Senior Principal Software Engineer

At StraighterLine we are on a mission to help students succeed!

About Us

StraighterLine is the leading provider of high-quality, affordable, online courses that help learners earn college credit and meet their professional goals. Each year, 150,000 learners take one of StraighterLine’s 215 courses to upskill into new careers or earn credit from over 2,000 colleges and universities worldwide. StraighterLine works with institutions and corporate partners to provide their students and employees with flexible education options that allow them to work and learn at their own pace. Visit www.straighterline.com for more information.

As our Sr. Principal Software Engineer, you will be a member of our software leadership team.  As such, you will be responsible for technical design of product solutions, management of our offshore development teams, and delivery of efficient and viable code as necessary. Your day to day responsibilities are outlined as follows. 

Technical Design (40%): 

Own and manage the technical design for the product which means you will: 

Lead technical discussions and decision-making processes to establish best practices and design principles;

Lead and assist with delivery of technical discovery, prototypes and proofs-of-concept;

Understand and approve technical architecture decisions for the product;

Work with the Product Owner and Business Analyst to plan roadmaps and translate these into actionable backlogs and deliverable milestones; and

Collaborate with other technical owners on related products to align technical solutions and architecture; 

Management of Offshore Development Teams (40%): 

You will be responsible for managing the development work and delivery output for a distributed engineering team based in two different countries.  We are counting on you to:

Foster an engineering culture focused on rapid delivery with confidence while ensuring quality through code reviews, collaboration with QA engineers, and mentoring of junior team members; 

Drive the development effort for end-to-end, on-time delivery of high-quality solutions that meet feature requirements and fulfill team commitments as well as assessing and managing the technical risks throughout the development lifecycle;

Support backlog grooming activities by providing clarity to the development team as they review and update individual stories;

Measure and report on metrics to demonstrate the product development team’s delivery, quality and efficiency; and

Proactively evaluate the development teams’ current approaches, workflows, and technologies, and present improvements to offshore leadership that can enhance the development process. 

Software Development (20%): 

You will serve as an additional development resource when there is downtime on the part of the offshore teams to include: 

Investigation and troubleshooting of unexpected product behavior in the production environment

Implementation and delivery of solutions to high-priority issues impacting customers in the production environment

Implementation of complex or mission-critical functionality that supports the team to deliver milestones on time and on budget

• Passionate about StraighterLine’s mission and vision.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience.  
• 8+ years of experience in software engineering roles, including as a technical lead or senior developer, with demonstrated leadership experience within a Scrum team.  
• Expert knowledge of modern web application architectures and technologies.  
• Development experience with AWS in a serverless environment.  
• Experience with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and related tools.  
• Proficient in React, Next.js, Node.js, and related technologies.  
• Desirable secondary skills include PHP, .NET, MySQL, and NoSQL.  
• Experience with BigCommerce, Stripe, or Moodle is a plus but not required.  
• Experience working with remote, distributed teams.  
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively within a team and across product development teams.  
• Proven ability to communicate and collaborate with stakeholders across the organization to understand business needs and expectations.  
• Strong written and oral communication skills.  

Location

Although the role is remote, we are limited to states and locations where we do business. You must reside in one of these locations: DC, MD, VA, GA, AL, FL, IL, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, NC, NJ, NY, PA, SC, TN, WI.

Working at StraighterLine

StraighterLine team members work every day knowing that they are helping learners on their path to employability and career success. We're an inclusive team that fosters collaboration, that trusts and communicates openly. Like our students, we are lifelong learners and strive for excellence in our work. We are committed to bringing innovative solutions to the field - your ideas will never go unheard. And, best of all, we love to celebrate each other's contributions and wins.

We also know how important a life outside of work is, and the support that employers can contribute.

Our Benefits:

Generous time off policies, 13 public holidays.

Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance Coverage (*one option full funded by StraighterLine) 

401K Safe Harbor: StraighterLine contributes 3% of your total salary whether you contribute or not

Six weeks paid parental leave

Free StraighterLine courses for you and your family members

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.