Senior Full Stack Web Developer

Who We Are

Spyglass Studios is a venture studio dedicated to creating a redemptive impact through building SaaS businesses. We explore and pursue redemptive ideas—those that make the world more like the Kingdom of God as described by Jesus. Our goal is to look back on our lives and know we’ve left a redemptive dent in the universe.

We are not a dev shop. We’re self-funded and self-directed, meaning no client work and no external dependencies. We expect every team member to be creative, hard-working, providing input on what we work on, and comfortable with pivoting as we collectively shape our direction and focus.

Why You Shouldn’t Apply

Time is precious, so let’s save yours and ours by being upfront. Here’s why this role might not be the right fit for you. If you’re still with us after reading this, we’d love for you to continue.

• You don’t resonate with a mission-first mindset and would rather focus solely on the bottom line.
• You’re looking to manage people or climb a corporate ladder. We’re a small, high-performance team with no hierarchy.
• You’re uncomfortable with having your coding approaches challenged by a boss.
• You don’t enjoy talking to customers and contributing to product design.
• You’re unwilling to work some long, intense weeks with a low work-life balance.
• You’re not ready to take primary responsibility for outages and their quick resolution.
• You’re not okay with having your code scrapped and projects pivoted.
• You prefer having HR and predefined processes in place.

Hard Skills

• Svelte & Web Technologies: Highly proficient in Svelte, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, with a strong portfolio. Familiarity with adjacent frameworks (e.g., React, Vue, Angular) is a plus.
• Express.js & API Integrations: Proficient in express.js as an API and integrating third-party APIs (specifically Stripe, Twilio/SendGrid, and AWS), with a solid understanding of best practices for data storage.
• Database Management: Skilled in optimizing both relational databases (e.g., Postgres) and NoSQL databases (e.g., MongoDB).
• AWS: Proficient in AWS tools for SaaS, including Lambda, S3, EC2, Amplify, DynamoDB, and SQS.
• SaaS Concepts: Experience with concepts common to SaaS including user authentication, permissions, recurring billing, account management, and multi-tenant architecture.

Soft Skills

• Missional Focus: You see business as a way to make the world more as God intended, with money as a byproduct of delivering true value.
• Partner in Design: You understand the customer journey, challenge specs that don’t align with it, and collaborate with product owners to unlock unique solutions from a technical perspective.
• Ownership Mentality: You take full responsibility for a product’s success, even if it means long hours and intense focus.
• Non-defensive Posture: You’re comfortable with a leader who challenges technical approaches and aren’t afraid to admit when a better solution exists—or stand behind sound ones.
• Venture Mindset: You embrace the fact that in new ventures, many ideas won’t pan out. You’re quick to move forward when code is unused or a direction changes.

Experience

• Professional: You can showcase live products where you had a significant development role.
• Hobby: You have personal projects you’ve released to the world.
• SaaS: You have experience and deep knowledge of SaaS business models.

Hours, Compensation, and Location

• Hours: Full-time
• Compensation: $150,000
• Benefits: Built into compensation (i.e., none, but compensation is set to cover self-provided benefits)
• Location: Hybrid (West Michigan; moving stipend available)