Senior DevOps Engineer

Vista Higher Learning; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Vista Higher Learning in Boston is seeking a Senior DevOps Engineer to build scalable, secure AWS infrastructure and automate delivery pipelines.

You will partner with development and security teams to strengthen observability, implement IaC with Terraform, and drive incident response and reliability improvements.

Hybrid or remote in Eastern US, with a Tuesday/Thursday in-office cadence; relocation not offered.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering experience with 5+ years in a DevOps role
• Experience in systems administration and enterprise networking
• AWS-focused architecture across staging and production
• Proficiency deploying and operating EC2, S3, Route53, RDS
• Design and maintenance of robust CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with monitoring tools such as Datadog
• Linux systems administration and networking
• Scripting with Python, Bash, or Ruby to automate DevOps tasks
• Terraform for infrastructure provisioning
• Leading incident response and root-cause analysis

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and improve scalable AWS infrastructure and DevOps solutions
• Develop and maintain secure, reusable Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD pipelines
• Troubleshoot complex build, test, deployment, and production issues
• Lead incident response, root cause analysis, and reliability improvements
• Strengthen monitoring, alerting, observability, and security practices
• Mentor junior engineers and promote technical excellence

Skills

DevOps experience

AWS

Linux administration

Python scripting

Terraform

Datadog monitoring

CI/CD pipelines

Incident response

Education

Associate degree

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Terraform

GitHub Actions

Chef

Packer

Datadog

Job description

WHO ARE YOU?

You are a hands-on Senior DevOps Engineer who enjoys building reliable, secure, and scalable systems. You bring strong AWS experience, a practical approach to automation and observability, and the ownership to troubleshoot complex issues, reduce risk, and collaborate across engineering, security, and operations teams.

WHO ARE WE?

We are passionate, innovative, lifelong learners, and creative thinkers working to develop culturally authentic language learning products for K-12 schools and universities.

WHAT IS THE ROLE ABOUT?

As our Senior DevOps Engineer, you will play a key role in building reliable, secure, and scalable AWS infrastructure that supports VHL’s products and teams. You will help shape modern DevOps practices, introduce tools that make development and operations easier, improve observability, and partner closely with development and security teams to keep security embedded throughout the delivery lifecycle and support important compliance goals.

IN THIS ROLE YOU WILL:

• Design, build, and improve scalable AWS infrastructure and automated DevOps solutions in partnership with senior engineers and the Director of DevOps.
• Develop and maintain secure, reusable Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD pipelines that support reliable software delivery across applications and environments.
• Troubleshoot complex build, test, deployment, and production issues; lead incident response, root cause analysis, and long-term reliability improvements.
• Partner with SRE, engineering, security, and operations teams to strengthen monitoring, alerting, observability, security practices, and stakeholder communication.
• Contribute to infrastructure strategy, evaluate new tools and technologies, mentor junior engineers, and promote continuous improvement and technical excellence.

YOU MUST HAVE (MINIMUM REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE):

• High school diploma or GED minimum along with relevant/required work experience
• 10+ years of experience in Engineering with 5+ years working in a DevOps role
• Experience and solid knowledge of the following Systems Administration and Network Configuration:
• Leading system administration and enterprise networking efforts, including server provisioning, user and permission management, and troubleshooting hybrid environments.
• Secure DNS, firewall configuration, and AWS load balancer technologies (e.g., ALB/NLB) to support scalable, high-availability systems.
• Architecting and managing cloud infrastructure across staging and production environments, with a particular focus on AWS.
• Deploying and operating core AWS services including EC2, S3, Route53, and RDS for modern web applications.
• Design, implementation, and maintenance of robust CI/CD pipelines that support reliable, automated software delivery at scale.
• Monitoring tools such as Datadog
• Linux systems administration and networking
• Integrating Git into CI workflows to ensure consistency and traceability throughout the development lifecycle.
• Developing automation scripts and internal tools using Python, Bash, or Ruby to streamline DevOps processes, reduce operational overhead, and improve system consistency.
• Using infrastructure provisioning tool Terraform to automate infrastructure management and configuration.
• Leading incident response for critical systems, driving rapid resolution and detailed root cause analysis.

IDEAL IF YOU HAVE (PREFERRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE):

• Associate or bachelor’s degree with focus in Computer Science or similar very strongly preferred
• Experience working in the publishing, ed-tech, language learning or similar industry
• Experience with relational databases (such as PostgreSQL and MySQL), Chef, Packer and GitHub Actions are a plus

LOCATION:

Boston-Hybrid or Remote - Eastern US Time Zone

Position requires current residence within the United States of America and within the eastern time zone. Ideal candidates will be located within commutable proximity to our Boston, MA office location and be willing to work a Tuesday and Thursday (2-day minimum) Hybrid schedule. Relocation assistance is not available.

SALARY:

$140k-$160k annual base salary range

This position is salaried and is eligible for an annual incentive based on employee and organizational performance.