Senior II - Back-End Engineer

We’ve just reached unicorn status with a $150M Series D, accelerating our vision to transform education through human-led, AI-enhanced learning. Today, 100,000+ tutors teach 90+ languages to learners in 180 countries - and we’re only getting started. As a category-defining company, we’re shaping what the future of learning looks like at global scale.

Join Preply’s Teams and help us power people’s progress through life-changing learning experiences. We’re on a mission to combine the magic of the best tutors with cutting-edge AI to create personalized journeys that keep learners motivated and inspired.

The Preply Engineering Team provides the tools to help unlock human potential through learning. We implement A/B tests to prove the value of our initiatives and improve our product based on data and students' and tutors' feedback. As part of our commitment to ensuring high-quality products, we prioritize monitoring and metrics analysis to identify areas for optimization and ensure our services are performing at their best.

As a Senior II Backend Engineer, you'll drive technical direction across multiple squads, lead high-impact initiatives, and build the systems that power Preply's global growth engine. Your work will influence how we scale our platform, align teams around shared outcomes, and help millions of learners connect with tutors worldwide.

Python is our primary language, but prior experience with it isn't mandatory. We take a tech-agnostic approach and welcome engineers from various backgrounds, such as Java, Node.js, Ruby, Scala, .NET, PHP, or Go. What we truly look for is an eagerness to learn the language and the adaptability to hit the ground running with product development.

What you’ll be doing

• Own, shape, and drive technical direction across multiple engineering squads.
• Lead complex, ambiguous initiatives from idea to delivery, aligning engineers, teams, product managers, and stakeholders around shared outcomes.
• Design, build, and evolve scalable backend systems using Python/Django, data pipelines, and third-party integrations that support long-term business growth.
• Partner with PMs, EMs, and senior stakeholders to shape roadmaps, make technical trade-offs, and guide investment decisions.
• Raise the engineering bar through mentoring, architectural reviews, and engineering best practices.
• Drive reliability, observability, performance, and operational excellence across multiple services and teams.
• Foster a quality-first culture through automation, documentation, and continuous improvement.
• Participate in on-call rotation (1 week every 5 weeks).

What you need to succeed

• Exposure to architectural patterns of a large, high-scale web application (e.g., well-designed APIs, high-volume data pipelines, efficient algorithms);
• Proven experience leading complex, greenfield projects end-to-end
• A track record of shaping architectural decisions and setting engineering standards that impact multiple teams or domains.
• Comfort with shaping product scope, challenging requirements, and focusing on customer value.
• Strong communication (English level B2+) with the ability to influence senior peers and leadership through clear reasoning and strong technical judgment.
• AI Expertise: You're a forefront user of Agentic AI. You're able to bring hands on experience and start influencing the team beyond code generation; reserving judgment for architecture, business logic, and security, using AI as a thought partner and able to set up quality gates and safety nets to enhance existing engineering workflows and propose AI-native alternatives.
• Willingness to join your team's on-call rotation (1 week out of every 5).

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