Senior Backend Architect & Tech Lead - AWS, Microservices

Pearson; Topeka (KS); On-site; USD 125,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

Pearson is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to own end-to-end architecture and hands-on development of scalable backend systems in a cloud-native, AWS-based environment. This role emphasizes distributed, event-driven, and stream-processing architectures, with a focus on reliability, performance, and long-term maintainability across globally distributed teams.

You will mentor engineers, drive initiatives from discovery through production, and produce clear technical documentation, ensuring

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in Computer Science, Software Engineering, IT, or related discipline.
• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Experience as technical lead or senior engineer for complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong backend concepts: distributed systems, concurrency, scalability, fault tolerance, resiliency.
• Experience with modern languages such as Java, Kotlin, Scala, C#, Go, Rust, or TypeScript.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, design, implementation, testing, deployment, operationalization, and production support of complex software systems.
• Build scalable, reliable, secure backend services, distributed systems, event-driven applications, and streaming solutions.
• Own major engineering initiatives from discovery through delivery, production rollout, and ongoing support.
• Balance new features with modernization, technical debt reduction, reliability improvements, and maintenance.
• Mentor engineers and promote code quality, observability, and engineering best practices.

Skills

Backend engineering

Distributed systems

Event-driven

AWS Cloud

REST APIs

Automation testing

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Master’s degree a plus

Tools

AWS Lambda

API Gateway

DynamoDB

SQS/SNS

ECS/EKS

CloudWatch

Job description

Pearson is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to own end-to-end architecture and hands-on development of scalable backend systems in a cloud-native, AWS-based environment. This role emphasizes distributed, event-driven, and stream-processing architectures, with a focus on reliability, performance, and long-term maintainability across globally distributed teams.

You will mentor engineers, drive initiatives from discovery through production, and produce clear technical documentation, ensuring