Senior Back End Software Engineer, Platform Infrastructure

About Us:

Trusted and loved by 25 million educators, students, and families worldwide, Seesaw is the only elementary learning experience platform, offering a suite of award-winning tools, resources, and curriculum for teachers to deliver joyful, inclusive instruction.  Through interactive lessons, digital portfolios, and two-way communication features, Seesaw keeps everyone in the learning loop by providing continuous visibility into the student's learning experience to support and celebrate their learning.

Our Mission:

Seesaw’s mission is to provide every elementary student with joyful and connected learning experiences that lay the foundation for success in life.

Your Team:

This Senior Software Engineer will join our Core Platform team, a back-end team functioning as the backbone of our organization, dedicated to crafting and maintaining the fundamental infrastructure and service libraries that drive Seesaw's success. By constructing the foundational layers upon which all other product teams build, they empower rapid and scalable development of exceptional user experiences. Additionally, the Core Platform team assumes ownership of critical operational aspects, including security, reliability, and cost-effectiveness to ensure the seamless operation of Seesaw's platform and cloud infrastructure. This is a force multiplier team with a wide breadth of exposure, and contributes directly to the success of the organization.

Solving impactful problems on Seesaw’s Engineering team feels different from any other place. First, we are given lots of ownership over the product roadmap early on, collaborating on how and when things will be built from the start. Second, we have a strong connection to the user, listening to teacher feedback and observing how students and families interact with the platform in real life to iterate over our releases. And third, we enjoy ample autonomy to experiment and grow, and often see our ideas pushed to production in weeks, not months.

Globally, millions of children rely on Seesaw every day. That fact is inspiring, and at times, daunting. While we derive a deep sense of purpose from being able to improve students’ learning, it also means we’re emotionally invested in both the successes and failures. So when a child can’t log into their account or something on the platform breaks, we feel it. 

Like the rest of the company, our team is growing fast. Keeping up with the pace of growth can be challenging, and we need your flexibility as we define and refine what we need to be. We often learn by shipping, so you won’t find an obsession with rigid processes here. As the Engineering team ramps up hiring, we’re committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); constantly surveying employees, participating in training, and learning from our DEI Committee.

Though we care deeply and work diligently, there’s no extra credit for working long nights or spending weekends squashing bugs. When we’re off, we’re really off, enjoying our personal lives and recharging our batteries.

At the end of the day, we delight in how much our users adore our product. It’s incredibly fulfilling to read thank you tweets from teachers and know that, hey, we built something that makes a meaningful impact! And while we saw massive growth during the pandemic, we’ve still got a lot more growing to do. Joining our team now means you’ll get to help us take on new markets and innovate the next features that make the learning experience even better. 

Your Role:.

Seesaw is seeking an experienced senior back-end, infrastructure-focused Software Engineer to join our Core Platform Engineering team. In this pivotal role, you will take ownership of large-scale projects that underpin our entire platform. You will drive the strategic direction for our core infrastructure, collaborating with other senior engineers and cross-functional teams to ensure our globally distributed systems are robust, scalable, and secure. Your expertise will shape the foundational layers that empower our diverse product teams to deliver outstanding user experiences at scale. If you have a track record of leading complex projects and a passion for optimizing high-performance infrastructure, we encourage you to contribute to our dynamic team at Seesaw.

Your Responsibilities:

• Spearhead the design, development, and implementation of critical infrastructure components, ensuring they meet high standards for scalability, security, and performance
• Partner with senior team members, product managers, and other key stakeholders to drive strategic initiatives and align infrastructure development with business objectives.
• Create scalable and efficient back-end systems that enable rapid development of user-centric features
• Ensure the security and reliability of Seesaw's platform, proactively identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities and performance bottlenecks.
• Lead the planning and execution of globally-distributed infrastructure, driving initiatives for infrastructure regionalization to support our international growth and ensure optimal performance across diverse regions
• Optimize cloud infrastructure for cost-effectiveness, leveraging best practices in resource management
• Lead the development of cutting-edge solutions that enable rapid and efficient delivery of features, improving the overall user experience for students, teachers, families, and school administrators
• Utilize your back-end development expertise for our platform (Python, DynamoDB, ElasticSearch) to drive technical excellence and innovation in our platform
• Help develop a strong technical roadmap and engineering culture through design proposals, industry engagement, and more

Your Requirements:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field
• 8+ years of experience in a back-end/infrastructure Software Engineering role
• Strong proficiency in Python, AWS (or another Cloud provider) 
• Strong Computer Science fundamentals - a bachelor's degree in CS or equivalent experience
• Direct experience designing, developing, and maintaining software at scale. The best candidates will have shipped web applications to millions of users, and will be able to talk about the architecture that supports that scale.
• Comfort working within complex systems and ability to write readable, maintainable self-documenting or well-documented code to solve complex problems with simple, elegant solutions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Bonus credit: Experience working in AppSec and/or InfraSec space, and infra-as-code development experience

Compensation & Benefits:

Our salary ranges are based on paying competitively for our size and industry. Salary is just one part of our total compensation package that includes equity, perks & benefits, and development opportunities at Seesaw. Individual pay decisions are based on several factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, geography, and balancing internal equity relative to other Seesawers. It is our expectation that the majority of candidates who are offered roles at Seesaw will land well within our salary ranges based on these factors.

The annual base salary range for this position is: $160,000 - $185,000 + RSUs

This is an exempt position.

Benefits include: Medical/Dental + Orthodontics/Vision Coverage, 401k Match, Flexible Paid Time Off, Mindfulness First Fridays, Monthly Technology Stipend, Home Office Setup Stipend, Professional Development Stipend, Paid Parental Leave, Charitable Donation Matching, Volunteer Days.

Seesaw cares about building a diverse and inclusive team to better advocate for the needs of our incredibly diverse K-12 users.

We prioritize work-life balance and actually walk the walk — we care a lot about our work, but care more about our employee's well-being. We encourage everyone to work at a sustainable pace and have a flexible vacation policy that people actually use.

Seesaw provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religious creed, color, sex, sex stereotype, gender, gender identity/gender expression/transgender, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information/characteristics, marital status/registered domestic partner status, age, sexual orientation, or military or veteran status. In addition to federal law requirements, Seesaw complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Seesaw is committed to protecting your personal data. Learn more about the personal information we collect, how we use it, and how to exercise your rights here: U.S. Privacy Notice.

Our company participates in E-Verify.