Lead Software Engineer - Backend

Job Overview

Overview

Build the Future

At McGraw Hill, we are dedicated to delivering digital learning experiences that transform education for learners and educators. Our focus is on creating seamless, impactful products that truly benefit our users while supporting growth and collaboration across teams. We foster a culture that values innovation, teamwork, and a balance between career growth and personal well-being.

How can you make an impact?

We are a passionate, fast-growing team within McGraw Hill, a global education technology company that is transforming the way students learn and succeed. Our new product has scaled from Minimum Loveable Product to hundreds of thousands of users, has been featured on the App Store, and has paying customers in its first year of launch.

We are seeking a Lead Back End Engineer to architect and implement scalable, high-performance, and secure server-side solutions for our platform. In this role, you will define the technical direction of our back-end systems, collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver impactful solutions, and mentor a team of developers. This position requires deep technical expertise, strategic thinking, and leadership experience to drive innovation and excellence in back-end development.

What You'll Do:

• Architecture & Development: Design, develop, and maintain highly scalable, secure, and efficient back-end systems and APIs to support web and mobile applications.
• Collaboration: Partner with front-end engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders to deliver seamless and robust platform functionality.
• Leadership: Mentor and lead a team of back-end developers, providing guidance on technical challenges and fostering professional growth within the team.
• Code Quality: Ensure high-quality, maintainable code through rigorous reviews, automated testing, and adherence to industry best practices.
• Optimization: Continuously optimize server performance, database queries, and overall system scalability and reliability.
• Strategic Alignment: Define back-end engineering objectives that align with overall product and engineering strategies, ensuring long-term platform success.
• Monitoring & Incident Management: Implement and maintain observability tools to monitor system performance and resolve incidents, including off-hours support when needed.
• Continuous Improvement: Drive the adoption of modern tools, technologies, and methodologies to enhance development efficiency and team productivity.

What You Bring:

• Bachelor's degree in related field or equivalent experience preferred.
• Minimum of 7+ years of applicable experience.
• Expertise in server-side programming languages such as Python, Java, Node.js, Ruby, or Go.
• Proficiency in designing efficient GraphQL APIs & microservices for low latency and high availability systems.
• Deep understanding of database technologies, both relational (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) and non-relational (e.g., MongoDB, DynamoDB).
• Experience in cloud environments (e.g., AWS, GCP, or Azure) and infrastructure as code tools like Terraform or CloudFormation.
• Strong knowledge of system performance optimization, caching strategies, and distributed systems.
• Experience with observability tools like New Relic, Datadog, or equivalent for performance monitoring.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.

Preferred Experience & Skills:

• Strong understanding of web security best practices and OWASP guidelines.
• Experience with SRE practices, including CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and monitoring.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with product analytics and observability tools like: Datadog, NewRelic
• Experience with modern content management systems (CMS), including integrating and customizing CMS platforms for dynamic content delivery.

Why work for us?

The work you do at McGraw Hill will be work that matters. We are collectively designing content that will build the future of education. Play your part and experience a sense of fulfilment that will inspire you to even greater heights.

The pay range for this position is between $124,000- $180,000 annually, however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. An annual bonus plan may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical and/or other benefits, depending on the position offered. Click here to learn more about our benefit offerings.

McGraw Hill recruiters always use a “@mheducation.com” email address and/or from our Applicant Tracking System, iCIMS. Any variation of this email domain should be considered suspicious. Additionally, McGraw Hill recruiters and authorized representatives will never request sensitive information in email. 

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