Job Description
SUMMARYThe Staff Engineer, Composer Platform will provide technical leadership for Finalsite's core CMS platform used by educational institutions nationwide. This role will lead architectural modernization efforts, improve platform scalability and observability, and drive long-term engineering strategy for a high-traffic, customer-facing application environment.
The Staff Engineer will lead a critical modernization effort focused on decoupling the Composer platform from a legacy architecture, defining and executing a scalable long-term solution while maintaining platform stability. The role will also elevate engineering standards across the team by strengthening architecture practices, improving observability, and fostering a culture of proactive problem-solving, operational accountability, and technical excellence.
LOCATION100% Remote - Anywhere within the US
RESPONSIBILITIES- Define and lead technical strategy, architecture, and modernization initiatives for the Composer platform
- Drive decoupling and migration efforts from legacy application dependencies while maintaining platform stability
- Improve platform reliability, scalability, observability, and operational resilience
- Establish engineering standards related to instrumentation, monitoring, alerting, and system performance
- Lead architecture review practices and collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams on technical decisions
- Support distributed systems and containerized application environments
- Provide technical mentorship and guidance through code reviews, design feedback, and engineering best practices
- Utilize AI-assisted development tools to support codebase navigation, modernization, and platform evolution
QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLSBASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- At least 12 years of experience as Staff Engineer or senior-level individual contributor supporting large-scale production platforms
- Strong experience with Ruby/Rails or comparable backend application frameworks
- Experience leading modernization, migration, or architectural decoupling initiatives
- Strong understanding of distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and application resiliency principles
- Experience with observability tools, monitoring frameworks, and alerting strategies
- Experience supporting containerized applications and scalable production environments
- Strong communication, technical leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, Codex, or similar technologies
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with JRuby or polyglot application environments
- Familiarity with MongoDB or shared-database architectures
- Experience supporting legacy web platform modernization initiatives
- Experience working within complex or multi-acquisition codebases
- Familiarity with Cloudflare Workers or edge-computing technologies
- Background supporting EdTech, SaaS, or multi-tenant platform environments
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTFinalsite offers 100% fully remote employment opportunities, however, these opportunities are limited to permanent residents of the United States. Current residency, as well as continued residency, within the United States is required to obtain (and retain) employment with Finalsite.
