About Primer

Primer is a growing network of K–8 schools restoring the timeless foundations of American education. Inspired by the original teaching primers that shaped a nation of readers, thinkers, and builders, our schools begin with what has always worked, and build for what lies ahead. Close-knit learning environments. Skilled educators. A culture that takes kids seriously as learners and leaders.

Primers shaped the first 200 years of American children. Primer will ready them for the next.

Role overview

Primer's goal is simple: fix K–12 education in America. We build schools from the ground up — and we run them on something nobody's built before: a single operating system for the entire school. We call it PrimerOS.

It covers real estate, teacher experience, parent experience, the most advanced academic program in the world, our back-office operating stack, and much more. We're looking for exceptional, multidisciplinary engineers to help build it. You'll redesign the school experience around modern technology and ship features that teachers, students, families, and state teams rely on every day. Based out of our sunny office in the Mission District of San Francisco 5 days/week.

What you’ll do

• Work with TypeScript, Node, GraphQL, Prisma, Postgres, Next, React, and Relay. We invest heavily in our DevEx and agent stack.

• Work daily with team members from engineering, product, design, academic program, and executive teams.

• Take ownership of projects. You’ll lead initiatives that shape the entire product, with room to learn and grow along the way.

• Play a key role in setting the foundation for our engineering culture as we grow the team.

• Build quality product. We set a high bar for quality, so expect to work hard to deliver excellence.

What we're looking for

• You have an unbridled passion for fixing the US education system. This work is incredibly hard. But if we succeed, it will be the most fulfilling work of our lives. On the days and weeks that it feels like we’re chewing glass, there are only two things that will get you through: a deep passion for fixing this problem, and looking around and seeing a team that shares that passion. We can guarantee the latter, but only you can guarantee the former.

• The unknowns of the early-stage fuel you. You love rolling up your sleeves and figuring out what needs to happen.

• You have a strong grasp of engineering fundamentals and know how to apply them.

• You take immense pride in your craft. Watching a session replay of a user having a bad experience with product you built makes you sick. Every detail matters.

• You have experience and love owning a feature or product from idea to live in production with active users.

Competitive salary plus equity

Benefits: Generous health, dental, vision, and retirement benefits included.

Primer is a mission-first company. We believe our mission is the highest-leverage way we can create positive change. In service of that, we keep work centered on mission execution and avoid social or political activism at work that’s unrelated to the mission. If that energizes you, we’d love to see you apply.