Staff Backend Engineer — AI-Powered Learning Platform

Preply Inc.; Barcelona; Hybrid; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation package

Health insurance

Learning & Development budget

Self-development time off

Equity

Job summary

Preply Inc. is seeking a Staff Engineer in Barcelona to shape technical strategy and own architecture for scalable AI-enabled learning systems. You will drive cross-team initiatives with Engineering and Product leadership and raise the bar for engineering excellence.

You’ll mentor senior engineers, influence technical decisions, and ensure performance, reliability, and cost efficiency while delivering high-impact features across Learning and Monetization domains.

Qualifications

• Strong engineering foundations and system thinking.
• Hands-on and strategic mindset with ability to execute.
• End-to-end ownership from idea to delivery.
• Ability to influence and align multiple teams without formal authority.
• Product-minded engineering focusing on user experience and business impact.
• Comfort operating across feature development, design, and migrations.
• Strong problem solving and decision making under uncertainty.
• Experience raising engineering standards and fostering RFCs and reviews.
• Comfort in evolving, high-growth environments with changing priorities.
• AI expertise and ability to apply AI-native approaches.

Responsibilities

• Shape technical strategy and drive execution with Engineering and Product leadership.
• Lead architecture and platform evolution for scalable, reliable systems.
• Raise engineering excellence and developer experience across teams.
• Operate as a multiplier by mentoring seniors, influencing leaders, and participating in hiring.

Skills

Engineering foundations

System thinking

Hands-on

Strategic mindset

End-to-end ownership

Influence & alignment

Product-minded engineering

Cross-domain collaboration

Engineering excellence

AI expertise

Job description

Preply Inc. is seeking a Staff Engineer in Barcelona to shape technical strategy and own architecture for scalable AI-enabled learning systems. You will drive cross-team initiatives with Engineering and Product leadership and raise the bar for engineering excellence.

You’ll mentor senior engineers, influence technical decisions, and ensure performance, reliability, and cost efficiency while delivering high-impact features across Learning and Monetization domains.