First Student Tech Stack

School bus transportation operator managing 5.5M daily student journeys across North America

School and Employee Bus Services Cincinnati, Ohio 10,001+ employees Privately Held

First Student operates the largest pupil transportation network in North America, moving more students daily than all U.S. airlines combined across 44,500+ vehicles. The tech stack is administrative-heavy (Microsoft Office, Workday, Basware for procurement) rather than software-product focused, reflecting a logistics and operations business.

Tech Stack 16 technologies

Core StackWorkday Microsoft Project Excel Microsoft Office Word PowerPoint Basware Outlook Microsoft Access Google Workspace Workday Studio REST SOAP XSLT XML

AdoptingActive Directory

What First Student Is Building

◆Challenges

Ensuring sox compliance
Fleet maintenance
Improving shop operational performance
Maintaining compliance with federal/state regulations
Improving proposal development process
Maintaining compliance systems
Budget management
Cost per bus optimization
Maintaining bus safety
Driver compliance management

▲Active Projects

New contract proposal development
Implementing treasury workstation
Local commercial growth
Driver training and qualification
Tpa reporting metrics
Training modules rollout
Besafe initiatives
Hazard control programs
Contract technology delivery
Lean practices implementation

Hiring Activity

Decelerating1,200 roles · 320 in 30d

Department

Ops

923

Logistics

184

Engineering

Finance

Transportation

Operations

Sales

Seniority

Junior

924

Mid

171

Senior

Manager

Lead

Intern

Director

Notable leadership hires: Lead Diesel Mechanic, Lead Mechanic

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About First Student

First Student provides pupil transportation services to school districts across 41 U.S. states and 8 Canadian provinces/territories, completing 5.5 million student journeys each day. The company operates a fleet of 44,500+ vehicles and employs over 10,000 staff, primarily drivers and operational personnel. Service offerings span full turnkey contracting, route optimization, fleet maintenance, pre-owned bus sales, and school bus rentals, with emerging focus on electric school buses. The business model centers on multi-year contracts with school districts, requiring close coordination on safety, compliance, and service responsiveness. Current operational priorities include SOX compliance, federal/state regulatory maintenance, fleet optimization, driver qualification programs, and proposal development efficiency.

HeadquartersCincinnati, Ohio

Company Size10,001+ employees

Hiring MarketsUnited States, Canada

Frequently Asked Questions

What technology does First Student use for operations?

Primary stack includes Workday (HR/payroll), Microsoft Office suite (Excel, Word, Project), Basware (procurement), and GPS/route optimization tools. The company is adopting Active Directory for identity management. Technology focus is administrative and logistics-oriented rather than consumer-facing software.

Where does First Student operate?

First Student operates across 41 U.S. states and 8 Canadian provinces/territories, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company hires in both the United States and Canada to support regional fleet and driver networks.