Senior DevOps Engineer

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

Job summary

Vista Higher Learning, Inc. seeks a hands-on Senior DevOps Engineer to build reliable, secure, and scalable AWS infrastructure, shaping modern DevOps practices and partnering with development and security teams to embed security and compliance throughout the delivery lifecycle.

You will own automation, observability, CI/CD pipelines, incident response, and mentoring while elevating engineering standards across staging and production in a Boston-hybrid or remote Eastern US setup.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience in a related field.
• 10+ years in Engineering with 5+ years in DevOps.
• Experience with systems administration and enterprise networking.
• Expertise with DNS, firewalls, and AWS load balancers.
• AWS cloud infrastructure across staging and production.
• Proficiency with EC2, S3, Route53, and RDS.
• CI/CD design and maintenance at scale.
• Strong monitoring with Datadog.
• Linux administration and networking.
• Git integration in CI workflows.
• Automation scripting with Python, Bash, or Ruby.
• Terraform for infrastructure provisioning.
• Incident response leadership and RCA.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and improve scalable AWS infrastructure and automated DevOps solutions.
• Develop and maintain secure IaC and CI/CD pipelines for reliable delivery.
• Troubleshoot complex build, test, deployment, and prod issues; lead incident response and RCAs.
• Partner with SRE, security, and ops to strengthen monitoring, observability, and security practices.
• Mentor junior engineers and promote continuous improvement and technical excellence.

Skills

DevOps experience

System administration

Enterprise networking

DNS security

Firewall

AWS load balancers

AWS cloud architecture

AWS services (EC2, S3, Route53, RDS)

CI/CD pipelines

Datadog

Linux

Git in CI

Python/Bash/Ruby scripting

Terraform

Incident response

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Chef

Packer

GitHub Actions

Education

Associate or bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Datadog

Terraform

GitHub Actions

Chef

Packer

Job description

Description

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 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.

Role

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.

Required Skills

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.

We are passionate, innovative, lifelong learners, and creative thinkers working to develop culturally authentic language learning products for K-12 schools and universities. Our benefits package includes life/health/dental/vision insurance, 401(k), educational assistance, commuter pass subsidies, generous employee referral bonuses, PTO and paid holidays.

Vista Higher Learning is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, age, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, physical or mental disability, and/or protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by applicable law.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process due to a physical or mental disability, please send an email to: [email protected]

Links to OFCCP EEO POSTER & SUPPLEMENT

https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Link to the Vista Higher Learning Privacy Policy, including the California Consumer Privacy Notice

https://vistahigherlearning.com/privacy-policy

AI Use in the Application Process:

We support candidates balanced and thoughtful use of AI tools to support their job search. However, all application materials (including resumes, cover letters, portfolios, work-samples etc.) and interview responses must reflect the candidate authentic and actual experience, skills, and judgment. Real‑time use of AI during interviews is not permitted unless explicitly stated and authorized, in writing, by VHL’s HR department. Candidates may be asked to confirm that submitted work reflects their own abilities and to explain their responses in real time. Candidates requiring assistive technologies (including certain AI tools) as accommodations may request approval. Approved accommodations will not negatively impact evaluation. All hiring decisions are made by humans. Please see our complete “Candidate Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools – Policy Statement” here: https://vistahigherlearning.com/careers