Staff Software Engineer

At PowerSchool, we are a dedicated team of innovators guided by our shared purpose of powering personalized education for students around the world. From the central office to the classroom to the home, PowerSchool supports the entire educational ecosystem as the global leader of cloud-based software for K-12 education. Our employees make it all possible, and a career with us means you’re joining a successful team committed to engaging, empowering, and improving the K-12 education experience everywhere.

Team Overview

Join PowerSchool's Application Development team as a Team Lead for our Product Customizations Support & Maintenance division. In this key technical leadership role, you'll serve as the functional lead for a team of engineers responsible for maintaining, enhancing, and supporting custom-built solutions that extend PowerSchool's core K-12 ecosystem. You'll act as the primary coordinator for task assignment, technical guidance, and escalation support while reporting to the team manager. This role combines hands-on technical expertise with functional leadership, requiring someone who can organize work streams, mentor peers, and directly handle complex support escalations from our Technical Support team.

Description

Functional Team Leadership:

• Serve as the technical point person for a team of engineers focused on product customization maintenance and support
• Organize, assign, and delegate daily tasks and project work across team members
• Coordinate sprint activities, stand-ups, and technical discussions
• Act as liaison between the team and management, providing status updates and identifying blockers
• Facilitate knowledge sharing sessions and technical mentoring within the team

Technical Excellence & Hands-On Development:

• Actively contribute to maintenance and enhancement of existing product customizations using TypeScript, Node.js, and React
• Lead by example in code quality through reviews, testing standards, and architectural best practices
• Drive technical debt reduction initiatives and guide system optimization efforts
• Implement and maintain monitoring strategies for proactive issue identification
• Ensure adherence to security standards and compliance with data protection policies and HIPAA guidelines

Customer Support & Escalation Management:

• Serve as the primary technical escalation point for complex support cases from our Technical Support team
• Analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve customer-reported issues in production environments
• Develop and implement solutions for critical customer-impacting problems
• Communicate technical solutions and status updates to internal stakeholders
• Create and maintain support documentation and troubleshooting guides

Process Coordination & Technical Planning:

• Organize work priorities and coordinate task distribution based on team capacity and urgency
• Participate in technical architecture discussions affecting customization capabilities
• Help establish and implement best practices for customization development and support processes
• Assist in planning and estimating work for customization platform improvements

Required Qualifications:

Technical Leadership Experience:

• At least 2-3 years of experience in a senior/lead developer role with task coordination responsibilities
• Proven ability to guide and mentor other engineers in technical problem-solving
• Experience organizing work streams and coordinating team activities
• 4+ years of production experience with TypeScript, JavaScript, and React
• Strong understanding of the software development lifecycle and engineering best practices
• Deep knowledge of engineering principles, design patterns, algorithms, and systems architecture
• Proficiency with HTTP protocols, REST APIs, and database technologies
• Experience with production troubleshooting, debugging, and performance optimization
• 2+ years of experience handling technical customer support or escalations
• Demonstrated ability to communicate technical issues clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience with support ticketing systems and incident management processes
• Strong problem-solving skills with ability to work effectively during critical incidents
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams
• Experience coordinating work with minimal supervision
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent work experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools (AWS CloudWatch, CloudTrail, etc.)
• Knowledge of various database systems (MongoDB, DynamoDB, OracleDB)
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, particularly GitLab
• Understanding of Infrastructure as Code (AWS CDK, Terraform)
• Experience with containerization and microservices architecture
• Strong background in Agile/Scrum methodologies and tools (Jira, Confluence)
• Experience with test-driven development and automated testing frameworks
• Familiarity with ITIL or similar service management frameworks
• Previous experience in Education Technology (EdTech) sector
• Understanding of K-12 educational workflows and requirements
• Experience with compliance requirements in educational or healthcare environments
• Experience with technical project coordination and task management
• Background in technical mentoring and knowledge transfer

Compensation & Benefits

PowerSchool offers the following benefits:

• Comprehensive Insurance Coverage (including Medical, Dental, Vision, Pharmacy benefits, Life Insurance and AD&D)
• Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts
• Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability
• Comprehensive 401(k) plan
• Generous Parental Leave
• Unrestricted paid time off (known as Discretionary Time Off - DTO)
• Wellness Program, including ClassPass & Employee Assistance Program
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Optional Benefits: Pet Insurance, Identity Theft Protection, Student Debt Repayment Program and Prepaid Legal coverage

A reasonable estimate of the base compensation range for this position is $89,200 - $163,700 USD. This compensation range is specific to the United States and it incorporates many factors including but not limited to an applicant's skills and prior relevant experience and training; licensures, degrees, and certifications; specific geographic location; internal equity; internal pay ranges; and market data/range parameters.

EEO Commitment

PowerSchool is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. PowerSchool is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. Our inclusive culture empowers PowerSchoolers to deliver the best results for our customers. We not only celebrate the diversity of our workforce, we celebrate the diverse ways we work. If you have a disability and need an accommodation regarding our recruiting process, please let us know by emailing accommodations@powerschool.com.

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