Senior Software Engineer

Culdesac is a real estate and technology startup that builds cities for people, not cars. Our goal is to create the first car-free city in the US. We started by creating the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US - Culdesac Tempe, a $200 million mixed-use neighborhood development for 1,000 residents opening in 2022. The neighborhood covers 17 acres and features 55% open space, shared courtyards, and abundant bookable spaces. Culdesac is the co-developer and tech-enabled property manager.

Read more about our vision, our product, and how we are changing how people live, work, and move:

Introducing Culdesac: Building car-free neighborhoods from scratch by Ryan Johnson (CEO & Founder)

The Capital of Sprawl Gets a Radically Car-Free Neighborhood by The New York Times

Paying Rent Will Get You Wheels in New Car-Free Complex by Bloomberg

New Arizona Development Bans Residents From Bringing Cars - WSJ by Wall Street Journal

11 rules for buying an ebike. Ebikes are about to change the world. By Ryan Johnson (CEO & Founder)

We’re headquartered in Tempe, AZ and were founded in 2018. CEO Ryan Johnson was previously on the founding team of Opendoor. We raised a $30M Series A in January 2022. Our investors include top VCs like Khosla Ventures, Lennar (LenX), Founders Fund, Zigg Capital, Initialized Capital, Byers Capital, and Y Combinator.

Our resident and customer experience is at the heart of what we do at Culdesac. We build neighborhoods and communities that are people-centered and strive to have every aspect of the experience reflect this. As a Senior Software Engineer, you will have an outsized ability to shape the direction of the company in deploying high-quality customer and internal facing software.

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer that will contribute to a wide range of engineering strategy, teamwork, and execution as we deliver scalable systems and top-notch user experiences. This is an engineering position, not a management one. However, because our team is still relatively small, "tech lead" activities, such as leading technical decisions, implementation scoping, and mentorship, may fall under its umbrella. You should feel comfortable and excited to take those on as the need arises.

You will help build a seamless onboarding experience which gives residents a sense of the physical spaces they will be living in through an online check-in experience. You will connect mobility, delivery and payment APIs with our built environment to allow residents to seamlessly transition between their digital and physical needs. Our engineering team will focus on quality over quantity when developing internal services used to keep our residents safe as we can't be wrong, even once.

While the role described above represents what we are ideally looking for, we encourage you to apply even if your resume includes strengths and experiences that don’t match everything listed here.

Experience collaborating, often remotely, with product, business operations, and other areas of the company in the US to create and own Culdesac's technical roadmap.

Experience in leading, proactively unblocking, and collaborating extensively with other engineers.

Passion for excellence, diligence, shipping speed, and maintainability both on the team and in your own work. You advocate for best practices even when under pressure.

Institute technologies, processes, and tooling that increase the effectiveness of the entire engineering team.

Passion for cultivating buy-in when difficult decisions need to be made. Support other staff in assigned project-based work.

Prioritizes a lifestyle leveraging public transportation, micromobility, and other alternatives to private cars.

We work hard to create a first-class, remote-friendly environment. We have remote positions, with about half our team distributed across the U.S, including California, Texas, Colorado, New York, as well as other states. We are headquartered in Tempe, AZ, and our office is located in the heart of downtown Tempe. We encourage employees to visit and work in our beautiful Tempe office and offer relocation assistance to those who’d like to move to Tempe. 

🏥 Benefits Package - Includes options for medical, dental, and vision.

🥚 Family Planning Benefits

🐣 Parental Leave - Up to 12 weeks paid time off for qualifying events.

🏦 401K Savings

🖥️ Work From Home Stipend - Up to $500 for equipment paid by the company.

🌎 Co-Working Stipend - $100 per month paid by Culdesac for space intended for work productivity directly related to Culdesac business (e.g., co-working space pass for the day). Remote employees only.

🚲 Mobility Stipend - Up to $500 to invest in employee micro-mobility setup (e.g., e-bike, e-scooter, micro-mobility accessories).

🛴 Car-Free Commuter Benefit - $400 per month paid by Culdesac. Tempe employees only.

As sprawl became commonplace in our cities, we felt less connected to each other. We normalized hour-long commutes, even as private vehicle ownership became the largest source of carbon emission pollution. Our cities blend technology, real estate, and culture to reimagine our daily lives. Come help us make our residents happier, healthier, and more productive in the years they spend with us and the moments they spend together.

Be inclusive, drawing on the strengths of people who bring a different perspective.

Find ways to work together that overcome disciplinary and geographic separations.

Be output oriented. Ship.

Our mission weaves us deep into people's lives. Respect that trusted relationship by seeing your work through to the end, including the last 10%.

We have a competitive advantage in operationally complex, capital-intensive work.

Tackling all the layers in the stack gives us an opportunity to deliver an exceptional user experience.

Always remember Rule #0: learn from those who have done it before.

Only users know if we’re creating value for them.

We get better by observing behavior and asking others how we can improve.

Respect the limits of what we can know and plan. In the complex organism of a city, emergent behavior rules.

The messiness of human preferences and decision making is the rich soil where our product grows.

Human paradoxes and contradictions are our opportunity to create joy.

If you think Culdesac might be a good fit, we encourage you to apply! You have nothing to lose, and we'll respond to you within a week.

If we move forward, here's our typical process:

1. A 30-minute video call with a recruiter to understand your high-level background and cover logistics & expectations.

2. A 2-hour take-home assignment.

3. A "virtual on-site" final round! A typical interview panel covers:

a. A 45-minute technical interview with two Senior Software Engineers.

b. A 45-minute whiteboarding challenge with a Senior Product Designer.

c. A 30-minute interview with a non-engineer leader.

4. A final 30-minute video call with our CEO overview of a list of company scenarios.

At each step, we leave time for you to ask us questions. We look forward to hearing from you!