Staff Engineer, Communications Platform

Finalsite; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Finalsite is seeking a Staff Engineer to provide technical leadership for our high-scale communications platform, focused on emergency alerts and parent communications. You will champion platform modernization, observability improvements, and a long-term architectural strategy across a multi-cloud environment.

The role requires guiding a mission-critical, evolving legacy system toward higher reliability, while driving a modernization effort, validating future-state migration, and ensuring

Qualifications

• At least 12 years of experience as a Staff Engineer or senior-level IC for high-scale messaging or communications platforms.
• Strong Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, and distributed systems operations background.
• Experience leading modernization or migration initiatives for production systems.
• Proficiency with observability tools, monitoring frameworks, and incident response practices.
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) methodologies and cloud-native technologies.
• Strong Python development and operational experience.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code or Codex.
• Excellent communication, technical leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical strategy, modernization planning, and operational reliability for the communications platform.
• Define scalable architecture, migration, and infrastructure improvement initiatives.
• Improve observability with monitoring, alerting, dashboards, and SLOs.
• Support production operations across Kubernetes, multi-cloud environments.
• Establish architecture review standards and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Provide technical leadership during incidents and post-incident reviews.
• Promote IaC and best practices across engineering.
• Leverage AI-assisted development tools to evolve the codebase.

Skills

Kubernetes

Cloud infrastructure

Distributed systems

Modernization leadership

Observability

IaC

Python

AI-assisted development

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Tools

AWS

SQS/Lambda

DynamoDB

KEDA

CI/CD tooling

Claude/Codex

Job description

WHO WE ARE

Finalsite is the most valued partner for K-12 schools to build trust, strengthen community, and grow enrollment. Ranked among the best EdTech Companies in America, Finalsite supports more than 7,000 schools and districts worldwide with an integrated platform for websites, communications, mobile apps, enrollment, and marketing services.

Headquartered in Glastonbury, Connecticut, Finalsite is a global company with employees working remotely across nearly every U.S. state, as well as throughout Europe, South America, and Asia.

We believe people do their best work when they feel supported, connected, and empowered to grow. That's why we invest in our employees through competitive benefits, professional development opportunities, and a collaborative culture built on partnership and purpose. Whether you're looking to expand your skills, take on new challenges, or make a meaningful impact in education, Finalsite offers the opportunity to grow your career while helping schools thrive.

At Finalsite, every interaction matters - with our clients, with each other, and with the schools and families we serve. Join us and help shape stronger school communities around the world

SUMMARY

The Staff Engineer, Communications Platform will provide technical leadership for Finalsite's high-scale communications infrastructure supporting emergency alerts, district notifications, and parent communications. This role will lead platform modernization, reliability improvements, observability initiatives, and long-term architectural strategy across a multi-cloud environment.

The Staff Engineer will inherit a mission-critical platform that is functional but fragile - a legacy messaging core operating across a fragmented multi-cloud environment with limited visibility into emerging issues before they impact customers. Initial priorities include strengthening observability, improving operational discipline, and increasing platform reliability.

In parallel, the Staff Engineer will lead a modernization initiative that previous efforts were unable to complete. Responsibilities include evaluating existing architectural work, defining the future-state migration strategy, and driving execution through completion while maintaining platform stability and performance.

The role will also serve as a key driver of engineering excellence by establishing stronger architecture practices, improving cross-functional coordination, and ensuring technical decisions are made proactively, strategically, and with long-term scalability in mind.

LOCATION

100% Remote - Anywhere within the US

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead technical strategy, modernization planning, and operational reliability for the communications platform

• Define and implement scalable architecture, migration, and infrastructure improvement initiatives

• Improve observability through monitoring, alerting, dashboards, SLOs, and incident management practices

• Support production operations across Kubernetes, queue-driven systems, and multi-cloud environments

• Establish architecture review standards and collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams

• Provide technical leadership during incidents, root cause analysis, and operational reviews

• Promote Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and operational best practices across the engineering organization

• Utilize AI-assisted development tools to support codebase navigation and platform evolution

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• At least 12 years of experience as a Staff Engineer or senior-level individual contributor supporting high-scale communications or messaging platforms

• Strong background in Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, and distributed systems operations

• Experience leading modernization or migration initiatives for production systems

• Proficiency with observability tools, monitoring frameworks, and incident response practices

• Experience working with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) methodologies and cloud-native technologies

• Strong Python development and operational experience

• Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, Codex, or similar technologies

• Strong communication, technical leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skills

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience supporting C/C++ production systems

• Familiarity with messaging and notification infrastructure, including email or SMS delivery systems

• Experience with AWS-native messaging technologies such as SQS, Lambda, DynamoDB, or KEDA

• Prior experience supporting large-scale modernization or migration initiatives

• Background supporting EdTech, SaaS, or other highly available customer-facing platforms

RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT

Finalsite 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.

DISCLOSURES

Finalsite is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact Finalsite's People Operations Team. Finalsite is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Finalsite will ensure that persons with disabilities or special needs are provided a reasonable accommodation.