Staff Engineer

Staff Engineer, Composer PlatformFinalsite is the most valued partner for K–12 schools to build trust, strengthen community, and grow enrollment. Ranked among the best EdTech Companies in America, Finalsite supports more than 7,000 schools and districts worldwide with an integrated platform for websites, communications, mobile apps, enrollment, and marketing services. Headquartered in Glastonbury, Connecticut, Finalsite is a global company with employees working remotely across nearly every U.S. state, as well as throughout Europe, South America, and Asia.We believe people do their best work when they feel supported, connected, and empowered to grow. That's why we invest in our employees through competitive benefits, professional development opportunities, and a collaborative culture built on partnership and purpose. Whether you're looking to expand your skills, take on new challenges, or make a meaningful impact in education, Finalsite offers the opportunity to grow your career while helping schools thrive.At Finalsite, every interaction matters — with our clients, with each other, and with the schools and families we serve. Join us and help shape stronger school communities around the world.SummaryThe Staff Engineer, Composer Platform will provide technical leadership for Finalsite's core CMS platform used by educational institutions nationwide. This role will lead architectural modernization efforts, improve platform scalability and observability, and drive long-term engineering strategy for a high-traffic, customer-facing application environment.The Staff Engineer will lead a critical modernization effort focused on decoupling the Composer platform from a legacy architecture, defining and executing a scalable long-term solution while maintaining platform stability. The role will also elevate engineering standards across the team by strengthening architecture practices, improving observability, and fostering a culture of proactive problem-solving, operational accountability, and technical excellence.Location100% Remote - Anywhere within the USResponsibilitiesDefine and lead technical strategy, architecture, and modernization initiatives for the Composer platformDrive decoupling and migration efforts from legacy application dependencies while maintaining platform stabilityImprove platform reliability, scalability, observability, and operational resilienceEstablish engineering standards related to instrumentation, monitoring, alerting, and system performanceLead architecture review practices and collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams on technical decisionsSupport distributed systems and containerized application environmentsProvide technical mentorship and guidance through code reviews, design feedback, and engineering best practicesUtilize AI-assisted development tools to support codebase navigation, modernization, and platform evolutionQualifications and SkillsBasic QualificationsAt least 12 years of experience as Staff Engineer or senior-level individual contributor supporting large-scale production platformsStrong experience with Ruby/Rails or comparable backend application frameworksExperience leading modernization, migration, or architectural decoupling initiativesStrong understanding of distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and application resiliency principlesExperience with observability tools, monitoring frameworks, and alerting strategiesExperience supporting containerized applications and scalable production environmentsStrong communication, technical leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skillsExperience using AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, Codex, or similar technologiesPreferred QualificationsExperience with JRuby or polyglot application environmentsFamiliarity with MongoDB or shared-database architecturesExperience supporting legacy web platform modernization initiativesExperience working within complex or multi-acquisition codebasesFamiliarity with Cloudflare Workers or edge-computing technologiesBackground supporting EdTech, SaaS, or multi-tenant platform environmentsResidency RequirementFinalsite offers 100% fully remote employment opportunities, however, these opportunities are limited to permanent residents of the United States. Current residency, as well as continued residency, within the United States is required to obtain (and retain) employment with Finalsite.DisclosuresFinalsite is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact Finalsite's People Operations Team. Finalsite is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Finalsite will ensure that persons with disabilities or special needs are provided a reasonable accommodation. Ensure your Finalsite job offer is legitimate and don't fall victim to fraud. Ask your recruiter for a phone call or other type of verbal communication and ensure all email correspondence is from a finalsite.com email address. For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at finalsite.com/jobs.