Lead Web Developer

Purpose of Role
Last.fm is looking for a Lead Web Developer with a combination of strong PHP / SQL, software design principles, and hands-on architectural / framework expertise, as well as knowledge of XHTML, CSS and Javascript.

The Lead Web Developer will lead a team of PHP and front end web developers to deliver high quality software following an Agile development process.
The ideal candidate will be enthusiastic and innovative, good at “getting things done”, and have experience using Last.fm / AS.

Deliverables and Responsibilities

• Designing and implementing core software components for new Last.fm website features
• Improving our internal PHP tools and frameworks
• Identifying bottlenecks and profiling Last.fm's existing PHP codebase
• Improving development practices at Last.fm
• Leading team of 6-8 developers
• Technical mentoring of developers
• Ensuring software delivered by the team is of requisite quality

Key Relationships

• Web Development Team
• Design Team
• Technical Operations
• Product Management

Skills and Experience

• An intimate familiarity with object-oriented PHP & standards-compliant SQL
• Experience with XHTML, CSS and Javascript
• 5+ years experience working on high-volume PHP websites
• 2+ years experience leading software development teams
• 2+ years experience in Agile software development, preferably Scrum
• Expert knowledge of Agile engineering practices including Test Driven Development
• Independent problem solving skills, ability to write code that scales well
• Understanding of how the web works, from low to high levels
• Familiarity with a wide range of relevant technologies and web standards
• Flexibility: we are small company, but we move quickly

Desirable

• Experience with C / PHP internals
• Smarty templating system (smarty.php.net) and extensions
• Subversion
• Memcached
• Web services and syndication
• Linux CLI
• Experience with PostgreSQL, MySQL
• A preference for vi over emacs
• Certified Scrum Master

Education and Qualifications

• Honours degree level education in relevant discipline

Behaviours & Personality

• Willingness to commit to a goal
• Ability to focus on job in hand
• Openness and clarity in communication
• Strong leadership
• Ability to work well in a collaborative team environment
• Desire and drive to deliver

^ How to Apply

Flash Developer

Last.fm is looking for an in-house Flash developer to join the team. The ideal candidate will be creative, enthusiastic, and good at “getting things done”. Chief responsibilities will include maintaining Last.fm's existing roster of Flash products (streaming players for both audio and video, Flash widgets for 3rd-party sites, scrobbling lib, etc), as well as building the next generation of Last.fm Flash applications for the website and beyond.

Requirements

• Strong object-oriented Actionscript 2.0 skills
• Ability to build robust applications from the ground up
• Proven experience in interaction design and an eye for detail
• Comfortable dealing with web services and the inherent design issues
• Experience using Last.fm / Audioscrobbler

Pluses

• Experience with Actionscript 3.0
• Experience with source control tools (SVN/CVS)
• Flex/Laszlo
• Experience with streaming applications
• Fluent in another (non ECMAScript compliant) programming language

^ How to Apply

Front-End Developer

Last.fm is looking for a talented front-end web developer who lives and breathes tight, elegant XHTML, CSS, and Javascript.
The ideal candidate will be enthusiastic and innovative, good at “getting things done,” and have experience using Last.fm / AS.

What you’ll be doing

• Implementing the front-end markup for new Last.fm features on your own, as well as improving existing features of the website
• Working hand-in-hand with our design team and PHP developers to quickly prototype and roll out new pages and functionality
• Helping to advance Last.fm's Javascript and markup best practices
• Improving Last.fm's browser compatibility and “alternative platform” experience

Requirements

• Proven expertise in modern XHTML and CSS web development / design
• Familiarity with browser quirks and peculiarities; able to tame multiple versions of Internet Explorer into submission
• An eye for visual consistency and aesthetic detail
• An understanding of how the web works, from low to high levels.
• Familiarity with a wide range of relevant technologies and web standards.
• Flexibility: we are small company, but we move quickly.

Pluses

• Smarty templating system (smarty.php.net)
• Prototype or other Javascript framework experience
• Subversion basics
• Programming experience (PHP or other)
• Understanding of design principles / UI best practices
• Interest in fields of music, social networking, blogging and related technologies, recommendation systems, and data mining.

^ How to Apply

Linux Sysadmin (varying levels)

Last.fm is looking for a system administrator to help support our growing infrastructure. The role is mainly focused on our server infrastructure, and also includes some desktop support in the office. A keen interest in Linux and networking is essential, as is a thirst for more knowledge in related areas. You will be working within our systems engineering team to maintain and expand the hardware and tools that keep Last.fm on the air.

We have junior and more senior positions available.

Responsibilities

• Configure new servers, including linux installs (debian/ubuntu) and network setup
• Assist in network management tool administration
• Sysadmin related development support
• Hardware installs and bringing new equipment online at our datacentres (this includes rackmount server installs)
• Hardware maintenance and troubleshooting (why is it broken, dead disks and what not)

Desired skills

• Linux and sysadmin-fu
• Good LAN and WAN troubleshooting skills
• Windows Desktop Support; email / printing / network connectivity
• Desktop installation and setup of new office machines
• Scripting skills
• A preference for vi over emacs

^ How to Apply

Head of Financial Planning and Analysis

Last.fm is seeing a Head of Financial Planning and Analysis to lead the development of a function that will provide the analytical horsepower supporting important business decisions facing the company. Reporting directly to the CFO, this position will directly support the entire business, driving both top and bottom line success. The company is building a finance function whose role is to be both business partners as well as leaders who challenge the business to maximize controllership and return on investment. This position will have a tremendous range of responsibilities and expectations for success.

Qualifications
This position will work closely with the product and executive teams to ensure that the business is maximizing is goals of growth, involvement, and monetization. A very important part of the role’s reasonability is in providing robust analytical modelling and analysis. The second key requirement will be to maintain strict controllership over the business so that we can forecast and report accurate financials. Lastly, our expectation is that this position will be critical in continuing to emphasize a culture of data-driven decision making.

Responsibilities
We are now seeking a Head of Financial Planning to help grow our business by:

• Providing financial analysis to prioritize and lead business decision-making
• Designing & maintaining metrics models
• Analyzing new business ideas and making an analytical judgment on the quality of the idea.
• Collecting and analyzing quantitative data
• Designing and maintaining reports based on collected data
• Challenging the business on performance and assumptions
• Maintaining data and financial integrity
• Formulation of strategic & corporate plans to operating profit
• Leadership of ad hoc projects
• Interrogating data using excel (pivot tables/v-lookups) and access
• Driving process improvements

Suitable candidates will have a strong work ethic, strong analytical and commercial judgment, interpersonal skills, and effective communication skills. The successful candidate will have 2-4 years of relevant experience, be comfortable with ambiguity, making assumptions with imperfect data and presenting findings to senior management. Bachelor’s degree required, MBA preferred.

Location: London, GB

^ How to Apply