Company Description

“Stage 32 is the Linkedin for the Entertainment Industry” - Forbes

Stage 32 is a B2C online platform democratizing the global entertainment industry by connecting and training creatives and professionals. With over 1,000,000 members worldwide and over 3,000 hours of online education, Stage 32 has been featured in leading publications like Variety, CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, and Forbes as a pioneer at the intersection of entertainment and technology.

Stage 32 combines the opportunity, energy, and collaborative spirit of a startup with the stability of a company that’s thrived for over 14 years.

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced, dynamic and visionary CTO to build and lead our new engineering team. Our engineering team is central to our mission, and this role will be pivotal in driving the strategic direction, development, and expansion of our diverse platforms.

The ideal candidate will possess a strong software engineering, data engineering and/or data analyst background, have the ability to code as well as manage, experience in leading technical projects, writing requirements and an ability to bridge the gap between technical and business teams. A self-starter mentality, a lead-by-example attitude, a vision for the big picture, and the drive to realize that vision are crucial.

You will collaborate closely with the founding CEO and Managing Director to craft a product and technology strategy and set goals that align with overarching business needs. This includes recruiting new team members, fostering a cohesive technical strategy, managing DevOps, and maintaining mindfulness of schedules, budgets and business goals.

This is a full-time position, primarily remote, with occasional in-person attendance in our LA office for significant meetings

We anticipate this role will be 50% individual contributor (coding) and 50% team management and business leadership.

Your Responsibilities

Spend approximately 50% of your time managing and leading the engineering team, including conducting performance reviews, mentoring, fostering professional development, participating in team-building exercises, and providing technical guidance.
Spend approximately 50% of your time designing, coding, creating unit tests and otherwise contributing as an individual contributor.
Collaborate closely with the CEO and other executive leaders to craft a product and technology strategy that aligns with business goals.
Establish a modern and scalable architectural vision for Stage 32's software systems based on business and technology objectives, KPIs, and outcomes.
Create and manage product roadmaps for all product lines
Create and manage budgets for multiple simultaneous engineering projects, balancing financial constraints and business goals.
Ensure excellent communication and provide accountability between your team and business teams.
Develop and maintain coding standards, review procedures, devops practices, and other procedures to help ensure successful projects.
Define and use metrics to evaluate success of product features and the broader software aspects of the business.
Source, interview and on-board full-time and freelance developers and product resources.
Participate in regular AGILE process activities including assisting in development of user stories, estimates, sprint planning and sprint reviews.
Design, build, and manage Stage 32's data infrastructure with a focus on data governance and security.
Create and maintain systems and software documentation.
Create and maintain policies around security, staff/contractor onboarding and departure, software and hardware system backup and maintenance, data privacy, audits and assessments, and other relevant areas.
Update job knowledge by keeping aware of new development tools, programming techniques, and methodologies; participating in educational opportunities; and maintaining personal networks.
Establish new systems to harness Stage 32's social media, financial and other pertinent data to help the company become more data driven

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

A minimum of 10 years of experience in software engineering as an individual contributor, with at least 5 years in a leadership role managing engineering teams.
A minimum of 5 years of experience in a data oriented role such as a data engineer or data analyst
A proven track record of developing, launching, and scaling software projects.
A demonstrated history of accountability in delivering projects on time and on budget.
A deep understanding of software architecture, software development processes and agile methodologies.
Experience with performance analysis, scaling applications and improving performance.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work at all levels of an organization.
Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to inspire, motivate, coach and mentor teams.
Experience sourcing, screening and hiring full-time software engineers or other technical personnel.
Experience evaluating 3rd party technologies and integrating them into an overall tech stack in a cost effective manner.
Advanced technical problem-solving skills, coupled with a creative mindset.
Deep knowledge of various design patterns such as MVC, repository pattern (Eloquent or similar ORM), DI, factory pattern, builder pattern etc.
Advanced skill in the PHP programming language using the Laravel framework (prefer) or CakePHP framework
Advanced skill in SQL or similar database query language
Advanced skill in either OLAP or OLTP database design
Fluent using Git and Github for source control
Some experience building and maintaining REST APIs in PHP
Some experience with cloud environments (preferably AWS)
Some experience with CMS such as Drupal, WordPress etc.
Familiarity with mobile app development using React Native
Familiarity with javascript frameworks such as Next.js or similar technologies
Familiarity with tailwind CSS

BONUS Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (this will set you apart)

eLearning or LMS product experience
Using other Laravel ecosystem tools for DevOps CI/CD such as Forge for server management and Envoyer for release management etc.
GitLab or similar DevOps all in one platforms
Terraform or similar infrastructure as code (IaC) technology
Data warehousing concepts, tools and processes such as ETL/ELT, columnar database storage, data lakes, Kimball fact and dimension modeling etc.

Projects we anticipate you contributing, planning and managing

Establishing new DevOps CI/CD processes using Gitlab or similar DevOps tool
Rewriting legacy CakePHP to PHP Laravel framework and Laravel Nova
Refactoring and upgrading a modified Drupal to the latest version
Creating embedded video conferencing and tracking for our script services products
Assist in migrating and consolidating various 3rd party services to simplify the tech stack and reduce costs
Continue the migration to Shopify and leveraging it across product lines

Details:

Full time position

$190,000 - $230,000 USD per year annual salary

Primarily remote, but occasional in-office work will be required

PTO and sick time

401K

Health and dental insurance (portion employer paid)

Paid travel for company required events and film festivals

Up to $2,000 per year in free Stage 32 education during employment available

Stage 32 (stage32.com)

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