Software Architect

Role Description

We're hiring an Architect to be the guardian of simplicity. Informed K12 has been working closely with districts for over a decade, which is long enough to learn the truth about software: the code that survives isn't the cleverest, it's the most maintainable.

We think maintainability is one of the most important and most under-rated ideas in engineering. In the age of AI, anyone can ship a working feature in an afternoon; the scarce skill is keeping the system coherent as it grows.

You'll join at the stage where good architectural decisions compound and bad ones calcify — and you'll own the question of where engineering rigor moves when the code is increasingly written by machines, and how we guard it.

What You'll Do

• Own the durability of our core platform data model and the discipline about when to add new structure versus leave things flexible.
• Own API design across an increasingly programmatic surface: partner integrations, programmatic workflow APIs, authentication for partners and AI agents.
• Own architectural review across core engineering, including the major migrations we expect to take on over the next 12 to 24 months.
• Mentor senior ICs without becoming a bottleneck.
• Own the patterns, tests, and tooling that make our AI-assisted engineering loop produce work we can stand behind.
• Talk to enterprise customers in the room, not just through PMs, including real time onsite with our districts.
• Bring a sharp point of view on AI, get ahead of the shift every software company is about to face, and leave your fingerprints on how we navigate it.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of senior engineering experience, including significant time working with enterprise software, and ideally experience working at a platform company (not just an internal app team).
• Fluency with API design, data modeling for operational systems, and the trade-off space between tight and loose coupling.
• Has shipped architectural migrations affecting many users without melting the customer base, and can describe the failure modes you avoided, not just the wins.
• Uses Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, or equivalent in real production work and can articulate what AI makes cheap and what requires heavy guidance.
• Has talked to enterprise customers in the room, not just through PMs, and holds substantive opinions on software design, architecture, and engineering.

Preferred

• Has published, talks or posts, not for the credential but as evidence of reflective practice.
• Prior experience with regulated industries, K-12, or public-sector procurement.

Benefits

• Healthcare coverage: 100% for employees, 35% for dependents.
• Uncapped PTO.
• Monthly productivity allowance (co-working space, coffee shop, working lunch).
• New hire stipend for remote office setup.
• Monthly wifi reimbursement.
• Annual personal office supply stipend.
• Skills development stipend (begins at 1-year anniversary).

How to Apply

Every application is personally reviewed by a member of our team. Include the following in your application:

• A 1-paragraph answer to: "What is an architectural or data model decision that you made or saw that created painful downstream issues later on?"
• A link to writing or code we can read (any format).
• Optional: an opinion on a software book or thinker you consider overrated or underrated.