Devops and Backend Developer

TIMBY is a Montreal-based company that creates technology help workers, communities and other groups on the frontlines of issues (supply chains, environmental, corruption, transparency, human rights issues) connect with impact at the 10,000 ft level. Specifically, we work on a reporting app, investigation dashboard, grievance mechanism and content-creation tool that makes it easier for groups and individuals to both access crucial global data that helps them understand their rights (documents, maps, contracts) and also report issues for impact. We also connect these individuals to pathways for justice.

We are funded by earned revenue from partner institutions and by philanthropic supporters, including the Ford Foundation, HIVOS Foundation, DFID and Omidyar.

We are a small but powerful team, united in the belief that we can create a more just world. The culture around us is changing rapidly and the demand for TIMBY has never been greater. We have expanded beyond our initial work in the land and forestry sector in Africa to address workers rights issues, human rights issues, and accountability issues in multiple industries. Right now TIMBY operates in 25+ languages in almost 50 countries around the world.

Our ideal candidate would be someone who has done it all and now wants to help grow a team, doing something great for the world. For the right person, the sky is the limit.

About the Position:

As a DevOps and Backend developer at TIMBY, you will join a fast-paced, collaborative, multidisciplinary team to implement and support first-class technical infrastructure in solving complex problems in the social justice and data security space.

TIMBY is currently a Wordpress back end, serving Angular 1 web and Android clients. We’re hosted on AWS. We are currently updating the stack.

The position involves helping with deployments (and building out further automation to ease our quick growth), building new features on the backend and web client, cryptography and authentication aspects to keep users secure and private (well beyond the typical, basic web authentication needs of most projects), and continuing to improve our AWS based infrastructure.

While at times you’ll work independently, we also highly value collaboration and communication with other departments; you’ll participate in our standups, user-centric product design, QA work, and project management. Over time, you will contribute meaningfully to our developer operations and develop a strong understanding of supply chains and the human rights and environmental justice space, with a focus on user privacy and security.

We are excited to deepen our expertise in innovative approaches to product development and scaling our engineering processes while adopting industry best practices. We hope you are as excited to learn new things and will consider applying for this role if this sounds like you.

Primary Responsibilities

• Use and maintain current CI/CD pipeline (Jenkins, packer & ansible)

• Manage AWS servers

• Work with github (permissions, processes, PRs and releases)

• Monitor and react to alerts (databases, servers, etc. )

• Update WP core and plugins and release on several instances

• Fix bugs on the custom WP code

• Work closely with the product team to innovate impactful products for accountability, human rights justice and environmental justice

• Be part of the small engineering team that will improve and support TIMBY’s recently launched expansion product ^[1].

• Work on technologies across the stack, including federated server infrastructure, PHP and Angular, user interfaces and cryptography ^[2].

• Execute TIMBY’s data security strategy

Essential Skills and Experience

• Nice to have 10+ years of engineering experience across the stack.

• High proficiency working with PHP

• Nice to have a proficiency working with Angular 1 (or similar JS frameworks).

• Good knowledge of WordPress

• Experience in privacy, data security, and cryptography, and (at least) some familiarity with basic cryptographic concepts (symmetric vs asymmetric cryptography, hashes, authentication vs. encryption, etc).

• Experience with typical GitHub-oriented git practices.

• Experience working with AWS or similar services.

• Experience with SQL (preferable some DBA experience).

• You thrive in a constantly changing environment and enjoy learning new things.

• You want to pursue a passion for justice

Time Commitment

Generally, we are currently looking for someone that has 10-15 hours a month of availability for releases, basic maintenance and the occasional ticket. More importantly, we are looking for someone who can monitor our servers and be available in case of emergency. The system is fairly stable (no emergencies have happened in years) but turnaround time for us is important if emergency strikes.

If the relationship works well, there is the opportunity for growth, part or full-time work and/or C-level work, with Timby moving forward as we update our system.

What to Expect at TIMBY:

Our Environment

We are engineers, designers, journalists and activists united in our desire to create a world where human rights and environmental justice is supported in any industry. Our work is serious, but our days are full of mutual support. We are each other’s biggest fans, fierce yet kind, driven yet understanding.

Other Details

Compensation based on experience. Canadian applicants will be prioritized.

TIMBY is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

For more information or to submit an application, please email anjali@timby.org ^[3] with your CV or list of experience, link to Git and cover letter.