Senior Software Engineer (Backend) - National Student Clearinghouse

Are you looking for more than just a job and want to make difference? If so, then join the National Student Clearinghouse talent community and discover your impact today!

We are a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization and the leading provider of educational reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services. Serving the education, workforce and learner communities has been at the heart of our mission for over 30 years. Our work — performed in a trusted, secure, and private environment — provides numerous time- and cost-saving benefits to students, schools, administrators, and requestors. Education leaders rely on the Clearinghouse’s unique national student data resources to better understand student pathways and outcomes in order to help students succeed, and our research better informs practitioners and policymakers about student educational pathways and enables informed decision making.

About the Role:

The Clearinghouse is embarking on a reimagining of its technology landscape that intends to centralize the management of its core data assets in a manner that allows for quicker delivery of data-driven solutions to its market. We are seeking a Senior Backend Software Engineer who is experienced in using Python to implement microservices and serverless functions and who has deep knowledge of AWS. This position will be part of a solution team that focuses on NSC’s Client Data Acquisition and Client Data Enrichment and Processing solutions.

Are you someone who has an innate drive to learn new ways of thinking, loves to rely on previous experience and new opportunities to drive a culture of innovation, and strives for tangible delivery of value from your work? If so, please read on!

Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must either reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office or be willing to travel to our office in Herndon, when required.

How You Contribute:

• Demonstrate NSC’s competencies, which align with our corporate values. Manager will provide more detail to candidates as needed.
  • Core Competencies include: Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic.

Customer Focus:

• Design, develop, test, and build backend services and related infrastructure to support business requirements and other desired outcomes.
• Support The Clearinghouse’s defensive posture toward protecting its client data by following current and recommending new software development best practices that promote data integrity and security.
• Support troubleshooting and diagnosis of bugs and other client-facing issues as they arise.

Work Process Optimization:

• Develop code that conforms to defensive coding practices and supports the OWASP Top 10.
• Contribute to automation of routine development and deployment activities such as SAST/DAST security scanning, build and deployment pipelines.
• Contribute to the maintenance and automation of technical documentation relating to the developed platforms.

Collaboration:

• Collaborate with team members to deliver solutions that meet expectations on time and within budget.
• Review and understand desired system architectures and work to ensure conformity and fitness throughout the development lifecycle.
• Perform and participate in code and design reviews by giving effective and actionable feedback.
• Participate in cross-functional collaborative and problem-solving activities.

Effective Communication:

• Obtain a firm understanding of desired system architectures and become conversant in explaining how designs promote the architecture.
• Communicate clearly and effectively across various stakeholder groups and levels with the appropriate level of detail and tone.
• Proactively and regularly communicate progress, especially around risks and challenges to others.

Openness and Authenticity:

• Demonstrate openness to new perspectives, different ways of working, and new technologies.
• Be curious about why others hold their perspectives – especially when they differ from your own.
• Build trust with stakeholders by aligning words and actions.

Other duties may be added or removed as The Clearinghouse’s needs evolve.

These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodation will be made for individuals with disabilities so that they may perform these essential functions.

What You Bring to the Table:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field. A combination of education and experience, including through military service, will also be considered.
• Advanced proficiency with a combination of the following (typically acquired by 8+ years of experience):
  • Advanced Python development for backend solutions (especially FastAPI, SQLAlchemy).
  • Experience with both writing and using RESTful Web Services.
  • Experience with microservice-based architectures, asynchronous interservice communication, and message-based/event-driven architectures.
  • Experience with data-processing services (event streaming) and “data enrichment” as a service.
  • Experience using AWS CloudFormation and the management of CloudFormation Templates.
  • Experience in AWS building application services using Kubernetes (EKS & Helm), private and public API gateways, networking configurations, etc.
  • Experience with other AWS Compute resource types, such as AWS Lambda.
  • Experience working with PostgreSQL.
  • Experience with AWS building centralized data governance and storage solutions (AWS Glue Catalog, Amazon Athena, PySpark/AWS Glue Jobs).
  • Experience with CI/CD processes, especially Jenkins and AWS CodeCommit
  • Maintaining code quality and security standards using tools such as or similar to GitLab, SonarQube, Fortify, Burp, and/or Crucible.
  • Agile/Scrum procedures and processes.
  • Analyzing, troubleshooting, fixing software and configuration defects.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent written, verbal, and Interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate technical and nontechnical information to different audiences and stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated ability to:
  • Act as a thought leader and mentor.
  • Manage conflicting priorities to successfully deliver projects on time.
  • Work both independently and as a member of a larger team to resolve challenges.
• Must live within a commutable distance to Herndon, VA or in one of the Clearinghouse's approved States for hiring purposes. Refer to our HR Policies Page, located on our Careers site at https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/careers/human-resource-policies/, for more details.
• Must be at least 18 years old.

Physical Demands:

• Use of a computer for 8 or more hours a day.
• Use of a copy machine and telephone.
• Frequently required to sit for 7 or more hours per day in close proximity to others in an open office environment.
• Occasionally required to use hands and fingers to operate, handle, and reach.
• Vision abilities include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.
• Travel via car, train and airplane when needed.
• Occasional overtime and work on weekends may be necessary to support production deployment.

Benefits and Related Information

The National Student Clearinghouse provides a robust benefit program designed to help meet the needs of each employee and their family, both now and in the future. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as life and disability insurance benefits, for employees and their qualified dependents. Health care, dependent care, and limited purpose flexible spending accounts, as well as a health savings account, are options available for employees to set aside pre-taxed dollars for certain qualifying expenses. We offer a very generous 401k matching contribution program with the opportunity to defer pre-tax and Roth contributions, as well as catch-up contributions for those who are eligible! We are proud to offer a competitive paid leave program consisting of vacation, sick, and personal time, as well as paid holidays and up to 3 weeks of paid parental leave during a 12-month period. Vacation time will accrue based on length of service, and new full-time hires can accrue up to 13 days of vacation and up to 10 days of sick time per year. On an annual basis, new employees may use up to 32 hours of accrued sick time as personal time. Additionally, the Clearinghouse observes at least 11 paid holidays per year.

Another perk is that employees have the option to get reimbursed for basic wholesale company and roadside assistance memberships (e.g., Costco and AAA) and to request a buy back on portions of unused accrued vacation based on tenure and certain other qualifications. Employees can further their education and professional development by using our Employee Education Assistance Program, which establishes reimbursement for qualified education expenses upon successful completion of the program, and leveraging the enterprise-wide LinkedIn Learning subscription. There are additional employee benefits too, including but not limited to, mental health and wellness benefits. To find out more, please request a copy of our Benefits at a Glance!

Additionally, we reasonably believe that the salary range for this position is between $120,000 and $155,000.

The requisition will be open for a minimum of 3 days and applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities: The National Student Clearinghouse is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status (or known to have a spousal, family, business, social or other relationship or association with a protected veteran), sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, natural hairstyle, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our management team is dedicated to this policy with respect to recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, benefits, employee activities and general treatment during employment.

Pay Transparency Notice: The National Student Clearinghouse is a federal contractor that abides by all applicable equal opportunity laws and regulations. Under these laws, companies doing business with the federal government must provide applicants and employees with certain policies, including the following information. The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)