Staff Software Developer - Acquisition and Growth

Coursera; Toronto; Remote; CAD 158,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading online learning platform in Toronto is seeking a Full Stack Staff Engineer to enhance AI-powered features and mentor team members. The ideal candidate has over 7 years of experience, proficiency in backend languages like Python or Java, and a strong grasp of web technologies. Join the team to create impactful learning solutions in a fast-paced environment with flexible work arrangements.

Benefits

Flexible workspace

Virtual interviews and onboarding

Bonus and equity options

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in software engineering.
• Proficiency in a backend programming language.
• Strong understanding of web technologies.
• Experience building scalable microservices.

Responsibilities

• Mentor and guide fellow engineers.
• Shape the team's technical roadmap.
• Improve system architecture and performance.
• Collaborate with product managers on features.

Skills

Technical Leadership

AI Technologies

Backend Programming

Web Development

Data Analysis

Tools

AWS

Python

Java

JavaScript

ReactJS

Job description

Overview

Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 183 million registered learners as of June 30, 2025. Coursera partners with over 350 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, and degrees. Coursera's platform innovations enable instructors to deliver scalable, personalized, and verified learning experiences to their learners. Institutions worldwide rely on Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in high-demand fields such as GenAI, data science, technology, and business. Coursera is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp.

We are a global platform aiming to transform lives through learning by offering transformative courses, certificates, and degrees that empower learners worldwide to advance their careers through skill mastery. We seek inventors, innovators, and lifelong learners eager to shape the future of education. If you\'re ready to build the global programs and tools that fuel the power of online learning, join Team Coursera.

At Coursera, we are committed to building a globally diverse team and are thrilled to extend employment opportunities to individuals in any country where we have a legal entity. We require candidates to possess eligible working rights and have a compatible timezone overlap with their team to facilitate seamless collaboration.

Coursera has a commitment to enabling flexibility and workspace choices for employees. Our interviews and onboarding are entirely virtual, providing a smooth and efficient experience for our candidates. As an employee, we enable you to select your main way of working, whether it\'s from home, one of our offices or hubs, or a co-working space near you.

The Opportunity & The Team

As a Full Stack Staff Engineer on the Growth Acquisition team, you\'ll be at the forefront of revolutionizing online learning by building the future of AI-powered, personalized education. Our team helps prospective learners take meaningful steps towards commitment in a low-friction, value-adding manner, directly impacting the learning journeys of millions worldwide. We aim to be a seamless, delightful "front door" for Coursera, drawing learners in and helping them engage and commit. We\'re deeply invested in leveraging cutting-edge technologies, including generative AI and advanced data analytics, to create a truly personalized learning experience for every individual. This is a high-impact role within a team that thrives on collaboration, innovation, data-driven decision-making, and working closely with learners to help them transform their lives.

You will have the opportunity to :

• Be a Technical Leader : Provide technical leadership, mentor junior engineers, and contribute to the growth of the entire team, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.
• Be a Pioneer : Work on cutting-edge technology, pushing the boundaries of what\'s possible with technology in education. You\'ll balance rapid industry evolution with building scalable and impactful learning systems for the long term.
• Drive Impact at Scale : Create systems and features used by millions of learners daily, directly influencing their educational journeys and helping them reach their full potential.

Responsibilities

• Mentor and guide fellow engineers, fostering their growth and development, and building a world-class team.
• Partner with engineering stakeholders to shape the team\'s technical roadmap and strategy, including spotting code smells, identifying and addressing tech debt, and driving refactoring initiatives to improve code quality and maintainability.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve system architecture, scalability, and performance, ensuring our learning platform can grow to meet the needs of millions of learners.
• Collaborate closely with product managers, data scientists, and other engineers to define and build experiences that scale.
• Lead the design, development, testing, and deployment of core service functionalities.
• Champion and implement best practices with a focus on safety, bias mitigation, ethical considerations, and a learner-centric approach.
• Measure your work thoroughly, analyze results, and generate hypotheses to drive new product changes through A / B testing.

Basic Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience working in a relevant software engineering role
• Proficiency in at least one backend programming language (e.g., Python, Java, Go) and are comfortable working with relational databases and distributed systems.
• Strong understanding of the core technologies of the web : Javascript, HTML, and CSS, experience with at least one modern UI framework (e.g. ReactJS, AngularJS, etc), and experience in building large-scale web applications
• Experience with building and scaling microservices on cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP)
• Proven track record of defining technical roadmaps for a full-stack team
• Experience with mentoring and upleveling teammates
• Fervent belief in engineering quality and building technical leverage for others
• Comfortable working in a fast-moving team environment (we deploy many times a day!)
• Data-driven and strongly motivated by success and learnings through experiments and metrics analysis

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with shaping product roadmaps
• Experience as a Tech Lead
• Experience working on fields relevant to Growth, Acquisition, and Promotions
• Experience with using AI tools (e.g., Cursor) to improve efficiency and productivity
• Proven track record of delivering results in a resource-constrained environment with limited guidance and supervision.
• Experience designing and implementing scalable AI-powered features

Compensation

Our job titles may span more than one career level. The starting base pay for this role is between $158,400 and $209,880. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, and location. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role is also eligible for bonus, equity, and benefits.

PL-1

Coursera is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected class.

If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, please contact us at [e-mail].

For California Candidates, please review our CCPA Applicant Notice here.

For our Global Candidates, please review our GDPR Recruitment Notice here.

Seniority level

• Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Engineering and Information Technology

Industries

• E-Learning Providers