Team Lead, Software Engineering (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. For more information, please visit www.finalsite.com.

The Opportunity

At Finalsite, we believe that every school deserves a powerful digital presence to tell its story. As a Team Lead, Software Engineering, you aren't just managing tasks; you are the technical driver and cultural steward for a dedicated team of seven engineers. Your work directly impacts how thousands of educational institutions worldwide engage with students and families, ensuring our platform remains robust, scalable, and intuitive.

The Mission

Your mission is to lead a squad of seven backend engineers in the design, development, and delivery of world-class software solutions. You will own the technical integrity of your team’s output, primarily within the Python/Django ecosystem, while serving as the bridge between product vision and engineering execution. By fostering a culture of mentorship and continuous improvement, you will ensure the team delivers high-impact features that are both performant and sustainable.

12-Month Outcomes

• Team Velocity & Predictability: Establish a consistent sprint cadence where 80% of committed stories are completed per cycle through improved estimation and bottleneck identification.

• Technical Excellence: Reduce technical debt by implementing automated testing standards and architectural reviews.

• Individual Growth: Conduct regular 1:1s and technical coaching sessions, leading to the successful promotion or expanded responsibility of additional direct reports.

• Seamless Integration: Successfully collaborate with Core Backend and SRE teams to migrate or optimize three key services within our AWS infrastructure for better scalability.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Stewardship: Lead hands-on backend development using Python and Django, while providing guidance on React-based frontend integrations to ensure full-stack harmony.

• Code Quality & Standards: Conduct rigorous code reviews and set the "gold standard" for documentation, testing, and clean code practices within the team.

• Sprint Leadership: Partner with the Product Owner to refine backlogs, estimate effort, and break down complex architectural requirements into actionable tasks.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as the primary technical point of contact for UI/UX Designers, SREs, and sibling engineering teams to ensure alignment on product roadmaps.

• Performance Management: Monitor team health and individual performance, providing real-time feedback and clearing blockers to keep the squad motivated and productive.

• Infrastructure Oversight: Collaborate with SREs to manage and optimize services deployed on AWS, ensuring our MariaDB instances are performing efficiently under load.

Required Skills

• Expert Python Development: Deep proficiency in building scalable, secure backend services and RESTful APIs using Python and Python frameworks.

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

• Architectural Thinking: The ability to design modular systems that balance immediate feature needs with long-term maintainability and performance.

• Mentorship & Coaching: A proven ability to elevate the skills of other engineers through empathetic feedback, pair programming, and technical guidance.

• Frontend Literacy: Working knowledge of JavaScript and ReactJS, sufficient to lead discussions on data flow between the backend and frontend.

• Cloud Infrastructure Fluency: Practical experience navigating AWS environments and managing relational databases (ideally MariaDB or MySQL).

• Agile Proficiency: Strong understanding of Scrum/Kanban methodologies and the ability to facilitate efficient stand-ups and retrospectives.

Leveraging GenAI in This Role

As a leader at Finalsite, we encourage the smart use of Generative AI to amplify your team's impact. We currently use GitHub CoPilot and ClaudeAI, you might leverage these tools to:

• Accelerate Code Reviews: Use AI-powered assistants to identify boilerplate errors or security vulnerabilities, allowing you to focus on high-level architectural logic.

• Automate Documentation: Generate initial drafts of API documentation or README files from code structures to ensure the team's knowledge base stays current.

• Rapid Prototyping: Utilize LLMs to quickly scaffold test suites or refactor legacy Python modules into modern, idiomatic patterns.

• Strategic Brainstorming: Use GenAI to simulate "edge cases" during the design phase of a new feature to proactively address potential failures.

Nice to Have Skills

• Experience in the EdTech industry or building tools for educational institutions.

• Familiarity with Containerization (Docker/Kubernetes) to further streamline our AWS deployments.

• Previous experience transitioning teams from monolithic architectures to microservices.

Location

Remote anywhere within India. There is a Finalsite office in Chennai if you prefer a hybrid setting.

Employment

This a direct full-time opportunity. Finalsite is a global company and to enable strong collaboration, we have established common core working hours. Candidates should be comfortable working from 11:30-20:30 IST, with core working hours being 18:30-20:30 IST

Residency Requirement

Finalsite offers 100% fully remote employment opportunities, however, these opportunities are limited to permanent residents of India. Current residency, as well as continued residency, within India is required to obtain (and retain) employment with Finalsite.

DISCLOSURES

Finalsite is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact Finalsite's People Operations Team. Finalsite is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Finalsite will ensure that persons with disabilities or special needs are provided a reasonable accommodation. Ensure your Finalsite job offer is legitimate and don't fall victim to fraud. Ask your recruiter for a phone call or other type of verbal communication and ensure all email correspondence is from a finalsite.com email address. For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at finalsite.com/jobs.