Academia.edu
Academia’s mission is to accelerate and democratize the world's research, because scientific discovery is based on it, and scientific discovery benefits everyone.
You can make a positive social impact by joining us as we disrupt and transform this industry.
Academia.edu was founded in 2008 in San Francisco by Richard Price , who recognized the need for open access to scholarly work while a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Oxford University.
Academia's platform has more than 190 million registered users and is organically growing at over 1-3M per month. Over 40% of the world's faculty use our platform. We have over 310,000 paying premium subscribers, contributing to 40-50% YOY revenue growth over the last four years.
Historically, Academic journals have controlled the publishing process. It takes an average of 12-18 months end-to-end to have a research paper reviewed and published by the journal, after which it is then hidden behind a paywall where it typically costs $50-$100 to access and read.
We are remote-friendly, so that you can WFH anywhere in the USA or Canada. You can also work in our office if you want. It is located ~3 blocks from Montgomery BART in downtown San Francisco - Financial District.
We're a Ruby on Rails shop with React/Typescript on the front end on AWS, Ec2, S3, RDS, Redshift, Aurora, Terraform, Ansible, and Jenkins. Our native mobile apps are built for iOS with Swift and Android using Kotlin. We have ~97 full-time employees and over ~57 in engineering.
Academia has raised over $62 million from various investors, including Tencent, Khosla Ventures, True Ventures, and Spark Ventures. The last round of 23 million was just announced in March 2022. We have over 26 million in the bank; this is a 4.5-year runway at our current burn rate without any other revenue.
We are growing and have never laid off anyone or rescinded offers. Not even in 2020 during Covid-19.
Academia is a proud equal-opportunity employer, and we are committed to hiring and supporting a diverse workforce. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Why join us?
We're are profitable and growing with over 3100,000 premium subscribers paying $100/year. We are growing our company and building new products in 2022.
We're the dominant online player in a $19B worldwide market, growing faster than our nearest competitor. We are #1 in online user base and user distribution in academic publishing.
If you're interested in building large-scale internet software, solving hard technical problems and changing an industry that has huge impact: >190M registered users and over 310,000 paying subscribers.
We are small with ~97 employees, with ~57 in engineering. If you want to join a pre-IPO mission-driven company that is doing social good and is profitable, growing, and is now focused on IPO readiness by 2025, then check us out.
Engineering at Academia.edu
Our teams consist of engineers, a product manager, a designer, UR, Product Data Analyst. We organize our teams as groups that work together. Groups move onto products/features as needed. We hire generalist software engineers, and all engineers work in the full stack or can if they choose. We have daily stand-ups and continuous check-ins.
You'll be working on such systems as:
- communications and messaging tools to facilitate collaboration and feedback
- an engaging and scalable peer review system to facilitate the identification & wide-scale distribution of high quality academic research
- A scalable newsfeed, highlighting the latest research in every field, and making it more interactive and exciting. (which has never been done before)
- tools and platforms that enable academics to publish directly on the Academia's social network
- advanced search products and personalized analytics
- backend to a mobile client, with very low latency.
Newsfeed. Our Newsfeed is ready for re-engineering. Imagine >190 million registered users, with multiple registered interests, and many publications and connections. Then create a dynamic, interesting, interactive newsfeed.
Working at Academia.edu
We run an open, transparent, and collaborative company. If our CEO gives a board presentation then the next day he'll show the same deck to all employees. Cash flow and product plans are openly shown to everyone. We value honesty, wisdom, and clear communication. We hire people that are kind, friendly, supportive, collaborative and genuine.
We have initiatives around DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging). Academia.edu has mandatory DEIB training. We have a guild that spearheads and advocates programs for a diverse, safe and productive work environment.
-
Generous Vacation
We offer 21 days of paid vacation time, plus 12 paid company holidays and a liberal sick leave policy,.
-
Free Food
All meals are prepared by local vendors and delivered for lunch every day. Our kitchen area is stocked with fresh food on demand from employees.
-
Beautiful Office
Our office is located 3-blocks from Montgomery BART station. In the center of the Financial District and within walking distance of world-class restaurants and other venues.
-
Company Retreats
Twice a year, we choose an offsite location, and spend 3-days working together collaboratively on new product ideas.
For example, this past summer, we rented out two huge homes in Lake Tahoe, and had a 3-day offsite.
-
Maternal/Paternal Leave
We support parents with children. Out of our ~84 current employees, we have several employees with children. We offer 12-weeks leave for any parent (father or mother) of fully paid leave for a birth.
-
Flexible Hours
Most engineers start work between the hours of 8:30am-10:30am, some earlier, some later. Most engineers stop work between 5:30pm-7:30pm; some earlier, some later. I'd say most engineers are active between 10-6.
-
Transportation
We offer a pre-tax commuter benefit.
-
401(k) Contribution
We currently offer a 401(k) plan. We are considering a company match to that.
-
Health Insurance
We provide full medical, dental and vision coverage. 100% employer paid for employee and their dependent's coverage as well (including California Legally Registered Domestic Partnerships as well as legally married couples).
-
Work from Home
We are remote-friendly and our Engineers can Work From Home, anywhere in the USA or Canada. You can also work in our San Francisco office if and when you want.
-
Relocation
We offer a relocation allowance if you need to move in order to work at Academia, regardless of whether that's across the country, or from one part of the Bay Area to another.
-
Team Activities
We have a weekly team activity (not everyone attends). We've hired a guy named
Coach B
and he takes a group on a City run/walk/exercise event.We have a foosball table, and folks have organized themselves; there are teams and individual competitions. Not everyone plays, but those who do are avid players.
Smaller groups breakoff and go out to dinner or to local entertainment together.
-
Travel
Twice a year, we do college recruiting, and send teams of engineers to these sites. So, while this is work, it's also sort of a perk, in that you get to fly to a University town, eat some great food, and meet super engineers from top universities and recruit them.
-
Gym/Fitness
We have
Coach B
who comes every Tuesday for a group work out if you like. Coach B is a fitness guru.
-
Other
We offer a fully paid 6-week sabbatical on your 4th work anniversary.
-
Workshops/Conferences
We encourage our engineers to go to workshops and conferences they're interested in.
External Links
- http://techtrends.tech/tech-trends/edtech-world-tour/sharing-knowledge-beyond-the-ivory-tower/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scmzvVYB2qI
- http://www.wired.co.uk/article/science-academic-papers-review
- https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/04/academia-a-startup-that-hosts-scientific-papers-looks-to-score-the-best-studies/
- https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-napster-moment-for-academia-edu-9mqshs29p
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/academiaedu-grows-to-175-million-users-while-gathering-32-of-the-worlds-research-papers-301488028.html
Interested in this company?
Skip straight to final-round interviews by applying through Triplebyte.