Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Role Description

We’re looking for a Sr Software Engineer, Backend to join our growing product and engineering team. This is a hands-on role where you’ll design, build, and scale the systems that power student–university interactions. You’ll own critical APIs and services that enable real-time data, automation, and integrations — and you’ll have the chance to shape product direction at a foundational stage. This role is perfect for someone who thrives in fast-moving, high-growth environments, loves architecting elegant solutions to complex problems, and wants to see their work make an impact on the future of higher education.

What You’ll Own

• Core Backend Development
  • Architect, build, and maintain scalable backend services, APIs, and system integrations.
  • Drive improvements in reliability, performance, and security across distributed systems.
  • Automate onboarding and workflows by building ingestion jobs and database-driven configurations.
• Collaboration & Cross-Functional Impact
  • Partner with product, frontend, and data teams to design and deliver impactful features.
  • Work closely with Solutions Engineering and Customer Success to ensure seamless school deployments.
  • Contribute to system design discussions, technical decision-making, and mentorship within the team.
• Continuous Improvement
  • Champion best practices in testing, code quality, and CI/CD automation.
  • Proactively identify bottlenecks and scale systems to handle high-volume data and transactions.
  • Stay ahead of emerging frameworks, cloud technologies, and AI-driven tools to keep us innovative.

Qualifications

• You bring 5+ years of backend engineering experience — ideally in SaaS, EdTech, or high-growth startup environments.
• You’re strong in Node.js (our core), but fluent enough to learn and adapt — whether that’s TypeScript/Express, Python/FastAPI, or other modern stacks.
• You’ve built and scaled RESTful APIs (GraphQL a bonus) and know how to keep them clean, secure, and fast.
• You’ve worked across databases (Postgres, Redis, or NoSQL) and can design for scale, reliability, and performance.
• You’re comfortable in cloud-native environments (GCP preferred; AWS/Azure fine too) and can navigate Kubernetes, Docker, and Terraform without blinking.
• You care about automation and pipelines — cutting manual steps by building config-driven systems, ETL, and ingestion workflows.
• You build with a security-first mindset — you know your way around OAuth2/OIDC, role- and policy-based auth, and compliance frameworks (SOC2, FERPA).
• You’ve touched CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and observability tools (Datadog, OpenTelemetry, Sentry) — and you know they’re not “nice to have,” they’re table stakes.
• You thrive on architecting distributed systems and microservices that balance complexity with simplicity.
• Bonus points if you’ve played with AI/ML integration (OpenAI, Hugging Face, vector search like FAISS/pgvector) or have a knack for developer productivity hacks using AI tools.
• You’re a self-starter who thrives in fast-moving, ambiguous environments, and you love the challenge of building 0→1.
• You’re a collaborator at heart — sharing knowledge, giving feedback, and celebrating wins with the team.

Benefits

• We’re solving a high-stakes, high-impact problem — helping institutions remove friction and students unlock brighter futures.
• You’ll have real ownership in a high-velocity, early-stage environment with direct influence across the company.
• You’ll help shape the future of a category-defining company, working alongside smart, ambitious, mission-first operators.
• You’ll do the most meaningful work of your career, leaving a lasting legacy in how higher education serves students.