Software Engineering Coach; GenAI + LLMs

Role Summary

We’re looking for experienced lead engineers or equivalent to lead targeted micro‑workshops for small groups of software engineers. The sessions last up to 90 minutes, take place remotely via our app, and are based around high‑quality teaching material that we produce.

Your job is to bring expertise and enthusiasm for software engineering and ensure our learners leave with a deep understanding of the topic (understanding why, not just knowing what or how) and the ability to apply new skills.

You can expect to be teaching senior as well as junior engineers, answering interesting questions tangential to our material, and helping learners to understand and improve the results they see when using LLMs. For this reason, we’ve found that the skill profile required is more similar to pairing or technical mentoring than it is to typical classroom teaching.

Skiller Whale changes what tech teams are capable of through live sessions led by subject‑matter experts.

Developers attend a 60‑90 minute session every week or two, learning something new through challenging exercises with an expert leading the session to explain the topic and answer difficult questions. Learners love us (they give us an average rating of 4.8 /
5) and we have a measurable impact on the teams we work with.

We’d love for you to apply if you enjoy building the skills and understanding of others, and have experience with most (at least
4) of the following:

• Explaining basic machine learning concepts to others.
• Some knowledge of LLM internals, e.g. transformer building blocks (at least enough to underpin deeper understanding of their behaviour).
• Prompt engineering.
• Agentic AI & using IDE integrations with AI agents.
• Coding with LLMs, e.g. setting up Cursor / Copilot configs, and writing prompts for coding / debugging.
• Integrating / Pipelining with LLMs, e.g. langchain.
• Customising LLM tools, e.g. fine tuning LLMs, using RAG systems.

You’ll need to have significant expertise and experience in a real‑world setting, be able to give nuanced answers to difficult questions, and explain advanced concepts clearly and succinctly.

Most of our coaches lead between 1 and 4 sessions per week (1.5‑6 hours). We typically book regular weekly 90‑minute time‑slots for these sessions, based around your availability.

All our teaching is done through the Skiller Whale platform, which includes video conferencing and other tooling designed to make teaching as slick as possible. High‑quality written content and exercises are provided by Skiller Whale, so you shouldn’t need to do significant preparation before a session (we assume ½‑1 hour to get familiar with the material, and we pay for preparation the first time a module is taught).

Should you require any accommodations during the interview process, please reach out to Dave Millican () to let him know. We’re always happy to help and will do everything we can to accommodate you.

We want to be seen as intelligent, playful learners. For our coaches that means you need to demonstrate:

Knowledge & Understanding

You should come across as an expert, able to expand beyond the provided material when appropriate.

E.g., examples from your experience in different settings; what you’ve found works well, and what doesn’t.

Careful Listening and Clear Explanations

You must be able to deliver clear and concise explanations in spoken English and adapt your explanation style to match the level of your audience.

Expert Spoken and Written English

You should be expert and eloquent in spoken English, with an accent that will be clear to non‑native speakers from various backgrounds.

A Personable, Passionate and Professional Demeanour

You should be able to easily build rapport with new groups of people, and create a safe space for learners to ask questions. You should come across as friendly and demonstrate enthusiasm for the topics you teach, whilst maintaining professionalism.

Industry Experience

It’s important that you have extensive real‑world experience so you can teach senior engineers with confidence.

Teaching or Mentoring Experience (formal or informal)

Experience teaching groups of software engineers, or mentoring other developers (even in an unofficial capacity) is a bonus, particularly if those people were relatively senior.

Bonus Points For

Experience with multiple languages, frameworks, tools, etc. to contextualise learning for diverse teams.

• Rate: £100 per hour (+ paid £50 for preparation for each new module taught)
• Very flexible work – we will aim to schedule sessions that fit your availability, and you have no ongoing commitment.
• Fully remote, forever.
• Have a real impact on learners. Our sessions actually make people better at their jobs.
• Teaching is fun!