COMPANY OVERVIEW At Accelerate Learning, we’re dedicated to engaging and inspiring STEM education for PreK-12. Our mission is to spark curiosity in the STEM classroom with programs designed by experienced teachers and STEM experts. Supporting over 9 million students and 750,000 teachers, we constantly adapt to educators’ needs and customer feedback to promote powerful teaching strategies that shape the future of STEM learning. “For teachers, by teachers” is not a slogan—it’s a fact. Our award-winning product, STEMscopes, was incubated in the classroom and developed by over 200 teachers, science experts, and science professors. We’re scaling rapidly and investing in cutting-edge cloud technologies, AI, and modern software practices to bring STEM education into the future. Join us, and your work will directly shape how millions of students learn. POSITION SUMMARY As a Senior Software Engineer, you’ll drive the design, development, and evolution of backend services and internal tools. You’ll take ownership of complex systems, collaborating with architects, product managers, and cross-functional teams to deliver scalable and reliable solutions. This is a full-stack position where you’ll lead the implementation of event-driven architectures, AI-powered features, and advanced AWS services, while setting technical direction and mentoring other engineers. You’ll play a key role in shaping both backend and frontend capabilities to support business growth and innovation. Why Accelerate Learning? - Purpose-driven work: Every line of code supports teachers and inspires students. - Modern stack: Cloud-native, serverless, AI technologies. - Growth opportunities: Work alongside senior engineers and gain exposure to architectural decision-making. We are looking for team players who thrive in a collaborative agile environment and are eager to contribute to our mission of transforming STEM education. Location: Onsite two days a week, if you live within a 45-mile radius of the Houston headquarters. Remote for those outside of the Houston metropolitan area. POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES Key responsibilities include: - Assist in leading the design, architecture, and delivery of scalable applications for online digital STEM learning. - Define and implement services and APIs with TypeScript/Node.js, Fastify, and React, guiding technical decisions and patterns. - Drive React frontend development and ensure seamless integration with complex EdTech ecosystems. - Shape and optimize service-to-service communication strategies, advancing event-driven architecture. - Establish and enforce best practices for authentication, authorization, and application security (JWT, API keys, personal access tokens). - Champion high standards for audit logging, error handling, testing, and observability across applications. - Set expectations for GitHub workflows (version control, pull requests, code reviews) and Jira agile processes, mentoring teammates in their effective use. - Architect solutions leveraging AWS services (Lambda, DynamoDB, RDS, etc.) to meet performance and scalability demands. - Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and QA leadership to influence roadmaps and deliver features that make a meaningful impact for educators and learners. - Mentor and support junior and mid-level engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and collaboration. POSITION QUALIFICATIONS - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience. Advanced degree is a plus. - 6–8+ years of professional software development experience, with a track record of delivering complex systems. - Deep expertise with TypeScript/Node.js (backend) and React (frontend), including setting standards and mentoring others in their use. - Strong experience designing and scaling APIs, implementing secure authentication, and optimizing service-to-service communication. - Proven experience architecting and deploying solutions with AWS services at scale (Lambda, DynamoDB, RDS, etc.). - Advanced understanding of testing practices (e.g., Playwright, Jest) and CI/CD pipelines, with the ability to improve testing frameworks and release processes. - Strong problem-solving and architectural design skills, with the ability to anticipate challenges and drive long-term solutions. - Excellent communicator with experience collaborating across engineering, product, and business stakeholders. - Bonus: Leadership in areas such as Fastify, Zod, OpenTelemetry, GraphQL, gRPC, serverless-first architectures, or integrating AI/ML features into production systems.