{"id":4103866,"url":"https://alion.io/job/pansophic-learning-senior-backend-engineer-2","title":"Senior Backend Engineer","company":{"id":684485,"name":"Pansophic Learning","domain":"pansophiclearning.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/pansophiclearning","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":null},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Tysons, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Amazon CloudWatch","optional":false},{"name":"Amazon ECS","optional":false},{"name":"API Gateway","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"AWS CDK","optional":false},{"name":"AWS Lambda","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"DynamoDB","optional":false},{"name":"Git","optional":false},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Node JS","optional":false},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":false},{"name":"Rest API","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":false},{"name":"Unix","optional":false},{"name":"Docker","optional":true},{"name":"Docker Compose","optional":true},{"name":"Kubernetes","optional":true},{"name":"Redis","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-11T16:14:10Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-11","last_verified_at":"2026-11-11T22:14:04Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"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.\nThis 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.\nThis position will work 4 days per week in office in Tysons Corner, VA.\nResponsibilities:\nDesign, develop, and maintain scalable, secure, and highly available backend services and APIs for K-12 learning environments\nBuild and manage RESTful APIs using Node.js and Express\nDesign and optimize relational and NoSQL data models, database queries, and indexing strategies\nDevelop and maintain backend systems on Amazon Web Services (AWS), applying cloud architecture and security best practices\nImprove system performance, scalability, reliability, fault tolerance, and observability\nApply code quality standards, peer code reviews, Git version control, and automated testing practices\nTroubleshoot production issues using logs, metrics, and monitoring, and implementing durable fixes\nCollaborate with front-end developers, QA engineers, and product teams to deliver end-to-end solutions\nLead technical design discussions, contribute to architecture decisions, and address technical debt\nImprove deployment automation, infrastructure as code, and CI/CD workflows; mentor junior and mid-level engineers\nCore Competencies:\n5+ years of hands-on backend development experience with Node.js and Express\nAdvanced proficiency in JavaScript and TypeScript\nStrong PostgreSQL and SQL skills, including schema design, indexing, and query optimization\nStrong MongoDB skills, including data modeling and performance optimization\nExperience with AWS services such as Lambda, ECS, DynamoDB, API Gateway, and CloudWatch\nFamiliarity with AWS CDK or comparable infrastructure-as-code tools; experience with unit and integration testing\nQualifications:\nBachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience)\n8+ years of overall professional software development experience, including substantial backend engineering experience\nStrong experience designing, building, and consuming RESTful APIs\nDeep understanding of backend architecture, distributed systems, scalability, and fault tolerance\nExperience with message queues, asynchronous processing, event-driven architecture, and backend design patterns\nExperience with Git, code reviews, and modern CI/CD practices\nExperience working in Unix/Linux environments\nStrong problem-solving skills and ability to debug complex production systems\nExcellent communication, cross-functional collaboration, and technical mentoring skills\nAbility to pass federal and state criminal background checks (FBI/BCI)\nPreferred Qualifications:\nExperience with Docker, Docker Compose, and container orchestration technologies such as Kubernetes\nExperience building microservices and high-availability distributed systems\nExperience with Redis or other caching technologies and application observability tools\nExperience implementing authentication, authorization, and API security best practices\nAbility to work independently, organize competing priorities, and collaborate effectively across teams\nAdditional Information:\nPansophic 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.\nEQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY\nIt 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.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4853,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Secondary Education","Primary Education"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-11T22:14:04Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":20,"reasons":["conf:1","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-11T23:59:14Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/pansophic-learning-senior-backend-engineer-2","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/pansophic-learning-senior-backend-engineer-2.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-11T23:59:14Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":47766,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-12T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":684485},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=684485"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fpansophic-learning-senior-backend-engineer-2"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fpansophic-learning-senior-backend-engineer-2"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fpansophic-learning-senior-backend-engineer-2"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/pansophic-learning-senior-backend-engineer-2\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fpansophic-learning-senior-backend-engineer-2"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":4103866}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"pansophiclearning.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":4103866},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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