Senior Ruby on Rails Developer Senior Ruby on Rails Developer

The Challenge That Makes This Role Unique

Every day, thousands of people across Germany and the USA wake up and decide to visit a zoo, theme park, or aquarium. Behind that simple ticket purchase is a surprisingly complex world: membership tiers with different benefits, seasonal pricing rules, capacity management, resource management, timed entry slots, and add-on purchases for parking or special exhibits.

Now multiply that by hundreds of venues. Add in point-of-sale systems and kiosks on site. Integrate access control hardware at entry gates. Sync everything in real-time. Make it work reliably when the internet connection is spotty. And somehow keep it simple enough that seasonal staff can learn it in an afternoon.

That's ToucanTix. We're building the all-in-one platform that handles ticketing, access control, retail, and visitor management for attractions across the DACH region.

Why This Role Exists

We have a solid product that's already processing thousands of daily transactions for clients like Karls Erdbeerhof and Serengeti Park. While ToucanTix is a lean team of 5, we work hand-in-hand with our sister company Combase (50+ in Dresden, 30+ in Las Vegas), giving us the perfect balance: startup agility with enterprise-level backing.

We need a senior developer who can:

• Take ownership of entire features from concept to deployment
• Make smart architectural decisions that will scale with us
• Balance the needs of enterprise clients wanting customization with keeping a maintainable codebase
• Write code that handles real money and real customer experiences reliably

The Technical Playground

Core Stack:

• Rails 7+ API with GraphQL (graphql-ruby)
• PostgreSQL doing serious heavy lifting with multi-tenant architecture
• Redis for the speed-critical stuff
• SvelteKit frontend (if you're full-stack curious)
• Google Cloud infrastructure (Cloudtasker, Cloud Storage)
• RSpec/Capybara keeping everything bulletproof

What You'll Actually Build:

• Sophisticated membership systems that handle everything from annual passes to complex family subscriptions
• Dynamic seating algorithms for venues and events
• Real-time inventory sync across ticketing, retail, and F&B
• Payment orchestration handling millions in transactions
• Analytics engines that help venues understand visitor behavior

The Reality Check

We're perfect for you if:

• You have 5+ years of Rails experience and can architect solutions, not just implement them
• PostgreSQL optimization excites you (yes, we're serious about our database game)
• You believe in writing tests first and documentation second
• You can work autonomously but know when to tap someone on the shoulder
• You're comfortable with the ambiguity of a small team where you'll wear multiple hats

Bonus points for:

• GraphQL expertise (our API is GraphQL-first)
• Experience with high-volume transaction systems
• Event industry knowledge (or just a love of theme parks 🎢)
• German language skills (not required, but helpful for DACH clients)

What's In It For You

• Salary: 60-70k EUR (we're bootstrapped and transparent about it)
• Work Setup: Fully remote (though we love having folks in Berlin for occasional meetups)
• Hardware: MacBook + home office budget
• The Fun Stuff: Team offsites at amazing venues + unlimited free admission to our client attractions
• The Team: ToucanTix is just 5 people, but you'll collaborate with 80+ colleagues from Combase in Dresden and Las Vegas. You get the impact and autonomy of a small team with the knowledge base and stability of a larger organization
• Growth: We're expanding rapidly across DACH. Early team members will shape our technical direction for years

Our Culture (The Honest Version)

We're bootstrapped within a profitable ecosystem. This means:

• No VC breathing down our necks demanding 10x growth
• We build for actual customers, not investor demos
• Resources from Combase when we need them, independence to move fast when we don't
• The stability of an established business with the excitement of a new market

Our combined teams span Berlin, Dresden, Las Vegas, and beyond. We've figured out async communication, respect work-life boundaries, and trust each other to deliver without micromanagement.

The Application Process

Here's the deal: We get tons of applications from recruiters and auto-applying bots. We want to hear from real developers who actually read this and are genuinely interested.

To apply: Send your CV to [email protected] with a brief note about:

• A technical challenge you're proud of solving
• Why event/entertainment tech interests you (or doesn't – honesty wins)
• Your favorite roller coaster or theme park (seriously, we're curious!)

Important: Include a 🎢 roller coaster emoji in your subject line so we know you actually read this far. Applications without it go straight to the "probably a bot" folder.

Not Convinced Yet?

This isn't another CRUD app with a payments integration. You'll be solving genuinely interesting problems: How do you architect a system where each client needs different business logic but maintain a single codebase? How do you handle offline-first POS systems that need to sync perfectly when they reconnect? How do you model pricing rules that change based on weather, season, capacity, and customer type - all while keeping queries performant?

If you're tired of optimizing ad clicks or building features that get buried in some enterprise menu, come build something that directly impacts whether thousands of people have a great day out.

P.S. – If you're on the fence, apply anyway. The worst that happens is we have an interesting conversation about Rails and theme parks.