- Company Name
- Duolingo for Schools
- Job Title
- Senior Software Engineer, Backend
- Job Description
-
**Job Title:** Senior Software Engineer, Backend
**Role Summary:**
Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services and infrastructure for high‑traffic, data‑driven product features. Collaborate cross‑functionally with product and design teams to ship experiments and new functionality quickly, driving education experiences for millions of global users.
**Expectations:**
- Lead project planning, set priorities, and own milestones to ensure continuous shipping.
- Deliver high‑quality, high‑performance APIs and services in a fast‑paced, experimental environment.
- Maintain reliability, scalability, and security of backend systems.
- Contribute to technical discussions, code reviews, and mentorship of junior engineers.
**Key Responsibilities:**
- Collaborate with product, design, and other engineers to define requirements and technical solutions.
- Develop, release, and operate backend services using Java, Python, or Kotlin.
- Design and optimize database schemas and queries across supported database technologies.
- Build and sustain high‑traffic APIs on public cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure).
- Implement monitoring, logging, and alerting to ensure system health.
- Prototype and iterate on new features (e.g., Chess learning experiences, real‑time video‑call conversational agents).
**Required Skills:**
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
- Strong foundation in data structures, algorithms, and software design principles.
- Proficiency in at least one of: Java, Python, Kotlin.
- Solid experience with relational and/or NoSQL databases.
- Experience building, scaling, and maintaining high‑traffic APIs.
- Familiarity with public cloud services and infrastructure automation.
- Ability to work autonomously and in cross‑functional teams, delivering quality code on schedule.
**Required Education & Certifications:**
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline.
- No specific certifications required; cloud platform certifications are a plus but not mandatory.