Job Description
Job Description
Midwest Tape | Hoopla
About us :
For over 30 years, Midwest Tape has served libraries and their patrons with unparalleled access to the best content available in the media world. Our digital offering, hoopla Digital, combines the media and library expertise of Midwest Tape with the latest in web and mobile technology, delivering an all-in-one experience to the library world. As hoopla continues to grow on a global scale, we are expanding our team.
At Midwest Tape, we know our people are the reason for our success. We value our employees and believe in empowering them to help them thrive. We offer competitive pay and benefits, a healthy work / life balance, and appreciation for a job well done.
- For local candidates within 60 miles of our Holland, OH headquarters this role is hybrid after 60-day orientation period.
- For candidates outside of local area, this role would be primarily remote. You will be required to come onsite for first week to onboard and as needed for dev conference and meetings.
- Must live in the following states to be considered : Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, Montana, Rhode Island, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada.
- Must be able to work business hours of 8 : 30am-5 : 00pm EST in addition to occasional off-hours deployments or crisis resolution.
- We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas. All candidates must have authorization to work in the U.S. without current or future sponsorship.
Position Summary
As an engineering manager, you are responsible for leading multiple teams of skilled individuals responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining robust backend services and APIs. This includes guiding the team in adopting best practices, optimizing system performance, and ensuring operational excellence. In addition, you will be managing day-to-day delivery of all company initiatives for our back-end development for eComm and hoopla Digital web services. This role demands a combination of people management expertise, strong architectural knowledge, and hands-on development experience.
Success in this role includes effective and timely communication with both technical and non-technical team members, proactive coordination, love for new technologies, a strong desire to learn, curious mindset, and a commitment to removing inefficiencies. You will play a key role in strategic planning, project execution, and scaling our backend architecture to support the growth of our business.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
Lead and manage a team of technical leads and backend developers, offering guidance, mentorship, and career development support to help them achieve personal and professional goals.Foster a collaborative and inclusive team culture that aligns with the company values and encourages continuous improvement.Oversee the design, development, and deployment of scalable and maintainable backend services and APIs.Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues by providing hands-on support and guidance to the team as needed.Collaborating with cross-functional teams, including front-end engineers, product owners, and agility leads to define development backlog.Collaborate with the development team to define and refine technical direction.Ensure team members follow best practices for coding, testing, and deployment, including code reviews, unit testing, and CI / CD.Collaborating with teams leads to identify, recruit, interview, hire, and onboard new team members.Maintain release schedule in collaboration with the Product Owner and Scrum Master.Conduct regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews with team members to set goals and provide feedback to align with company’s review cycle.Oversee and participate in on-call systems monitoring during off business hours.Encourage open communication amongst team members to share ideas and concerns for improving operational and technical efficiencies.Required Experience
5+ years of experience leading multiple backend engineering teams, with a strong track record of delivering complex projects and backend services.Proven ability to build and lead high-performance teams, with a focus on hiring, mentoring, and retaining top engineering talent.Experienced in developing production support strategies and overseeing backend teams in incident management and system recovery during production issues.Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, with experience partnering closely with Product Management, Frontend, and DevOps teams to deliver unified goals.Demonstrated ability to manage priorities and projects in a fast-paced, Agile / Scrum environment, using tools like Jira and Confluence to ensure clarity and alignment.Expertise in modern backend development with extensive hands-on experience in Java, Spring Boot, and Node.js. Proven ability to design, build, and deploy scalable microservices and distributed systems.Deep understanding of API design and security, with strong proficiency in GraphQL, REST, OAuth 2.0, and JWT.Proficient in event-driven architecture using Apache Kafka, with experience building robust data integration and streaming pipelines.Extensive experience with cloud-native technologies and infrastructure, including AWS (e.g., ECS, Lambda, RDS), Kubernetes, and CI / CD automation using tools like GitHub Actions or Jenkins.Experience with modern observability and monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog) to ensure system health and performance.Strong command of software engineering best practices, including code reviews (pull requests), unit testing (JUnit, Mockito), design patterns, SOLID principles, TDD, and DDD to foster a culture of high-quality, clean code.Comprehensive knowledge of relational (PostgreSQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB) databases, including complex query optimization, schema design, and performance tuning.Experience leveraging AI-powered development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot) to enhance team productivity and streamline development workflows.Proactive problem-solver with a strategic mindset, capable of identifying technical and organizational challenges and implementing effective solutions.Preferred Education Requirements
B.S., M.S., in software engineering, computer science, or related area, or equivalent experiencePhysical Requirements / Work Environment
The work environment characteristics and physical demands described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Ability to regularly sit for extended periods of time.Perform repetitive motion-type tasks.Ability to work in a team environment onsite.Must be physically present for meetings, presentations, and training.Benefits :
Medical, dental, & vision insurance401k + matchProfit sharingPaid vacation and personal timeFlex time10 paid holidaysCompany performance bonusHoliday bonusPaid time to volunteerTraining & career development opportunitiesAll qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.
LI-Remote
