Our Mission

The electrical grid was built to carry electricity unidirectionally from central fossil fuel plants to end consumers. As we transition to a renewable future built from rooftop solar and community storage, the grid itself needs assistance. Span’s goal is to enable that transition, one home at a time, envisioning a grid made of distributed control systems and software as much as copper wires.

To accomplish this, we are upgrading the breaker panel — the humble box sitting at the center of every building’s electrical wiring — to monitor, control, and make energy decisions. This helps convert buildings from passive consumers in a centralized fossil fuel grid to active participants in the emerging distributed energy market, while also simplifying home electrical wiring.

Span’s unique commitment to clean-slate “right architecture” and our passion for top-caliber customer experience has positioned us as leaders in distributed grid efforts and has allowed us to achieve rapid growth and high visibility in the industry in the three years since we launched.

The Role 

Our Systems team is responsible for tying together concurrent efforts at Span into a product that works with flawless consistency. Our team drives systems architecture and systems integration, root causes problems, and builds internal tools to support the broader engineering team, including automated functional testing, fleet monitoring, and product support tooling.

As a python developer on the Systems team, you’ll help build the internal tools that allow us to observe and respond to the present. You’ll have a wide creative license to help design new tools and systems, proactively clearing the path for Span to scale up.

You'll develop and maintain flexible internally-facing web applications for a variety of applications: fleet management and diagnostics, customer management, sales, and internal data. You’ll collaborate closely with the other software engineers on Systems, acting on a broad mandate to interview users, collect requirements, mockup tools, and set priorities as well as building tools. You’ll work across as much of our tech stack as you’re comfortable with (AWS, Terraform, Docker, Django, JS/CSS/HTML, manufacturing tests) and will have lots of leeways to do software architecture and expand your range of skills.

Required Qualifications

• Excellent programming skills in Python
• Experience developing, deploying (via Docker), and maintaining web frameworks such as Flask or Django
• Familiarity with Javascript, CSS, AJAX, JQuery, or similar
• Experience setting up and managing Linux-based systems, and comfortable with administration tasks, shell commands, package management, etc
• Able to collaborate effectively with coworkers in shared codebases, including competency with software versioning and documentation systems

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with Plotly/Dash, Node, or front-end frameworks like React or Angular
• Experience using UI/UX design tools such as Figma, Balsamiq
• Familiarity with deploying and managing cloud-based services (including user management, security, permissions, roles)
• Experience with publish-subscribe communication methods such as MQTT
• Experience (or willing to learn) developing small applications in Rust
• Experience with firmware development, industrial devices, laboratory test equipment, electrical engineering, or other hardware

Life at Span

Span is a startup based in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco. We are a small, diverse team of creative thinkers. We value open communication, teamwork, and a make-it-happen attitude - no job is too big or too small. We strive to make a change by imagining what the future could be and building a product to complete that vision. We are looking to grow our team with talented people who are on the same mission to shape the future of energy.

Working at Span, you can expect:

• Competitive compensation at a well-funded, venture-backed company
• Comprehensive benefits include a choice of medical plans; dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
• A sunny, airy office located close to BART and Caltrain public transit
• Regular team lunches, brown bag learning opportunities, board games nights, and other opportunities to connect with teammates - in-person and now virtually
• Equity grants at a quickly-growing startup
• Flexible hours and vacation time - we simultaneously work hard and make space for the important stuff
• To be a part of a team and culture that is hard-working has a good sense of humor, values collaboration, and is just a little bit nerdy 

Span embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.