eReader Team Lead, Software Engineering

Job Description:

Here at Rakuten Kobo Inc. we offer a casual working start-up environment and a group of friendly and talented individuals. Our employees rank us highly in terms of commitment to work/life balance. We realize that for our people to be innovative, creative and passionate they need to feel valued and supported. We believe in rewarding all our employees with competitive salaries, performance based annual bonuses, stock options and training opportunities.
If you’re looking for a company that inspires passion, personal, and professional growth – join Kobo and come help us on our mission of making reading lives better.

The Role:

Rakuten Kobo's eReader team is looking for an experienced and motivated Agile Software Team Lead to guide and support one of our development teams working on our range of eReader devices. You will be leading a development team of 6-8 people within a larger eReader team of ~20, helping to plan, organize, and track the team's work while fostering a collaborative and psychologically safe environment. In this role, you will play a key part in building and enhancing some of the top eReaders in the market, ensuring your team is aligned with organizational goals and delivering high-quality results.

Here are some of the things we do and strongly believe in:

• We follow an Agile development process that encourages trying new things and making suggestions to enable us to continuously improve
• We’re dedicated to crafting high-quality, peer-reviewed code, and we’re continuously working on growing our automated test suite to ensure reliability and efficiency
• Every member on the team has a voice and is encouraged to contribute to planning, designing, and decision making
• QA is embedded within our development teams is involved in projects from day one, promoting a collaborative approach to quality
• We host regular learning sessions on various engineering topics hosted by members of the team

Responsibilities:

As the Team Lead of an Agile development team:

• Plan, organize, and track the work of your team to ensure timely delivery
• Facilitate and encourage team discussions to align on good designs, clean implementations, and automated tests for new functionality and defect resolutions
• Guide and support team members in proposing and carrying out refactoring within the codebase to improve quality and efficiency
• Assist team members in debugging and resolving defects found by QA and customers
• Review code for developers on the team, providing constructive feedback to maintain high standards of quality and consistency
• Actively mentor and coach team members to help them grow their skills and careers, fostering a culture of continuous learning
• Facilitate Agile ceremonies (e.g. sprint planning, backlog grooming, retrospectives) and ensure the team is following our processes and Agile principles
• Provide regular status updates to management, highlighting progress, risks, and any roadblocks that require escalation
• Collaborate within the larger eReader team and other stakeholders to improve processes, ensure alignment with organizational goals, and enhance the codebase
• Promote a collaborative and inclusive environment where every team member feels engaged, valued, and empowered to contribute their best work

Requirements:

• Strong leadership and organizational skills with at least 2 years of experience leading a team of at least 5 software developers
• Proven ability to mentor and coach team members
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English
• Experience creating a psychologically safe and inclusive team environment that encourages engagement, learning, and innovation
• Ability to identify and remove roadblocks for the team, escalating issues when necessary
• A big-picture mindset, with the ability to understand how the team’s work fits into organizational goals

In addition, the Team Lead is required to have the qualifications of a senior C++ developer:

• Strong software design skills, including: Object-oriented design incorporating design principles and patterns, identifying and explaining trade-offs and rationale, and converting final state designs into a sequence of smaller testable incremental steps
• Strong software development skills in C++11 (or newer), including: Reviewing code and providing feedback (with rationale) to improve code, and following modern development best practices
• Experience developing graphical user interfaces in C++ using Qt or a similar library
• Experience with embedded development, preferably on Linux
• 5+ years of experience as a developer in an Agile development environment
• Familiar with:
• Multi-threaded applications development
• Web technologies (JavaScript/CSS/HTML/ HTTP/etc.)

Bonus points:

• Experience with GCC, ARM toolchains, and shell scripting
• Experience with writing and maintaining automated tests in C++, ideally including: Use of dependency injection and mocking frameworks, use of test frameworks such as Google Test, user interface tests, and experience with TDD.
• Familiarity with the EPUB format/standard
• EInk screen experience
• Database experience with SQLite

The Perks:

• Flexible hours and hybrid remote working environment
• Subsidized in-office lunches
• Full benefits starting from your first day
• Paid Volunteer days, unlimited sick days, and 3% RRSP matching
• Monthly commuting allowance for those who are hybrid
• Lifestyle spending account
• Talent and development training budget
• Free Kobo device + free weekly e-book or audiobook
• Weekly Kobo Tech University sessions
• Maternity/paternity leave top up
• Dog friendly office

About Rakuten Kobo Inc.
Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo Inc. is one of the most advanced global ecommerce companies, with the world’s most innovative e-reading services offering more than 6 million eBooks and audiobooks to 30 million + customers in 190 countries. Kobo delivers the best digital reading experience through creative innovation, award-winning e-readers, and top-ranking mobile apps. Kobo is a part of the Rakuten group of companies.
Rakuten Kobo Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Accessibility accommodations for candidates with disabilities participating in the selection process are available on request. Any information received related to accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially.

Rakuten Kobo would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this role however only qualified candidates will be shortlisted.

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