Work for Soomo Publishing

Founded in 2006, Soomo Publishing is a growing web-based academic publishing company currently residing above bustling Pack Square in downtown Asheville, NC. We publish web-native, interactive learning resources developed by our editorial team, and augment and web-enable content from other publishers too. As the work ahead of us grows, it’s time to add some members to our small, close-knit development team!

NOW HIRING

Ruby on Rails + JS Developer

Job Responsibilities:

  • Build new rack-based (mostly Rails) apps to handle new business needs
  • Augment, refactor, and divide existing apps to improve our footprint
  • Handle user-facing issues as a high priority
  • Specs everywhere

Requirements:

  • Have a strong background in software development and web development
  • Are curious and enjoy learning new skills, technologies, and concepts
  • Have a good amount of experience with Ruby and Rails, and like it
  • Know HTML5 and CSS but aren’t necessarily a designer
  • Know JavaScript and think Douglas Crockford is cool
  • Like to write code and solve problems, both big and small

Why you’ll like working with us:

  • We’re a small team and you can make a big impact
  • You’ll be an important part of technical and design decisions
  • You get to work in downtown Asheville on Pack Square, with a parking spot provided
  • Enjoy our relaxed, casual, fun yet hard-working office environment

Salary & Benefits:

  • Salary commensurate with experience
  • Benefits include:
    • health, dental, vision, and life insurance
    • paid vacation and holidays

Interested candidates should send a resume to jobs@soomopublishing.com.

UX/UI Designer

As a freelance UX/UI Designer, you will lead both problem-setting and problem-solving on individual projects ranging from cross-discipline tool development (e.g. browsing for new assignments via tags) to discipline-specific page and site design (e.g., optimizing an interface for learning statistics.)

Currently, this is a freelance, project-based position but could convert to full-time later this year.

Our site is built in  HTML5 and CSS3 and Javascript, undergirded by Ruby on Rails and MySql, provided as SaaS and cloud-hosted. You will be working with instructional designers and project managers to help define needs and with a graphic designer, JavaScripter, and systems architect to implement your plans.

Your portfolio should include strong evidence of your ability to:

  • analyze and understand user needs (in our case, college instructors and students)
  • design simple, powerful interfaces
  • explain your choices
  • be the user’s best advocate

Succeeding in this role requires striking a balance between:

  • working independently AND having good interaction with the rest of the team
  • making the most of standard conventions AND innovating where needed
  • letting others do what they can do best AND stepping into any and all gaps as needed
  • giving problems careful consideration AND not getting bogged down in low-value loops

Keeping these things in balance is often the most difficult part of the job, especially when working remotely.

You know you are our ideal candidate if…

  • you sketch compulsively, share eagerly, and accept ideas hungrily
  • you have taught, are married to or the child of an instructor
  • you have always wanted to live in Asheville and really enjoy street buskers
  • you have downloaded the O’Reilly author guidelines, but are conflicted about what the focus of your book should be
  • you find the chance to radically improve textbooks and distance learning awakens something inside of you
  • and suddenly the seemingly random events of the past decade make sense as preparation for this opportunity

To apply, please send:

  • a portfolio of your work (or a link)
  • descriptions of the roles you played on each relevant project
  • the time and money required to do such work
  • contact information for a reference on each project
  • when you are available to start

to jobs@soomopublishing.com, including UX in your subject line.