Senior Product Engineer at Kobo

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Kobo Logo
Not SpecifiedCompensation
Senior (5 to 8 years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
HR, Payroll, RecruitingIndustries

Requirements

  • Expertise in designing B2B Software applications
  • Ideally 5-8+ years of software development experience
  • Proficiency or capacity to learn the tech stack: TypeScript (required), Node.js, React, PostgreSQL, GCP, Docker, Prisma
  • Enthusiastic and collaborative work attitude
  • Entrepreneurial mindset, top-of-their-game performer (e.g., from Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, CODE; 50% ex-founders; history of hard, impressive things)
  • Thrive with autonomy, own details, and project manage own work
  • Strong engineering fundamentals, code efficiently, self-aware of strengths and weaknesses
  • Dislike meetings, prefer focusing on building, being productive, and shipping code
  • Previous experience leading a team (plus)
  • Previous founding experience (plus)
  • Willingness to work onsite in Berlin (4+ days/week)

Responsibilities

  • Take full ownership of major product areas
  • Architect the product
  • Work closely with customers
  • Ship high-impact features end-to-end
  • Build and iterate on features like filtering layers for employee data
  • (De-)validate approaches like LLM-based integrations via PoCs
  • Extend integration framework & infrastructure for real-time data (e.g., handling millions of webhooks per day)
  • Identify and solve problems without bureaucracy in a high-growth environment
  • Build features that customers actively request and use immediately
  • Release frequently (20+ times per day) and move fast

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

TypeScriptNode.jsReactPostgreSQLGCPDockerPrisma

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

Is this role remote or onsite?

This is a Berlin-based onsite role requiring 4+ days per week in the office.

What is the salary range for this Senior Product Engineer position?

This information is not specified in the job description.

What technical skills are required for this role?

The stack requires TypeScript, with experience in Node.js, React, PostgreSQL, GCP, Docker, and Prisma. Strong fundamentals and learning velocity are valued even if you don't know everything.

What is the company culture like at Kombo?

Kombo has a fast-moving, high-growth culture with minimal bureaucracy, releasing 20+ times per day, and hires entrepreneurial engineers from top backgrounds who maintain a high bar for quality.

What makes a strong candidate for this Senior Product Engineer role?

Strong candidates are entrepreneurial engineers at the top of their game, often from elite schools like Harvard or Stanford, with 50% being ex-founders, who have done hard, impressive things and can own major product areas end-to-end.

Kobo

Provides eReaders and digital reading apps

About Kobo

Rakuten Kobo Inc., a leading player in digital reading technology, provides a sophisticated ecosystem for seamless access to ebooks across various devices through its range of eReaders and Kobo App. This company is ideal for individuals passionate about transforming and enhancing the global reading experience, offering a highly collaborative environment that supports over 30 million users worldwide. Employees can thrive on opportunities to interact with cutting-edge technology while contributing to an expansive digital library that enriches both the accessibility and enjoyment of reading.

Toronto, CanadaHeadquarters
2009Year Founded
$395.9MTotal Funding
ACQUISITIONCompany Stage
Consumer Software, EducationIndustries
201-500Employees

Benefits

Flexible Work Hours
Remote Work Options
Health Insurance
Paid Sick Leave
401(k) Company Match
Commuter Benefits
Health Savings Account/Flexible Spending Account
Employee Discounts
Parental Leave
Professional Development Budget
Training Programs
Meal Benefits
Company Social Events

Risks

Increased competition from Amazon's Kindle Unlimited may attract Kobo's customers.
The rise of audiobook platforms like Audible may impact Kobo's e-book sales.
Free online reading platforms could reduce demand for Kobo's paid e-books.

Differentiation

Kobo supports multiple formats, including EPUB and PDF, unlike some competitors.
Kobo offers nearly 4 million titles in 68 languages, a diverse selection.
Kobo's platform synchronizes bookmarks across devices, enhancing user convenience.

Upsides

Audiobook integration could increase user engagement and revenue for Kobo.
Sustainability initiatives may attract environmentally conscious consumers to Kobo.
AI-powered personalization can enhance user experience and retention on Kobo's platform.

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