Senior Product Engineer - Platform Leaning

About Optimal

Optimal is a comprehensive user insight platform that enables product teams and UX researchers to make confident, data-driven decisions by translating complex user behaviors into actionable insights. Our platform allows customers to understand how users interact with digital experiences, revealing the reasons behind their actions to help build products that truly resonate with audiences. We collaborate with industry leaders like Lego, Nike, Netflix, and Apple to bridge the gap between user expectations and product realities.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Senior Product Engineer to join our Innovation team, a cross-functional group focused on rapidly developing and delivering novel user research tools. This full-stack role emphasizes a strong platform and DevOps foundation. While shipping customer-facing features is integral, your primary strength will be in architecting, deploying, and maintaining robust systems that enable fast and scalable delivery. You'll be the go-to engineer for complex platform challenges. Working closely with the Head of Product Innovation, Product Engineers, AI engineers, and Product Designers, you will bring new ideas swiftly to market and iterate from user feedback.

As a part of the Platform Guild, you'll collaborate with platform-focused engineers across the company to influence broader platform strategies beyond the Innovation team.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deliver customer-facing research features alongside the team, balancing platform expertise with product delivery focus.
• Architect and implement infrastructure and automation to ensure rapid, scalable, observable, secure, and reliable systems.
• Take charge during complex platform challenges, including scaling issues, reliability problems, and deployment difficulties.
• Contribute across the full stack using Ruby on Rails and AWS, and participate in frontend development with React to support the product.
• Advocate for reliability and security by design, influencing product architecture and assisting the team with pragmatic practices.
• Represent the Innovation team within the Platform Guild to maintain oversight on Optimal's overarching platform needs.
• Engage deeply with user problems and needs to shape the product direction through hands-on exploration.
• Collaborate effectively with designers, product managers, and AI engineers to prototype, validate, and refine novel product ideas.
• Set technical direction, improve software shipping and operations, and mentor team members.

Candidate Profile

• Experienced senior full-stack engineer with proven ability to build and deliver products deployed on AWS.
• Strong hands-on skills in platform and DevOps technologies, including AWS infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, and production software operation.
• Proficient backend developer with strong experience in Ruby on Rails (or equivalent frameworks) and sufficient frontend skills in React.
• Product-focused mindset combined with a strong platform orientation, caring deeply about software deployment, security, and operation.
• Effective pragmatic problem-solver who can translate complex challenges into actionable plans and solve the right issues efficiently.
• Leadership qualities with experience owning projects end-to-end, from conception through delivery and ongoing maintenance.
• Curious about artificial intelligence, interested in integrating AI features into user products and leveraging AI to enhance development processes.
• Collaborative team player who thrives in open, creative, cross-functional team environments.

Benefits and Perks

• Competitive compensation aligned with your expertise and experience.
• Opportunity to participate in the Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) for long-term company success benefits.
• Annual wellbeing allowance and support for your health and wellness.
• Generous annual budget for learning and professional development.
• Support to set up a productive home office environment.
• Four weeks of annual leave plus an additional day off on your birthday.
• Flexible, remote-first work arrangement with headquarters in Wellington, New Zealand, but open to candidates based anywhere in New Zealand or Australia.
• Clear pathways for career growth and professional advancement.