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Build the next phase of Symbai

We’re looking for engineers to help scale, strengthen, and extend a live product used to teach rigorous debate and critical thinking. If you care about system design, clarity, and real-world impact, this page is for you.

Why we keep an engineering talent pool

We think the world needs better thinkers, and debate has always been one of the most powerful ways to build them.

Symbai exists to use software and AI to make rigorous debate practice accessible at a scale that’s never been possible before, so more people can become fluent in a shared toolkit for clear, critical thinking.

Engineering is how that ambition becomes real: translating pedagogy into systems and turning a serious intellectual craft into reliable, global learning infrastructure.

Because this is long-term, mission-driven work, the right engineering roles don’t always appear on a fixed schedule. That’s why we keep a talent pool: to stay connected with developers who care about thinking, argumentation, and learning, so we can move quickly when the right fit emerges.

Why build with Symbai

Meaningful product

Education that improves how people think, not just test scores.

High ownership

Small team, real responsibility, fast feedback loops.

Product-minded engineering

UX, pedagogy, and reliability all matter.

Room to shape direction

Build systems and foundations, not just features.

Mission with depth

Debating and critical thinking are the core, not a gimmick.

Transparent, applied AI

Work with LLMs in ways that are inspectable, debuggable, and grounded in real reasoning workflows.

How hiring works:

1

Apply & align

We review applications on a rolling basis and always follow up. We’re looking for engineers who are excited by the intersection of software, pedagogy, and critical thinking. Even if there isn’t an immediate role, we’ll let you know how your background fits and learn about your availability and interests.


2

Join the talent pool

Our engineering needs evolve as the product matures and new systems come into scope. We keep a small, high-signal talent pool of engineers who are comfortable thinking about argumentation, learning design, and long-term product direction, so we can move quickly when the right work emerges.


3

Onboard & step in

When there’s a strong match in timing and scope, we onboard engineers into Symbai’s codebase, product philosophy, and ways of working. That shared context ensures new contributors can take ownership quickly and make changes that respect both the system and the pedagogy it supports.

Where you might fit:

AI models & evaluation

Work on training, evaluating, and refining models that support high-quality feedback, reasoning, and learning.
This area involves improving model behaviour, building evaluation loops, and thinking carefully about how AI interacts with pedagogy. The goal isn’t automation for its own sake, but tools that genuinely support learning without flattening judgement.

Workflows & data systems

Design the workflows and data structures that make structured practice, feedback, and progress tracking work at scale.
This work involves shaping APIs, data models, and internal tooling so learning workflows remain flexible, observable, and reliable as usage grows. Engineers here help decide what should be explicit, what should be inferred, and how systems fit together over time.

Course & content systems

Build systems that let high-quality debate and critical thinking content be created, managed, and delivered with confidence.
This area focuses on content modelling, authoring workflows, and delivery logic that respects pedagogy while remaining adaptable across cohorts and contexts. The challenge is turning expert knowledge into systems that scale without becoming brittle.

System structure & scalability

Help ensure Symbai’s core systems remain clear, reliable, and easy to extend as new capabilities are added.
This work focuses on shaping system structure, clarifying boundaries, and improving how different parts of the platform fit together. The goal is long-term robustness, strong developer experience, and a system that absorbs growth without friction.

Technical direction & product coherence

Help set technical direction so engineering decisions stay aligned with Symbai’s product philosophy and long-term goals.
This work involves making and reviewing cross-cutting technical decisions, supporting coherence across teams and systems, and balancing short-term progress with long-term integrity. Engineers in this area help ensure that what gets built fits together conceptually, not just technically.

If you don’t see a perfect fit above, but you care deeply about critical thinking and have strong engineering skills, we’d still love to hear from you.

Build with Symbai

Help shape software that makes rigorous critical thinking accessible at a global scale.
If you’re excited by well-structured systems, thoughtful use of AI, and building tools that genuinely improve how people think, we’d love to hear from you.

Join the Symbai Engineering Talent Pool

Build with Symbai

Help shape software that makes rigorous critical thinking accessible at a global scale.
If you’re excited by well-structured systems, thoughtful use of AI, and building tools that genuinely improve how people think, we’d love to hear from you.

Join the Symbai Engineering Talent Pool

The Two Most Effective Ways to Improve Critical Thinking

Unified in Symbai

Debating

Hundreds of thousands of students across 60 countries choose to spend their free time in formal debating competitions because it improves their critical thinking skills. 

