Senior Software Engineer

Description

About Magpie

At Magpie, we envision a world where every child, no matter their background, becomes a confident reader. Our nonprofit team combines research-backed instruction, joyful game design, and innovative technology to tackle America’s reading crisis head-on — with the goal of eradicating illiteracy through a digital-first, student-centered approach.

Role Summary

We’re seeking an experienced Full Stack - Senior Software Engineer to join our small, mission-driven Platform team. You’ll wear many hats, work across boundaries, and help us build a platform that scales impact—not just traffic.

In this role, you’ll design and build the core systems that power Magpie’s learning experiences, from scalable backend services to intuitive front-end interfaces and reliable data pipelines. You’ll help create experiences that meet every child where they are in their learning journey, while unlocking actionable insights for educators and families.

You’re drawn to missions that matter. You think deeply about the systems behind learning, not just the code. You balance pragmatism with curiosity and build for the long term. The ideal candidate pairs strong technical execution with deep empathy for users, thrives in a collaborative startup environment, and is motivated by the opportunity to make reading joyful and accessible for all.

What You’ll Do:

• Design and build platform capabilities that deliver reliable, high-value features with safety, precision, and user focus.
• Collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and fellow engineers to create new features and improve existing ones.
• Approach the platform as a product: maintain a clear understanding of customer needs, identify friction points, and take ownership of outcomes with metrics-driven decision making (KPIs, OKRs, and North Star metrics).
• Use data to inform decisions, measure impact, and drive improvements through empirical evidence.
• Take ownership across all phases of development, from design to production, and monitor system performance in live environments.
• Continuously improve the flow of work from idea to production, using data to identify and remove friction.
• Write clean, efficient, and well-documented code following best practices.
• Build and maintain APIs, and integrate with third-party services.
• Ensure application performance, quality, and responsiveness across platforms.
• Participate in code reviews, testing, and debugging to maintain high-quality deliverables.
• Mentor other engineers and contribute to their growth.
• Contribute to architectural decisions and help define technical standards and best practices.
• Stay up to date with emerging technologies and suggest improvements to enhance development processes.

Requirements

A strong candidate will possess:

✅ 6–8+ years of full-stack engineering experience, with a track record of building systems, driving engineering standards, and setting technical direction.

✅Experience building for both internal stakeholders and external users, including complex systems such as authentication, onboarding, or enablement features.

✅Hands-on experience with event-driven architecture, system integrations, and content management platforms.

✅ You’ve led the design or delivery of meaningful systems that improved outcomes for users or teams.

✅Startup or early-stage company experience, ideally as a founding engineer, with a strong sense of ownership over what you build.

✅A pragmatic approach to tools and technologies, with the ability to explore alternatives and make recommendations to improve systems and processes.

Tech Stack:

• Infrastructure / Backend: Terraform, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), AWS, SQL/NoSQL (Postgres, Mongo, Timestream), Lambda
• Software / Frontend: TypeScript, JavaScript, CSS, React

Within your first 30 days, you will:

• Pair with teammates across disciplines to learn how we build, ship, and support new features.
• Start contributing to production code and exploring our workflows, tools, and deployment practices.
• Get comfortable in the codebase, understanding our architecture and systems.
• Embrace Magpie’s spirit of curiosity and exploration—ask questions, challenge assumptions, and dig into our models and mission.
• Connect with cross-functional teams to see how engineering supports product and learning goals.

By day 60, you’re:

• A fully integrated member of the team, collaborating across product, engineering, and operations.
• Owning smaller features or components end-to-end and delivering user-focused solutions.
• Contributing to technical discussions, code reviews, and team decision-making.
• Identifying opportunities to improve systems, processes, or developer experience.
• Building deeper connections with teammates and understanding how your work drives Magpie’s mission forward.

By day 90, you will:

• Help shape how we build—mentoring teammates, influencing architecture, and evolving the platform for scale.
• Take an active role in design discussions and long-term technical planning.
• Establish and refine patterns, processes, and documentation that strengthen our engineering culture.
• Lead by example in code quality, testing, and collaboration.
• Be recognized for your curiosity, craftsmanship, and ability to lift others up.

What Success Looks Like:

• You consistently drive progress—enhancing our systems, sharing knowledge, and delivering meaningful results.
• You take initiative, spot and solve problems early, and bring creative solutions to the table.
• You elevate those around you through mentorship, collaboration, and communication.
• You directly contribute to Magpie’s mission: making reading joyful, accessible, and transformative for every child.

Benefits

What You'll Receive:

• Salary range of $145,000 - $160,000 per annum
• Competitive medical, dental, vision benefits
• Opportunity to work remotely for a mission-driven company full of change-makers
• Enjoy the freedom of flexible time off to balance work and personal life, ensuring you stay refreshed and productive.
• 401k with 4% guaranteed match
• Work environment that values balance and harmony with a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
• Opportunity to travel and meet your team members in-person 2x per year

Join Us

At Magpie, your work will directly unlock the great reader in every child. If you’re ready to lead with purpose, build with urgency, and partner with a mission-driven team to solve one of America’s biggest educational challenges — we want to hear from you.

More about Magpie Literacy

Apply now

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We are on a mission to unlock the great reader in every child to end illiteracy in our country -- centering the experiences of Black, Latino, and Native American students and students experiencing poverty. We are developing research-based, identity-affirming PK-8+ digital literacy tools that leverage student uniquenesses to help every child master the foundational reading skills needed to become strong, confident readers. We’re currently hiring our founding team of mission-driven individuals committed to helping us develop a scalable, impactful reading product that helps us eradicate illiteracy in America.

Illuminate Literacy is fiscally sponsored by Cambiar Education , a 501c3 that supports transformative leaders of public school systems and educational entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions that disrupt the patterns of educational inequity.

🔥 Key Highlights 🔥

• Two fully digital prototypes built and currently being tested with a dozen schools and out-of-school partners; MVP kindergarten offering will be released fall 2023
• Fully-funded sister R&D organization, AERDF Reading Reimagined , to explore major unknowns in literacy learning for priority students and to bridge cutting-edge research to practice
• Founding team with deep expertise in teaching kids to read, on technology, at scale, comprised of literacy experts, practitioners, designers, engineers, and former education systems leaders. Founded and led by Rebecca Kockler , former Assistant Superintendent of Academic Content for the Louisiana Department of Education and developer of the nationally recognized ELA Guidebooks
• Extensive relationships with major systems leaders across the country requesting to be co-designers and first adopters; 100% retention of current partners year over year
• Commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and to an inclusive R&D and product development approach that centers Black, Latino and Native American students and those experiencing poverty