Principal Backend Software Engineer (USA Remote)

Turnitin is a recognized innovator in global education, dedicated to developing learning integrity solutions. The Principal Backend Software Engineer will build and maintain services related to grading and feedback functionality, focusing on designing and implementing scalable backend systems using AWS Lambda and related technologies.

Responsibilities:

• Drive the long-term technical strategy and multi-year architectural roadmap for the GRaF backend platform, defining and enforcing technical standards and best practices across the team
• Lead the design, development, and implementation of scalable, robust, and cost-efficient backend services using AWS Lambda, RESTful APIs, and event-driven architectures
• Act as a technical leader, providing expert technical guidance and mentorship to engineers on system design, Java best practices, code quality, and troubleshooting complex issues in production environments
• Proactively partner with engineering, product, and architectural leadership across multiple teams to identify and resolve systemic technical debt and architectural risks
• Oversee and ensure the continuous improvement of CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions) and the maintenance of comprehensive automated testing frameworks

Requirements:

• 10+ years of professional experience in backend development
• Expert-level proficiency in Java or another programming language suitable for AWS Lambda, with deep experience in distributed, high-scale, and high availability systems
• Extensive experience with complex AWS serverless services (especially Lambdas & DynamoDB) and a proven track record of driving large-scale architectural decisions
• Demonstrated ability to act independently, set technical direction, and influence cross-functional teams and senior engineers without direct authority
• Proven experience mentoring other engineers, leading technical design reviews, and establishing engineering processes and quality standards
• Exceptional analytical and conceptual thinking skills to resolve significant, unique, and ambiguous technical challenges