Senior Developer for Kotlin/Wasm Compiler

Developed by JetBrains, Kotlin is a modern programming language targeting Java, Android, JavaScript, and native platforms via LLVM. Released in 2016, the language is rapidly gaining popularity, and in 2019, Kotlin became Google's preferred language for Android development. It is officially supported in Spring Framework 5, Vert.x, and Gradle.

Kotlin/Wasm is a set of tools for compiling Kotlin programs to WebAssembly. The toolchain is under active development. Our goal is to create tools that meet high web development standards, including quickly responding to changes (fast compilation), small output size, and seamless environment integration. 

We are looking for a Senior Developer with general software engineering skills. We expect that you will be able to pick up new technologies as you go. Although it’d be great if you are already familiar with Kotlin or WebAssembly, it’s not a must.

In this role, you will:

• Work on the Kotlin/Wasm toolchain.

• Improve the development experience with Kotlin/Wasm.

• Optimize compiler performance and the generated code.

• Help design and then implement new Kotlin features.

We'd love to have you on the team if you:

• Enjoy solving complex problems.

• Have at least three years of experience in commercial software development.

• Want to improve the Kotlin/Wasm toolchain’s developer experience.

• Understand how compilers work and/or know static analysis techniques.

• Can design and write code that is easy to read and maintain.

• Can work well both independently and as part of a team.

• Know basic algorithms and data structures.

• Are ready to communicate with users and solve their problems.

• Know how to profile and optimize your code.

• Are eager to explore new technologies.

We’ll be especially thrilled if you:

• Have previously coded in Java, Kotlin, or other JVM languages.

• Are familiar with WebAssembly.

• Have contributed to open-source projects or worked on your own projects.

• Love finding creative solutions to challenging technical problems.

• Have experience analyzing and improving application performance.

How we work:

We focus on practical aspects such as ensuring that IDEs and build tools are user-friendly, Kotlin code is compatible and maintainable, and the language has an easy learning curve. Rather than pursuing research goals, we focus on delivering a better experience for our users. About a hundred highly experienced developers are involved in the project. We work at a fairly fast pace and try to avoid bureaucracy. We are not afraid to experiment, and we value initiative and ingenuity. We follow a lightweight development process:

• We rely on weekly sync-up meetings, pre-push reviews, automated functional testing, and continuous integration to ensure smooth collaboration and high-quality outcomes.

• Developers communicate with users directly on YouTrack, Slack, GitHub, JetBrains Space, and community forums.

• Most of the new code is written in Kotlin in our public repository. 

• The project is developed on GitHub under Apache License 2.0.