Senior Software Engineer; Python

Finalsite is the first community relationship management platform for K-12 schools, transforming how schools attract students, engage families, build community — and thrive. More than 7,000 schools and districts worldwide trust Finalsite’s integrated platform for their websites, communications, mobile apps, enrollment, and marketing services. Finalsite is headquartered in Glastonbury, CT, USA with employees who work remotely in nearly every state in the U.S. as well as Europe, South America, and Asia.

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The Opportunity

At Finalsite, we believe that when schools communicate better, students learn better. As a Senior Software Engineer, you will be the backbone of our multi‑channel communication platform, directly impacting how millions of parents, teachers, and staff stay connected across the USA. Your work ensures that whether it's an urgent SMS or a district‑wide newsletter, the message is delivered reliably, securely, and at scale.

Your mission is to architect, build, and optimize the backend services that power our unified communication engine. You will own the technical integrity of our Python/Django ecosystem, transforming complex communication requirements into seamless, high‑performance API services that bridge the gap between school districts and their communities.

• Feature Delivery: Lead the backend development and deployment of at least two major communication channel integrations (e.g., advanced social media API updates or enhanced SMS workflows).

• Code Excellence: Maintain a test coverage of at least 80% for all new services while reducing existing technical debt by mentoring peers through high‑quality code reviews.

• Collaborative Impact: Partner with the Product and UI/UX teams to reduce the time‑to‑market for new features by refining the integration layer between our React.js frontend and Python backend.

• Backend Architecture: Design and implement robust, scalable backend services using Python and Django, ensuring they meet the high‑load demands of large US school districts.

• API Stewardship: Develop and maintain RESTful APIs that serve as the reliable connective tissue between our platform and various communication channels (SMS, Email, Social Media).

• System Performance: Proactively monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize application performance and database queries within our AWS environment.

• Cross‑Functional
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Act as a technical bridge, partnering with Product Owners, Designers, and QA to translate product vision into actionable technical requirements.

• Quality & Security: Write clean, well‑tested, and secure code, participating in peer code reviews to ensure we are following industry best practices for EdTech data privacy.

• Infrastructure Support: Work closely with Dev Ops to streamline CI/CD pipelines and ensure the high availability of our communication services.

• Advanced Python Mastery: You have deep experience building and maintaining complex web applications and a strong grasp of Django’s ORM and middleware.

• Python Framework
  
  Experience:
  
  You have extensive experience with Python related web frameworks such as Django, FastAPI, Flask, etc. (We use Django, ideally you do too!)

• API Design: Proven ability to build and document RESTful APIs that are intuitive for frontend developers and external integrators alike.

• Cloud Proficiency (AWS): Comfortable navigating AWS services (such as EC2, Lambda, or S3) to deploy and manage scalable applications.

• System Design: The ability to think in "systems," understanding how backend changes affect database performance, frontend state, and third‑party integrations.

• Collaborative Mindset: You enjoy working in a "team‑sport" environment, where you share knowledge, mentor others, and value diverse perspectives in the dev process.

• Testing Rigor: A strong commitment to automated testing (unit, integration, and end‑to‑end) as a core part of the development lifecycle.

We don't just tolerate modern tools; we embrace them. In this role, we expect you to use GenAI (Finalsite stack is Github Copilot and Claude AI) to:

• Accelerate…