Slang.ai is redefining customer engagement through conversational AI, making every interaction seamless and efficient. Our mission is to transform the restaurant industry by providing the ultimate voice AI solution for consistently outstanding customer experiences. At Slang.ai, we foster a culture of innovation, inclusivity, and growth, ensuring that every "Slangsta" (employee) feels valued and connected to our broader AI driven impact.

What Your Experience Will Be:

This scope of work defines the responsibilities and deliverables for a fullstack software engineering contractor supporting Slang's development. The contractor will focus primarily on implementing robust, scalable backend services in Kotlin while occasionally contributing to frontend features in TypeScript/React, all powering conversational solutions for full-service restaurants.

Why You Belong Here & How You Will Grow:

At Slang.ai, you believe that trust is a foundational layer to any relationship starting internally and through your touch points with each prospect. We cultivate a culture where every Slangster has a deep sense of pride in their achievements with humility. Our team is collaborative, supportive, and driven by shared goals fostering an abundance mindset in addition to belonging and inclusivity. We offer experiences and benefits designed to foster a sense of community both within and outside the organization. Learner Fervor represents our strongest attribute for growth, as we challenge each employee to take every opportunity to learn especially when it's hard. You will grow not only as a professional but also as an individual. We support and foster opportunities for learning and development, aligning with your career aspirations. From weekly team trainings to 1:1 coaching sessions with your manager or peers, company wide workshops, we will help your journey in finding purpose in your work and achieving your fullest potential.

Core Responsibilities

Fullstack Development

Design and implement backend services using Kotlin and the JVM ecosystem (primary focus)

Develop GraphQL queries and mutations for client-server communication

Contribute to React frontend components and features as needed

Create modular, testable code following domain-driven design principles

Implement proper error handling, logging, and graceful degradation patterns

Write comprehensive unit and integration tests across the stack

Data Modeling and Storage

Design and implement Firestore data models that optimize for performance and maintainability

Create efficient data access patterns and queries

Implement data migration scripts and schema evolution strategies

Ensure data consistency and integrity across distributed systems

Design GraphQL schemas that effectively represent domain models

Telephony and AI Integrations

Develop and maintain integrations with Twilio for voice and messaging capabilities

Implement Dialogflow conversational flows and webhook handlers

Create fault-tolerant communication between telephony providers and internal services

Handle edge cases and error scenarios in telephony workflows

Implement retry logic and circuit breaker patterns for external service calls

Frontend Development (as needed)

Implement React components using TypeScript

Integrate frontend with GraphQL APIs

Ensure responsive and accessible UI implementations

Write unit tests for React components

Collaborate with product team on user experience improvements

Cloud Services Integration

Develop containerized applications using Docker

Deploy and manage services on Google Cloud Platform

Ensure services follow cloud-native best practices for scalability and resilience

Integrate with GCP services (Cloud Functions, Pub/Sub, etc.) as required

Provision new infrastructure using Terraform as needed under the guidance of platform engineering

Observability and Monitoring

Implement comprehensive logging, metrics, and tracing

Create dashboards and alerts for service health monitoring

Develop diagnostic tools to aid in troubleshooting production issues

Ensure all services provide actionable insights into their behavior and performance

Timing and Availability

Expected commitment: 40 hours per week. Time off requests can be made to your manager with proper notice

Required overlap with EST business hours: minimum 4 hours daily (12:30 p.m. ET - 4:30 p.m. ET)

Attendance at key meetings: daily standup (1:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET), cycle planning, retrospectives

Deliverables

Code and Documentation
Production-ready Kotlin backend code following established coding standards
TypeScript/React frontend code when assigned frontend tasks
GraphQL schema documentation and query examples
Technical design documents for new features and architectural changes
Contribute to code reviews for team members' pull requests and submit your code for code reviews
Automated test suites with adequate code coverage for backend services
Frontend component tests for any UI work delivered
Integration tests for all external service dependencies
Bug fixes and issue resolution within agreed SLAs

Collaboration and Communication

Participate in daily standups and bi-weekly cycle planning sessions
Collaborate with Platform & Data pods on shared initiatives
Provide technical input during architecture discussions
Share knowledge and progress on work during weekly Show & Tell sessions
After ramping up, mentor junior/mid-level engineers through code reviews and pair programming sessions
Provide regular status updates on assigned tasks
Communicate technical trade-offs and implementation options
Document technical decisions and their rationale
Participate in cross-functional meetings as needed

Technical Standards

Follow Kotlin idioms and best practices for backend development
Use TypeScript effectively with proper type safety for frontend work
Use dependency injection and maintain loose coupling
Write self-documenting code with meaningful variable and function names
Maintain consistent code formatting using agreed-upon linter

How Work Affects My Life:

Our Vision

Calling a business shouldn’t feel like a robot-hostage situation, where you’re forced to listen to horrible music and can't reach a human, while enduring a soulless voice uttering "I'm sorry I didn't quite get that" on repeat for eternity. (shudder) That’s why we started Slang.ai. We use the latest AI and audio wizardry to make transacting via voice so enjoyable it’s more human than human. By 2030, we will save businesses and consumers 1 billion minutes of precious time while transforming voice channels into the preferred mode of communication (it's faster and easier than text).

We have backgrounds building product at companies like Spotify, Buzzfeed, the New York Times, and OpenTable —shipping experiences that have reached hundreds of millions of users. Now, we’re using our backgrounds to start a new culture, one that puts product and human-centered design above all else while fostering constant learning and growth. Sound like something you’d like to be part of? Get on board.

Our Values

Overachiever Fever. We’re overachievers (we don’t know any other way)

Learner Fervor. We take every opportunity to learn (especially when it’s hard)

Humility Ability. We approach each other with curiosity and openness (know-it-alls not welcome!)

SMB MVP. We’re an expert member of our customers’ teams (we earn their trust)