Software-Entwickler:in mit Backend-Fokus (80-100%)

About Us

We, aprendo AG, develop and operate the further education platform «aprendo – digitale Kompetenz». We support teachers and school leaders at all educational levels in expanding their digital skills flexibly, individually, and practically. Originating from the IT education initiative of the Canton of St. Gallen, «aprendo» is now a central component of digital teacher training in the Canton of St. Gallen. As the first spin-off of the St. Gallen University of Teacher Education, we are further developing our platform as an independent start-up and opening our offering to the entire Swiss education market.

Our team is small – to strengthen it, we are looking for a dedicated personality with a backend focus, who will further develop and actively shape our platform technically, starting immediately.

Your Tasks

• You will take end-to-end responsibility for central backend components, ensuring the platform grows stably, scalably, and cleanly.
• You will further develop the backend along clear architectural principles and actively keep complexity low.
• You will conceptualize and implement new features, including API design, data modeling, and migrations.
• You will systematically improve quality: tests (unit/integration), CI checks, code reviews, clean releases.
• You will analyze performance bottlenecks, sustainably fix bugs, and invest specifically in refactoring.
• You will structurally contribute technical decisions to the team (ADR/Tech-RFC), make trade-offs transparent, and prioritize pragmatically.
• You will work closely with product/design and translate requirements into robust, maintainable solutions.

Your Profile

Must-Haves:

• Completed studies and demonstrable experience in software development in productive applications (at least three years).
• Very good practical experience in API design (REST/OpenAPI), relational databases, and migrations.
• Solid architectural understanding (e.g., DDD, TDD, SOLID, Clean Code – applied pragmatically, not dogmatically).

Plus Points:

• Experience with containerization and deployments (Docker, ideally Kubernetes/Helm) and CI/CD.
• Experience with AI-supported development tools and a good sense for when their use is sensible and when it is not.
• Experience with Laravel.
• Understanding of modern frontend technologies.
• Experience with observability (logging, monitoring, alerting) and security basics.
• Understanding of design and user experience.
• Experience with agile methods and tools (e.g., Scrum, Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Git).

Working Style & Personality:

• You deliver reliably, communicate clearly, and realistically assess effort and risks.
• You are interested in the product, not just the code – and understand that both belong together.
• You question requirements before implementing them – and suggest simpler alternatives if the scope allows.
• You prefer to say early on "this won't fit into the sprint" rather than building shortcuts silently.
• You give honest feedback in reviews and accept it just as readily.
• You take ownership of your topics but actively seek input from the team instead of working in a silo.

What awaits you with us

• High autonomy and real technical design power – no ticket factory, but active thinking is desired.
• Contribution to a meaningful product in the education sector.
• Start-up with structure: short decision-making paths, but clear engineering standards (reviews, tests, CI, defined processes).
• Dedicated, collegial team with an open feedback culture.
• Flexible working hours and hybrid working.
• Personal and professional development in a small, ambitious team.