- Hands-on experience with deploying and managing apps on the cloud - AWS/Google
- Strong technical experiences and eagerness to establish good engineering practices
- Good planning, organization, and decision-making skills
- Good communication with engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders
- Good sense of humor with a great ability to work with others
What the job involves
- You will have opportunities for hands-on contribution in building Zum’s technology platform
- You will be a core contributor in designing the architecture of our backend platform
- Lead a team of 2-4 backend developers to deliver high-quality product features
- Introduce tools and processes to scale (and accelerate) our development processes
- Work with product and design team to plan and deliver on new product features
Our take
The largest mass transit system in the US is student transportation, and it’s more than double the size of all others combined. It’s rife with inefficiencies, however: circuitous routes mean many students are spending more time travelling and less time sleeping, exercising, or participating in enrichment activities, affecting student outcomes and inequalities.
Zum is looking to overhaul school transport with the help of cloud computing and AI. It has a central hub from which it manages route planning and vehicle assignments across 4,000 areas and school districts in California, meaning fleet deployment, maintenance, and operational efficiency can be optimised. It also offers cameras and tracking in vehicles, and is committed to having a fully electric, 10,000-strong bus fleet by 2025.
This is an ambitious plan, but it’s clear that the US school busing system is in dire need of an overhaul. We’re seeing startups like Via offer a similar service to NY schools, gathering similarly strong momentum. With Zum fast approaching Unicorn status, and its California roll-out continuing without a hitch, it appears for now to be leading the modern student transportation startup pack.
Kirsty
Company Specialist
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Jun 2024
$32m
GRANT
Jan 2024
$140m
SERIES E
Total funding: $368.8m
Company benefits
- Medical, dental and vision benefits, including paid membership to One Medical
- Unlimited vacation policy
- Free daily catered lunches + fully stocked kitchen at HQ
- Ability to have a huge impact at an early-stage, mission-driven startup
- Fun office culture and a team you would be proud to work with
Company values
- Customer Obsessed - We obsess about our customers’ needs. We delight and wow them by going above and beyond. We work diligently to gain and keep their trust
- Think Big. Execute Meticulously - We think big. We scale hurdles, and we invent new paths. We're never satisfied. We're agile. We're always moving; we're always delivering with speed
- Do Things The Right Way - We hold the highest integrity and always do what's right, regardless of what it takes
- Build Better Communities - We’re committed to our mission of helping families and schools realize their full potential
Company HQ
Redwood Shores, Redwood City, CA
Articles
Leadership
Ritu Narayan
(CEO)Worked as a Lead Product Manager at Yahoo!, eBay, then took up a Sloan Fellowship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Vivek Garg
(COO)Spent over a decade as a Major in the Indian Army, then went on to found and lead BAPAR, before taking up a Researcher role at Stanford University's SEED Institute.
Salary benchmarks
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