Senior Backend Engineer

The Senior Backend Engineer designs, builds, and maintains scalable, secure, and reliable backend systems and services that power learning solutions for Pansophic Learning. This role owns the technical design and delivery of backend services, APIs, and integrations, with a focus on performance, scalability, maintainability, and operational excellence. The Senior Backend Engineer provides technical guidance, contributes to architecture decisions, and drives continuous improvements in engineering practices.

This role reports directly to the Software Development Manager and works closely with Software Engineers, QA/Test Engineers, product teams, and other cross-functional partners. The ideal candidate is proactive, collaborative, and comfortable mentoring engineers, leading technical discussions, and balancing near-term delivery with long-term system quality.

This position will work 4 days per week in office in Tysons Corner, VA.

Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable, secure, and highly available backend services and APIs for K-12 learning environments
• Build and manage RESTful APIs using Node.js and Express
• Design and optimize relational and NoSQL data models, database queries, and indexing strategies
• Develop and maintain backend systems on Amazon Web Services (AWS), applying cloud architecture and security best practices
• Improve system performance, scalability, reliability, fault tolerance, and observability
• Apply code quality standards, peer code reviews, Git version control, and automated testing practices
• Troubleshoot production issues using logs, metrics, and monitoring, and implementing durable fixes
• Collaborate with front-end developers, QA engineers, and product teams to deliver end-to-end solutions
• Lead technical design discussions, contribute to architecture decisions, and address technical debt
• Improve deployment automation, infrastructure as code, and CI/CD workflows; mentor junior and mid-level engineers

Core Competencies:

• 5+ years of hands-on backend development experience with Node.js and Express
• Advanced proficiency in JavaScript and TypeScript
• Strong PostgreSQL and SQL skills, including schema design, indexing, and query optimization
• Strong MongoDB skills, including data modeling and performance optimization
• Experience with AWS services such as Lambda, ECS, DynamoDB, API Gateway, and CloudWatch
• Familiarity with AWS CDK or comparable infrastructure-as-code tools; experience with unit and integration testing

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 8+ years of overall professional software development experience, including substantial backend engineering experience
• Strong experience designing, building, and consuming RESTful APIs
• Deep understanding of backend architecture, distributed systems, scalability, and fault tolerance
• Experience with message queues, asynchronous processing, event-driven architecture, and backend design patterns
• Experience with Git, code reviews, and modern CI/CD practices
• Experience working in Unix/Linux environments
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to debug complex production systems
• Excellent communication, cross-functional collaboration, and technical mentoring skills
• Ability to pass federal and state criminal background checks (FBI/BCI)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Docker, Docker Compose, and container orchestration technologies such as Kubernetes
• Experience building microservices and high-availability distributed systems
• Experience with Redis or other caching technologies and application observability tools
• Experience implementing authentication, authorization, and API security best practices
• Ability to work independently, organize competing priorities, and collaborate effectively across teams

Additional Information:

Pansophic Learning is committed to building high-quality, scalable backend systems that support innovative education solutions. This role is ideal for an experienced backend engineer who thrives in a collaborative environment and is passionate about building robust, efficient systems.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

It is our policy to abide by all federal, state and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination based solely on a person’s race, color, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy, childbirth, physical disability, mental and/or intellectual disability, age, military status, veteran status (including protected veterans), marital status, registered domestic partner or civil union status, familial status, gender (including sex stereotyping and gender identity or expression), medical condition, genetic information, sexual orientation, or any other protected status except where a reasonable, bona fide occupational qualification exists.