Summary:

As a Senior Software Developer with team lead responsibilities, you will be the primary leader of the new software development team for a relatively new product offering from Pearson VUE. You’ll be part of a USA-based team of 4 other less experienced employees including Developers and QA engineers. You will supervise all engineering activities of the team, including technical decision-making, creating team processes, and leading code review. You will provide work direction as part of Agile software development processes and serve as the team’s Scrum Master. Though supervising and mentoring other engineers is a responsibility of this role, we want to ensure that part of your time (50% or so) is hands-on coding work. We strongly prefer Angular experience because it is an important technology for this product. Though you will supervise the work of other engineers on the team, this is an individual contributor role and HR management responsibilities of other engineers would be with someone else.

The Product:

Our Item Assist product started off as a prototype tool for letting users use generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) to create test questions. Expanding the capabilities of Item Assist beyond the limited prototype into a web-based production system is the long-term mission of this software product team. At Pearson VUE we have many ideas of how to use generative AI to serve our customers and after extensive research we are making Item Assist our first AI-powered product.

Special note: this role and this specific team will not be doing AI-based development work. Other engineering teams at Pearson are working on the AI capabilities that power the Item Assist product. The Item Assist product and this team’s work represents the user interface and the application experience for our customers. Therefore skills like machine learning, prompting, LLM models, etc are not applicable to this role, but some knowledge about AI concepts could be beneficial.

In this role you’ll partner with the Product Manager to bring their vision to reality and work alongside the Architect, Project Manager, and Business Analyst.

Item Assist’s tech stack is Java (currently version 11) with Spring Boot, Angular (currently version 13), MariaDB, and we strive to use modern versions of our software. Item Assist runs in Microsoft Azure using cloud CDN and containerized backend services orchestrated by Kubernetes.

Work Location:

REMOTE - United States , required to work mostly Central time zone normal business hours.

Duties:

Provide leadership for the team of engineers in an Agile software development approach

Create work processes for the team and continually evolve them as needs change

Enforce high standards of software development to achieve quality

Coach other team members to help them grow and bring out their best work

Make technical decisions on behalf of the team with partnership of the Architect

Plan the team’s work and estimate future desired work

Act as Scrum Master of the Agile team

Develop new features and other technical implementation work (50% of the time)

Required Education and Experience:

5+ years work experience as a software developer

2+ years supervising the work of technical staff either formally or informally

2+ years experience with Angular or similar front-end software frameworks (like React, Svelte, etc.)

2+ years experience with Java or similar back-end languages

Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Relational databases

DevOps workflows related to cloud-based development and deployment

Experience in an Agile software development environment

Demonstrated technical leadership

Clear communication skills to various types of audiences

History of continuous improvement

Compensation at Pearson is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and specific location. As required by the Colorado, California, Washington State, New York State and New York City laws, the pay range for this position is as follows:

The minimum full-time salary range is between $120k- 135k.

This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, and information on benefits offered is here.

What to expect from Pearson

Did you know Pearson is one of the 10 most innovative education companies of 2022?

At Pearson, we add life to a lifetime of learning so everyone can realize the life they imagine. We do this by creating vibrant and enriching learning experiences designed for real-life impact. We are on a journey to be 100 percent digital to meet the changing needs of the global population by developing a new strategy with ambitious targets. To deliver on our strategic vision, we have five business divisions that are the foundation for the long-term growth of the company: Assessment Qualifications, Virtual Learning, English Language Learning, Workforce Skills and Higher Education. Alongside these, we have our corporate divisions: Digital Technology, Finance, Global Corporate Marketing Communications, Human Resources, Legal, Strategy and Direct to Consumer. Learn more at We are Pearson.

We value the power of an inclusive culture and also a strong sense of belonging. We promote a culture where differences are embraced, opportunities are accessible, consideration and respect are the norm and all individuals are supported in reaching their full potential. Through our talent, we believe that diversity, equity and inclusion make us a more innovative and vibrant place to work. People are at the center, and we are committed to building a workplace where talent can learn, grow and thrive.

Pearson is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. We want a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We strive for a workforce that reflects the diversity of our communities.

To learn more about Pearson’s commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce, navigate to: Diversity, Equity Inclusion at Pearson.

If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing [email protected].

Note that the information you provide will stay confidential and will be stored securely. It will not be seen by those involved in making decisions as part of the recruitment process.

Job: TECHNOLOGY

Organization: Assessment Qualifications

Schedule: FULL_TIME

Workplace Type: Remote

Req ID: 16684

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