Tech Lead, Plan

About the role

Stellic is growing and we are seeking a Tech Lead for the Plan team who will own the systems that power how students plan their academic journeys from degree planning and pathways to scheduling and registration. This role is responsible for leading the technical direction and execution of critical student-facing features that directly impact millions of students across our partner institutions. The hire will own end-to-end ownership of planning, pathways, scheduling, and registration ensuring that each component works reliably and scales effectively. You will shape the next generation of planning experiences while maintaining the integrity and performance of high-stakes workflows. This position requires a leader who can balance product innovation with system reliability under intense load conditions. You will be the technical authority guiding the team through complex architectural decisions and trade-offs.

Key facts

What you'll do

Define and drive the technical strategy for the Plan team owning the full lifecycle of planning pathways scheduling and registration systems from conception to production operation.

Champion reliability and performance for registration systems ensuring they operate predictably during peak registration periods when institutions and students depend on uninterrupted access.

Design scalable systems that handle concurrency and peak load using robust testing strategies and validation methods to confirm behavior at scale.

Lead the evolution of our planning tools shifting the focus from degree-centric models toward flexible pathway and career-oriented experiences without compromising underlying stability.

Architect and implement testing strategies at scale validating system behavior under high concurrency and extreme load conditions to prevent production incidents.

Drive engineering excellence by mentoring engineers establishing best practices and promoting strong design patterns and high code quality across the Plan team.

Collaborate closely with product designers and stakeholders to translate complex requirements into technical solutions that maintain performance while enabling new capabilities.

Own critical technical decisions impacting student journeys balancing the need for rapid product evolution with the necessity of system reliability and uptime.

Partner with data and analytics teams to interpret system behavior during registration and planning events and use insights to guide optimization efforts.

Act as the primary technical owner for key integrations and workflows ensuring that scheduling and registration pipelines meet institutional and compliance standards.

Lead cross-functional initiatives that cut across multiple teams ensuring alignment on goals timelines and quality outcomes for major product milestones.

Provide clear technical communication to both technical and non-technical audiences documenting architectures decisions and trade-offs for long term maintainability.

Identify and mitigate technical risks proactively developing contingency plans for high-stakes scenarios where failure would significantly impact students or institutions.

Champion the adoption of modern engineering practices that improve velocity without degrading the reliability or maintainability of core planning systems.

Serve as a mentor and thought leader within the engineering community at Stellic promoting knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.

Requirements

5+ years of backend engineering experience operating at scale with a track record of leading complex implementations as a technical lead.

Experience owning and operating reliable systems in high-stakes workflows where performance and availability are critical to the success of the business.

Strong intuition for designing systems that behave predictably under peak load and high concurrency ensuring that user interactions remain smooth and error-free.

Ability to balance product evolution with system stability and performance pushing new capabilities forward without breaking existing functionality.

Strong proficiency in SQL and database optimization with PostgreSQL being a significant advantage in this role.

Comfort with asynchronous event-based architectures and the challenges of maintaining consistency across distributed systems.

Clear and effective communication skills in written and verbal formats enabling collaboration with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience demonstrating mastery in computer science or a related technical field.

Nice to have

Experience working in academic higher education or student services environments is strongly preferred given the mission and complexity of the domain.

Familiarity with registration systems and academic workflows such as enrollment course planning and degree audit will help accelerate impact.

Background in social impact or mission-driven product work is valued as it aligns with our commitment to improving student outcomes.

Practical notes

This role is full-time and requires availability during standard business hours although some flexibility exists for exceptional circumstances.

We encourage applicants who thrive in hybrid environments to apply as we blend in-office collaboration with remote work to support deep work and team cohesion.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for this position.

Travel is not required for this role but may be considered periodically for team in-person gatherings and strategic planning sessions.