Overview
We’re looking for talented engineers with JavaScript experience to join the Ghost product team and work remotely, on Open Source software.
Hey there! We’re looking for a new member to join the Ghost team, maybe that’s you?
We’re a non-profit organisation on a mission to create modern, independent publishing technology to power the future of online journalism.
This is not a rocket-ship. You won’t find any unicorn glitter or exponential curves around here, just a real company with a sustainable business which has been profitable from year 1 and has been growing healthily ever since. Currently our Annual Recurring Revenue is $6,000,000+. We’re very transparent about our mission and our metrics, you can read all about us.
Ghost is a full stack web application for running independent publications. It’s one of the most popular modern open source projects in the world, and is used in production by tens of thousands of websites and companies.
Chances are you’ve already visited and read sites which run on Ghost! Our users range from renowned publications like The Stanford Review and Harvard International Review – through to some of the world’s largest organisations like Apple, Square, DuckDuckGo, Buffer, OpenAI, CloudFlare, Digital Ocean, Mozilla, Napster, Tinder, OkCupid and many, many more.
As the company grows, we’re looking for an experienced JavaScript developer to join the team and work directly on Ghost core. This is a senior role, with a lot of freedom to help evolve and refine our product architecture.
What we’re looking for 🔎
Node and/or React experience are key to working on Ghost. Experience working with other parts of our stack is a bonus, particularly Knex, Express and Handlebars. A good grasp of MySQL is helpful too, but not essential. Any other experience with startups, SaaS, open source, distributed applications or remote work is also very valuable.
One of the major perks of engineering at Ghost is that almost every single thing you work on will be released as open source under the MIT license. So you’re not just writing code for us, you’re writing it for yourself and for everyone else – both now, and in the future. Instead of spending years doing work will eventually be locked away in a box labelled “intellectual property” — you’ll get to write code which is open for anyone to use, including you in your own future projects!
People who are great at written communication and highly self-motivated tend to do best at Ghost. The majority of our team is made up of former founders, freelancers and self-starters who are confident and comfortable working independently and getting things done.
This role would be well suited to someone who is experienced at building/shipping products, looking for a big/interesting thing to work on with a great international team and a healthy work/life balance. Our culture at Ghost is one of calm, happy work. Not a frantic startup treadmill.
Maybe you’re overworked at a traditional tech company and uncomfortable with the level of resemblance your life bears to an episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley. Or maybe you’ve been solo bootstrapping products for years and you’re ready to work on something bigger with a group of excited, likeminded people.
We value diversity of all types at Ghost and our team is made up of a kind, thoughtful group of people with a wide range of backgrounds. We have as many people who speak German as we do English, some of us are single, others are married, while others are parents. We actively try to find people with different perspectives and experiences to the ones we already have. Women and minorities of any description are especially encouraged to apply!
What it’s like to work here
Well, we work remotely from all over the world! Most communication happens on Slack, with weekly meetings via Zoom.
The biggest perk of working at Ghost is that we have a small, talented team with a very large audience. This means you have the ability to have a huge impact on the product and the company, whilst also having interesting and challenging problems to work on. We believe deeply in what we do, and we’re all in this to build something lasting, sustainable and positive.
All jobs at Ghost come with
💵 Competitive salary Based on role, skill, experience and location.
🌍 Work from anywhere From a home office, or travel continuously if that’s your thing. Everything we do is online. As long as you have wifi, you’re all set.
💻 Hardware A new laptop + $500 office workspace setup budget.
🏢 Co-working If you prefer to work from a co-working space, we’ll help pay for it.
📚 Continue your personal development There’s a budget for attending conferences, taking courses, and purchasing books.
✈️ Team retreats The last few trips have taken us to Dubai, Thailand, Wales & Spain.
📅 Last Friday of the month off! We close the office on the last Friday of each month. Enjoy!
🏝 Unlimited paid vacation If you don’t take a minimum of a 2 week break yourself, we’ll kick you out of the office in December.
👶 Paid parental leave When the time comes to welcome a new member of the family, we offer generous and fully paid parental leave.
📈 Pay reviews Everyone at Ghost receives an annual pay review.
🐶 Dog friendly office …just kidding we literally don’t have an office. So, um. Feel free to work with your dog. Cats are cool, too.
How to apply 🚀
We’re profitable, AKA we have unlimited runway, and we have very healthy revenue growth. There’s no investor pressure, time limit, or need to hire as many people as fast as possible to fill a fancy office. We want to keep the team small, automate as much as possible with robots, build great software, and enjoy our work. Those are the things we optimise for. If that sounds like a good fit for you, then we’d encourage you to get in touch.
Our hiring process and timeline can vary from role to role, but typically you can expect:
Step 1: We’ll review your application against the needs of team.
Step 2: A video call with a member of the operations team so we can get to know each other a little better. It’s an informal call, there’s nothing to prepare.
Step 3: A second video call, usually with the hiring manager and another member of the team. This call has a more technical focus and gives you the opportunity to find out what might be like to be a member of the Ghost team.
Step 4: A paid trial project – typically 20-30 hours of work. This provides a great opportunity to understand what it’s like to work with each other, prior to pursuing a full time offer.
Step 5: A final interview to review the trial project.
Step 6: An offer 🎉
We receive a lot of applications for each position. A real human member of the Ghost team will review each one, so take your time – we care about the details. Women and people of any minority are especially encouraged to apply!
