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.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience
- 10+ years of overall software development experience
- 5+ years of professional experience with Node.js and Express
- Expert-level proficiency in JavaScript and TypeScript
- Experience building and consuming RESTful APIs
- Strong understanding of backend architecture and distributed systems
- Strong SQL skills, preferably PostgreSQL
- Experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB or DynamoDB
- Experience with AWS services including Lambda, ECS, EC2, RDS, S3, DynamoDB, and API Gateway
- Experience with message queue technologies and backend design patterns
- Experience with Git version control and modern branching strategies
- Experience working in Unix/Linux environments
- Strong problem-solving and complex debugging skills
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills
- Ability to pass federal and state criminal background checks, including FBI/BCI checks
- Experience with Docker and Docker Compose
- Familiarity with AWS CDK
- Experience building microservices or distributed systems
- Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment
- Strong organizational and time management skills
- Ability to collaborate across teams and handle multiple priorities
What We Do
Pansophic Learning is an education company that strives to provide students and educators exceptional learning solutions that enable them to maximize their success academically and in life, regardless of geographic, financial, or demographic circumstance. These learning solutions include high quality content, technology, teaching and exceptional schools. We currently have several operating businesses that are located in the United States, Switzerland, and the Middle East. These businesses include online schools, brick and mortar schools, blended schools. Our Capital Education business partners with colleges to help them implement blended learning or online learning in a traditional college environment. Pansophic Learning was founded to accelerate the proliferation of high quality solutions for education not only in the U.S. but also globally. With this new company, we hope to address the following goals: Expand technology based learning globally to generate better outcomes and more efficient educational models. Optimize the intersection of blended learning and technology based learning to maximize the learning efficiency ratio and generate high quality student outcomes Utilize technology to expand access, improve the quality of outcomes and lower the cost of education Expand technology into other educational markets where it can significantly improve the efficiency or effectiveness of learning Acquire or invest in companies or technologies that have the potential to improve learning outcomes that can benefit from our expertise, experience and networks
