Lead Backend Engineer

The College Board · United States · 2 wk ago

RemoteRemoteEngineering$168k–$183k/yrFull-time

About the role

This is a chance to have a direct hand in building the future of BigFuture, the most widely used college and career planning platform for students. As a Lead Engineer on this team, you are a leader, collaborator, and innovator.

Responsibilities

Define, document, and communicate the architecture and design patterns for the system or product area.
Work closely with product owners, architects, and stakeholders to uphold the highest engineering standards and translate big ideas into impactful, student-facing solutions.
Break down new product capabilities into actionable, verifiable technical changes that move quickly from concept to reality.
Create sharable documentation, both technical and non-technical.
Maintain clean code and strong engineering standards such that when prototypes are greenlit for further development, the project is easy to build upon.
Model discipline in adhering to development standards, security practices, and CI/CD principles while helping the team move fast without compromising quality.

Requirements

7+ years of professional experience designing, building, testing, and managing scalable web applications in AWS-hosted environments.
3+ years’ experience building back-end applications using Node(with TypeScript).
Experience with relational and NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redshift, DynamoDB).
Experience building observability for your products: Set up CloudWatch, X-Ray, for logging, metrics, and alerts.
Hands-on experience implementing Generative AI applications (e.g., RAG chatbots, model fine-tuning, or other LLM-powered tools).
Strong knowledge and hands-on experience with back-end technologies such as Node.js and/or Python.
Experience with asynchronous programming and event-driven messaging patterns.
Strong knowledge of AWS services (e.g., Lambda, SNS, SQS, S3, Step Functions, IAM, KMS, API Gateway, CloudWatch, DynamoDB).
Proven ability to mentor and coach less experienced teammates in new technologies.
Strong analytical thinking, structured problem-solving, and practical decision-making skills.
Effective communication and documentation skills.
Proficiency in reviewing and improving code structure and architecture for testability, maintainability, and scalability, with hands-on experience in JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Node.js, Next.js, APIs, and AWS Serverless technologies (Lambdas, DynamoDB, S3, CloudWatch, etc.).
Leadership in the end-to-end design and implementation of user interfaces, from architectural planning and component strategy through to polished execution, including accessibility, performance optimization, and mentoring peers on building intuitive, scalable, and user-centric front-end solutions.
Strong problem-solving skills, working collaboratively with team members to identify and resolve issues, and partnering with Product Owners to prioritize backlog.
Proven ability to pitch new ideas and implement improved systems and processes, delivering excellent results.
Effective communicator and team lead, able to provide actionable feedback, mentor team members, and participate in interviews to evaluate engineering talent.

Qualifications

You have a Bachelor's degree in computer science, or related engineering fields preferred.

All Roles At College Board Require:

A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work.
Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a willingness to experiment with and adopt new AI-driven solutions and a comfort learning and applying new digital tools independently and proactively.
Clear and concise communication skills, written and verbal.
A learner's mindset and a commitment to growth: welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving timely, respectful feedback, and continuously improving through iterative learning and user input.
A drive for impact and excellence: solving complex problems, making data-informed decisions, prioritizing what matters most, and continuously improving through learning, user input, and external benchmarking.
A collaborative and empathetic approach: working across differences, fostering trust, and contributing to a culture of shared success.

Skills

Generative AI applications (e.g., RAG chatbots, model fine-tuning, or other LLM-powered tools).
Back-end technologies such as Node.js and/or Python.
Asynchronous programming and event-driven messaging patterns.
AWS services (e.g., Lambda, SNS, SQS, S3, Step Functions, IAM, KMS, API Gateway, CloudWatch, DynamoDB).
Agile/Scrum environments.
Collaboration and mentoring.
Problem-solving and decision-making.
Communication and documentation.
Front-end technologies such as JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Node.js, Next.js, APIs, and AWS Serverless technologies (Lambdas, DynamoDB, S3, CloudWatch, etc.).
User interface design and implementation.

Benefits

At College Board, we offer more than just a paycheck—we provide a meaningful career, a supportive team, and a comprehensive package designed to help you thrive. We’re a self-sustaining nonprofit that believes in fair and competitive compensation, grounded in your qualifications, experience, impact, and the market.

Pay

Your exact salary will depend on your location, experience, and how your background compares to others in similar roles at the College Board. We aim to make our best offer upfront—rooted in fairness, transparency, and market data. We adjust salaries by location to ensure fairness, no matter where you live.

Schedule

This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days. While the hiring process may vary, it generally includes resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise such as live coding or whiteboarding sessions, a panel interview, a conversation with leadership and reference checks.