Hatchlings is Hiring!

One of the coolest parts about working for Hatchlings is that your code affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. There are immense technical challenges in scaling a site that has at times done more than 200 million pageviews in a month. We need a ninja to help us scale. If your idea of fun is delving into memcached instances, composing beautiful my.cnfs, outwitting SpamAssassins, and tuning MySQL queries we want to talk to you.

• Configuring Apache, MySQL, PHP, Zeus, etc for ultra-high throughput.
• Setting up and managing an email server to effectively deliver millions of monthly emails.
• Tuning MySQL queries on a very high-traffic architecture.
• Caching galore.
• Helping us scale cloud server instances to balance capacity with cost.
• Ensuring our architecture maintains 100% uptime.
• Seeking out and eliminating bottlenecks wherever they occur.
• Helping us cope with server crashes/downtime when they do inevitably occur.
• Occasional coding in PHP.

• Wizard-level skills in scaling MySQL.
• Deep knowledge of Apache.
• Experience with email servers (dkim, spf, CAN-SPAM, etc).
• Ability to code in PHP when necessary.
• Extensive experience on *nix systems (we run on Joyent SmartOS).
• A desire to rapidly learn new technologies.
• Ability to work well under pressure when necessary (eg, working on a live site during a crash).

Our marketing director's job will be to help us grow from 3 million to 30 million users in 2012. We are looking for a creative, action oriented, results driven, enthusiastic individual who is able to critically analyze data and track metrics to achieve results. We want a thinker and a strategizer who is playing chess while their competitors are playing checkers.

• Helping us grow from 3 million to 30 million users
• Building rapport with journalists and the media
• Helping develop our long-term user acquisition strategies
• Thinking up and executing promotional strategies
• Dreaming up and making strategic partnerships
• Determining which metrics are vital to our success (and tracking them!)
• Analyzing our competitors and positioning us to capitalize on our strengths
• Helping out however possible

We are looking to expand into native mobile applications starting with an iPhone and iPad application. We need someone who will take the lead in the development of this project.

• Working with our designers to come up with mobile-optimal solutions
• Determining what is done best natively and what should remain HTML5
• Working with our existing developers to use our existing backend API
• Building out an iPhone and iPad version of Hatchlings 2 for the App Store
• Helping out however possible

(Position Pending Fulfillment)

The intern will be responsible for working with the team to come up with creative guerilla marketing strategies, create a marketing plan, and then executing on the plan over the course of 5 months.

In addition, this will serve as an introduction to the startup lifestyle and the intern will be exposed to many aspects of day-to-day operations. Networking opportunities with the region's other startups will also be provided.

• Getting introduced to the startup scene in Iowa
• Working closely with the core team
• Helping to develop a guerrilla marketing plan
• Managing a marketing budget
• Executing on the marketing plan
• Helping out however possible

Reference Number: E42

(Position Filled)

(Position Filled)

We need an enthusiastic, chipper leader for our large and vibrant fan community. The ideal candidate is one of those people who is always friendly, polite, and courteous even when the customer is not. Strong communication skills and writing abilities are required.

• Answering emails
• Moderating discussion boards
• Participating in social media
• Building relationships with customers
• Troubleshooting user problems
• Interfacing with developers and designers
• Communicating game changes and enhancements
• Writing FAQ/Help Pages
• Helping out however possible

(Position Filled)

Our codebase is rapidly expanding as we build out new features and scale to new heights. We need a developer who can focus on the non-mission-critical aspects of the code (that are very important but sometimes get put on the back burner). This position would be well-suited for a student who is interested in getting involved with a startup. We're looking to help grow the ideal candidate into the rockstar developer we will need down the road.

• Creating and improving internal tools
• Helping track down bugs
• Working on peripheral features (mini-games, forums, etc)
• Helping keep our documentation and comments up to date
• Working up to contributing to the main code base
• Helping out however possible