Head of Engineering, Lit

Who we are

You’re reading this job description because somebody taught you how. You became “somebody” as a result. At Lit, we’re building a world in which everybody gets to be somebody. We are on a mission to ensure every kid, everywhere is a reader. We help school and system leaders build, implement and sustain reading ecosystems that live at the intersection of research and instructional equity. By bringing the science of reading to Black and Latino students, and to students who come from the experience of poverty, we can open up a world of possibility for children who are too often pushed to the margins of education. Find out more on our website: wearelit.org

Lit is building a digital platform that delivers personalized, research-based foundational reading instruction for K–2 students. This product combines the science of reading with automatic speech recognition (ASR) to support diverse learners, especially in historically underserved communities.

Currently, we are incubated under a parent company called Array Education–a non-profit start-up studio. Array Education’s mission is to help start enduring, equity-driven, scalable solutions to our most pressing education challenges.

What You Will Do

We’re hiring a Head of Engineering at Lit to lead technical strategy and execution for our literacy product. This is a full-time role reporting to the Chief Product Officer. You’ll guide a lean, cross-functional team through early development and pilot testing of our first classroom-ready MVP.

This role is for someone who thrives in 0-to-1 environments—someone who can navigate ambiguity, architect from the ground up, and build. You’ll inherit an early version of the platform-in-progress and lead development from prototype to production. In the next 6 months, you’ll lead critical architectural decisions and build toward our first major pilots, ensuring the product delivers measurable impact and technical reliability in real classrooms.

As the Head of Engineering, you will: 

Set technical direction and system architecture: 

• Lead the engineering roadmap, spanning backend infrastructure, instructional logic, and speech-powered functionality. Make core decisions that balance scalability, performance, and ease of maintenance.

Drive cross-functional delivery: 

• Collaborate with product, design, and learning leads to translate instructional goals into high-quality technical systems. Oversee a distributed development team and manage our sprint process to ensure thoughtful, timely execution.

Integrate speech and AI capabilities: 

• Evaluate third-party ASR tools, collaborate with vendors to strengthen integrations and prioritize improvements, and drive model accuracy through targeted testing and data analysis

Build systems for real-world classrooms: 

• Ensure our application works reliably in diverse environments, including noisy classrooms and across dialects. Use performance metrics (e.g., Word Error Rate) to improve instructional fidelity and student outcomes.

Develop a learning-aware platform: 

• Design infrastructure and data systems that adapt to each student’s needs while collecting actionable insights. Help researchers and designers understand where students are thriving or struggling to inform product iteration.

Champion inclusive engineering: 

• Embed student-centered values in every aspect of development. Prioritize access, inclusivity, and effectiveness for all learners. Incorporate educator feedback, support diverse use contexts, and lead equity-informed evaluation.

Grow the team and culture: 

• Recruit, mentor, and collaborate with a team of contractors and future full-time engineers. Partner with leadership to shape a technical culture that balances innovation and delivery

In short, you’ll shape the technology that makes literacy possible at scale—and help bring research-based reading instruction to every child.

You are someone who

You would be a great match for this role if you are a professional with 8+ years of experience in software engineering, including system architecture and backend development. You likely bring:

Engineering & Technical Leadership

• Strong track record of leading cross-functional execution and aligning technical decisions with product vision.
• Experience owning build vs. buy decisions and integrating third-party tools.
• Ability to design clear, scalable systems that evolve with user and organizational needs.

Infrastructure, Security and Operations Expertise: 

• Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, Kubernetes, Docker), backend frameworks (e.g., Node.js, MongoDB), and CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with secure, compliant systems—especially around student data privacy (FERPA, COPPA).
• A thoughtful approach to performance, testing, and long-term maintenance.

Impact-Driven, User-Centered Development Experience

• Experience with Agile methodology and sprint-based development
• Passion for building tools that improve student learning and teacher workflows.
• Commitment to inclusive UX, ethical data use, and measurable impact.

Familiarity with Our Stack (or similar experience):

• Backend & Infrastructure: Node.js with Koa, MongoDB Atlas, gRPC, WebSockets, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS (Amplify, EKS, S3), GitHub Actions
• Frontend: React.js, Material-UI, Redux, TanStack Query
• Additional Tools: Nx (monorepo management), Playwright, Jest, Sentry, Clever

Bonus—but not required:

• Experience with ASR or speech technology, especially for children’s voices.
• Familiarity with generative AI or adaptive learning systems.
• Prior work in EdTech or early-stage product development.

You are someone who shares our values 

• Be cosmically urgent: You move with cosmic urgency--the vital urge to change things in a way that will benefit all people so everyone feels a sense of “somebodyness.”
• Stay constantly curious:  You ask “how might we?” when solving challenges.
• Pursue excellence over perfection: You prioritize individuals and the interactions that will move people to achieve outcomes over following a process that won’t get them there.
• Do hard things in a human way: You choose courage over comfort by facing difficult tasks and conversations rather than avoiding them.
• Invest in our collective success: You get your hands dirty; you will never say, “That’s not my job,” “That’s not my problem to solve,” or “I don’t care.”

Compensation

Compensation: This is a full-time staff, exempt position with an annual salary range of  $163,000-$191,000. A compensation offer is based on relevant years of experience in relation to the position as well as location. Because of our strong commitment to equity and growth, Lit does not negotiate or place compensation offers at the top of the range. 

Benefits: We provide all full-time employees with a competitive benefits package that includes comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, short- and long-term disability, life insurance, and parental leave. We offer a generous PTO policy and holiday calendar. We also provide an employer-sponsored 401K retirement plan with an annual 3% match.

Perks: Lit offers perks such as paid rest days after work-related travel; stipends for wellness, working-from-home, and professional learning; a community with as much support as your heart desires; and much, much, more!

Expectations to know 

Travel:  Travel is an essential part of how we support our partners, collaborate with our team, and fulfill our mission. Schedule and timing for travel may vary by team and role, and may change as the company’s business needs continue to evolve. The Head of Engineering should expect to travel up to 25% of the year.

Lit is an equal opportunity employer.

Interested?

If reading this job description gave you butterflies, you should apply! Click here to start your application.