Formal debating improves:

  • Dynamic reasoning — adapting ideas under pressure

  • Strategic thought — anticipating and countering objections

  • Cognitive discipline — structuring arguments with clarity and purpose

Increases Critical Thinking By Up To 50%

Competitive debate produces greater critical thinking improvement than argumentation courses.
Allen et al. measured the improvement using the Watson–Glaser critical-thinking test — a gold-standard assessment of inference, deduction, and evaluation skills.”
Source

8.6% Critical Thinking Gains In Just 3 Weeks

Students who participated in debate competition showed statistically significant improvements in critical thinking scores after just three weeks.
An 8.6% improvement in critical thinking is the cognitive equivalent of dropping your resting heart rate from 70 to 64 BPM. That's not learning facts or techniques — that's developing lasting cognitive fitness.
Source

9 in 10 former debaters go on to earn at least one advanced degree.

Of 703 National Debate Tournament alumni, over 90% held a graduate or professional degree, and many held multiple advanced degrees.
Of the 703 former NDT debaters; 40% earned master’s degrees (MA, MSc, MBA, MEd, etc.), 20% earned doctoral degrees (PhD, MD, EdD) and many held multiple advanced or professional degrees.
Source
Argument Mapping

Argument mapping has been around for hundreds of years, used by philosophers, scientists, and modern critical-thinking educators to make critical thinking clearer by drawing it out.
 And for good reason: when done well, argument mapping is one of the most effective ways to improve critical thinking and develop sharper logical reasoning.

Argument mapping helps you:

  • Clarify reasoning by revealing the actual structure of your thinking
  • Expose weak links that get lost in normal prose
  • Build precision through visual logic rather than persuasive writing tricks
A simple argument map diagram showing a “Main Claim” at the top supported by a “Reason” and “Evidence,” along with an “Objection” connected to a counter-reason, illustrating the structure of logical argumentation.

Improves Critical Thinking Courses By Over 300%

Critical thinking courses that used argument mapping software saw students improve their critical thinking over 300% more than similar critical thinking courses.
Compared a standard logic class to one using argument mapping software. The mapping group made dramatically greater gains on a standardized critical thinking test, far exceeding typical semester improvements.
Source

One Semester Of Argument Mapping Produces 6-7x MORE Critical Thinking Gains Than One Semester Of Normal University Study

Semester-long CT courses using digital argument mapping consistently produced effect sizes of 0.7-0.85 on standardized critical thinking tests. By comparison, a typical university semester yields just 0.11
Source

9% Critical Thinking Gains In Just Weeks

Five weeks of an argument mapping-led course resulted in an average critical thinking gain of 9%
These gains were achieved with minimal explicit critical thinking teaching. The gains came from interactions with other students within argument mapping software.
Source

 

Debating develops the habits that critical thinking courses try to teach:

  • Dynamic reasoning — adapting ideas under pressure

  • Strategic thought — anticipating and countering objections

  • Cognitive discipline — structuring arguments with clarity and purpose

Increases Critical Thinking By Up To 50%

Competitive debate produces greater critical thinking improvement than argumentation courses.
Allen et al. measured the improvement using the Watson–Glaser critical-thinking test — a gold-standard assessment of inference, deduction, and evaluation skills.”
Source

8.6% Critical Thinking Gains In Just 3 Weeks

Students who participated in debate competition showed statistically significant improvements in critical thinking scores after just three weeks.
An 8.6% improvement in critical thinking is the cognitive equivalent of dropping your resting heart rate from 70 to 64 BPM. That's not learning facts or techniques — that's developing lasting cognitive fitness.
Source

9 in 10 former debaters go on to earn at least one advanced degree.

Of 703 National Debate Tournament alumni, over 90% held a graduate or professional degree, and many held multiple advanced degrees.
Of the 703 former NDT debaters; 40% earned master’s degrees (MA, MSc, MBA, MEd, etc.), 20% earned doctoral degrees (PhD, MD, EdD) and many held multiple advanced or professional degrees.
Source

If debating is the clash of ideas, argument mapping is the architecture that makes clear thinking possible.
 It’s the practice of breaking critical thinking into smaller parts — claims, evidence, objections, and assumptions — and arranging them so the logic becomes visible.

Argument mapping has been around for hundreds of years, used by philosophers, scientists, and modern critical-thinking educators to make critical thinking clearer by drawing it out.
 And for good reason: when done well, argument mapping is one of the most effective ways to improve critical thinking and develop sharper logical reasoning.

Argument mapping helps you:

  • Clarify reasoning by revealing the actual structure of your thinking

     

  • Expose weak links that get lost in normal prose

     

  • Build precision through visual logic rather than persuasive writing tricks

     

These benefits make it a powerful method for anyone looking to enhance critical thinking skills, improve decision-making, or analyze arguments more effectively.

But traditional argument mapping has limits:

  • Pen and paper mapping is slow and quickly becomes cluttered
  • Digital mapping tools speed things up but remain static
  • And because the map never talks back, even skilled thinkers can hit writer’s block when faced with a silent diagram