Senior Backend Software Engineer (USA Remote)

Role overview

Turnitin is hiring a Senior Backend Software Engineer to help build and evolve backend systems supporting Assignment Workflow capabilities. The role is remote-first and involves solving complex backend problems at scale in education technology.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain scalable, high-performance backend services
• Build with serverless architecture on AWS, including event-driven patterns
• Develop RESTful APIs and event-driven systems within a microservice architecture
• Optimize existing services for performance and cost-efficiency
• Collaborate with frontend, designers, product managers, and other teams (Tech Lead, Architect, QA, Support) to deliver solutions
• Participate in technical discussions that influence product direction
• Promote better engineering practices for code quality, testing, and monitoring
• Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions
• Perform code reviews and troubleshoot complex production issues

Requirements

• 5+ years backend development experience (distributed systems/microservices preferred)
• Strong Java skills and Maven proficiency
• Solid AWS serverless experience: Lambda, API Gateway, SQS, SNS, Step Functions
• Experience with event-driven architecture and microservices design
• Hands-on DynamoDB, or strong NoSQL foundation with willingness to ramp up quickly
• Experience writing automated tests for backend services
• Proficient with Git and GitHub workflows
• Strong analytical/troubleshooting skills and effective collaboration

Nice-to-haves (implied by text)

• Comfort working with microservices and production support for complex systems