Staff Software Engineer (Hybrid)

Job description

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join the KSAT Architecture Team — the engineering powerhouse behind our core product. This is a full-stack role requiring mastery of a Ruby on Rails backend, modern front-end technologies (Vue 3+, Svelte), and complex AWS infrastructure. As a Staff Engineer, you are a technical leader in day-to-day operations. This is not a people-management role; instead, you will drive direction through architectural ownership, high-impact code contributions, and cross-team influence. You will navigate a platform ecosystem & microservices, many of which are deployed across 6 AWS regions, ensuring we meet rigorous FedRAMP Moderate, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 standards.This individual in this role is responsible for developing new and exciting products for KnowBe4’s customers, alongside other engineers in a fast-paced, agile development environment.

Requirements:

• Architectural Leadership: Own the evolution of major subsystems, including GraphQL APIs, event-driven service communication (EventBridge/SQS), and data scaling.
• Full-Stack Development: Deliver primary technical contributions across Ruby/Rails APIs, SvelteKit/TypeScript frontends, and AWS serverless infrastructure.
• Scaling Operations: Optimize our serverless background processing framework, currently supporting 400+ Lambda-backed workers.
• Data Strategy: Architect multi-tenant patterns across MySQL, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, and Redis while maintaining strict tenant isolation and compliance.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Translate strategic goals into technical roadmaps, collaborating with Product, Security, and Infrastructure teams.
• Mentorship: Set the bar for code quality and architectural patterns through rigorous reviews and technical guidance for senior engineers.

Qualifications:

• BS + 10 years of experience OR
• MS + 5 years of experience OR
• Ph.D. + 4 years of experience
• Backend & Systems: 5+ years of scaling production Ruby on Rails apps. Expertise in GraphQL (batch loading, complexity management) and relational database tuning (MySQL/Postgres) for high-traffic multi-tenant systems.
• Frontend Mastery: Proficiency in modern frameworks (Vue Preferred, Sveltekit or React) and strict TypeScript. Proven ability to lead large-scale frontend migrations using Vite and Tailwind CSS.
• Cloud: Deep experience with AWS (ECS/Fargate, Lambda, EventBridge, S3). Strong proficiency with Terraform for Infrastructure-as-Code and GitLab CI/CD.
• Distributed Systems: Experience designing event-driven architectures and managing asynchronous processing at scale.
• Leadership: Demonstrated experience at the Staff level—writing Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) and building for compliance-regulated environments (FedRAMP/SOC 2).