Senior II Back-End Engineer

About the Position

Senior II Back-End Engineer

At Preply, we are dedicated to creating life-changing learning experiences. We help people discover the magic of the perfect tutor, craft a personalized learning journey, and stay motivated to keep growing. Our approach is human-led, tech-enabled - and it’s creating real impact.

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.

Every Preply lesson sparks change, fuels ambition, and drives progress that matters. Joining Preply means helping define the future of education at global scale, and building something that truly matters for millions of people, every day.

Responsibilities

• 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).

Requirements

• 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.
• Willingness to join your team's on-call rotation (1 week out of every 5).

Nice to Have

• Experience with Java, Node.js, Ruby, Scala, .NET, PHP, or Go.

We Offer

• An open, collaborative, dynamic, and diverse culture.
• A generous monthly allowance for lessons on Preply.com, Learning & Development budget, and time off for your self-development;
• A competitive financial package with equity, leave allowance, and health insurance;
• Not in Barcelona? We offer an attractive relocation package to join us in our Preply Barcelona Hub;
• Access to free mental health support platforms;
• Access to Gympass-partnered wellness and gym centers throughout Spain to promote and support well-being and physical health;
• The opportunity to shape the lives of learners and tutors through language learning and teaching in 175 countries (and counting!).

About the Company

Preply.com is committed to creating an inclusive environment where people of diverse backgrounds can thrive. We believe that the presence of different opinions and viewpoints is a key ingredient for our success as a multicultural Ed-Tech company. That means that Preply will consider all applications for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or veteran status.