Job Description

The Job
We're a small, dynamic company looking for a flexible person who can use their technical skills in:
- Developing our products.
- Supporting our customers in using our products.
- Working with the sales team with pre-sales enquiries.
- Supporting/developing our internal systems.

The right person may have experience in some of the tools and technologies we use, but the most important skills are:
- The ability to work with customers in a client-facing role. We will expect you to demonstrate an ability to work with customers and non-technical people.
- Flexibility in approach, and a willingness to develop and maintain a wide repertoire of skills.
- The ability to learn fast on the job, and to achieve business objectives safely while still learning.

You will be based at our offices in Bracknell, Berkshire. Some travel is expected (to Europe and the US), although how much will depend on how smart you are at ensuring customers can implement our products without an onsite visit. We're fairly relaxed about hours worked - we would rely on you to get the job done and whilst we'd like to see you physically on a regular basis, where and when you work is to some extent your own affair. Note that 50% of our customers are in the US so it is not unusual for us to be working until at least 6pm and sometimes later if required.

Technical skills:
We believe that any capable techie should be able to pickup a new technology easily, so we're not as sensitive to specific "tick in the box" requirements as we are an overall attitude. We're looking for someone who can clearly learn new tools and techniques "on the job" and isn't afraid to try new stuff - and we'd expect you to be one of the people looking at new stuff for us. We're not big on training courses or formal certifications, based on our observation that if you're good they're a waste of time and if you aren't good you shouldn't be playing anyway.

Currently our products are based on J2EE, using Spring and Hibernate (with some legacy Struts) and the UI is HTML, CSS, Javascript and AJAX. Our IDE of choice is IntelliJ IDEA. We use Git and Jira to keep ourselves sane, and Confluence to coordinate things. Ruby on Rails is becoming increasingly important, especially for internal business systems. In addition, you should also have an appreciation of, or be able to pick up quickly: Python, Ruby, VMWare, Asterisk, etc.

Operating systems: Whilst we have Windows machines, don't apply if that's all you've used. You will be provided with a MacOS Machine for day-to-day use but we expect you to be fluent on Windows and Linux as well.

Salary & Benefits:
Salary will be competitive based on experience. We don't have large company "perks" but then again we don't have large-company demotivators... you won't be lacking intellectual stimulation, control over your own destiny, or resources to do your job.

For the detail minded:
- This position is eligible for participation in our bonus pool (upon successful completion of probationary period)
- We provide Health insurance
- You will be provided with an iPad, and iPhone (although we expect you to pay for the monthly contract), and an iMac or MacBook Air as your workstation

Are you the right person?
This is not a job for someone who just wants to "do" a carefully defined job. We need someone who can make things happen, and will enjoy the breadth of experience that brings. A major part of your work will be to assist our existing customers in using our software products, which means you must enjoy working with people - but we will also expect you to play a major part in developing our current and forthcoming products, so there's the opportunity for some technical heavy lifting. In addition you will be encouraged to contribute to the business overall - so this is an excellent opportunity for a technical person who wants to broaden their horizons outside of a particular technical domain.

For the right person, this is a dream job - lots of autonomy, exposure to lots of different technologies, the ability to seriously influence the direction we go in, and a varied job including lots of stuff that normally techies would never see. However, we expect a lot - personal responsibility, ability to work unsupervised, first-rate technical skills, commitment, etc.

Don't apply:
- If the only way you learn new stuff is going on courses
- You've only ever used Windows
- You don't have a home network
- You believe that technical certifications are a measure of a person's technical capability

Please do apply:
- If you've got at least a 3 machine home network running at least 2 different OSs
- If you can engage in a conversation about the advantages and disadvantages of Spring, Hibernate, Struts, and Ruby on Rails
- You can get on with people, especially non-techies
- You want a fulfilling, broad role