Senior/Software Engineer II, Backend

Duolingo; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 183,000 - 247,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Accommodations support

Job summary

Duolingo is seeking backend engineers who can build and operate reliable, scalable systems. The role spans the Ads and AI Platform teams, offering work on high-traffic APIs, data-driven experiments, and collaboration with product, data science, and design.

You will own components from design through production, contribute to our evolving platform, and help grow an engineering culture that moves fast while shipping quality software.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
• Strong competencies in data structures, algorithms, and software design.
• Experience programming in Java, Python, or Kotlin.
• Solid understanding of one or more database technologies.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate on software projects with product design and backend aspects.
• Develop, release, and maintain backend services and/or infrastructure.
• Lead individual project priorities, milestones, and ensure we're always shipping.

Skills

Data structures

Algorithms

Software design

Java

Python

Kotlin

Databases

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

OpenTelemetry

Grafana

Prometheus

DataDog

Job description

Our mission at Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. It’s a big mission, and that’s where you come in!

At Duolingo, you’ll join a team that cares about finding innovative solutions to complex technical problems, running countless experiments (300+ at a time!) with our massive user base to make data-driven decisions, and educating our users and employees alike. You’ll have limitless learning opportunities, mentorship and collaboration with world-class minds, and a variety of projects with large scopes — while doing work that’s both fun and meaningful.

Join our life-changing mission to develop education for our half a billion (and growing!) learners around the world.

We’re looking for backend engineers who have experience building and operating reliable, scalable systems. Your background may be in product engineering, infrastructure, platform engineering, or a combination of these. What matters most is strong backend fundamentals, sound systems thinking, and the ability to take ownership of complex technical problems from design through production.

Below you can find more information about the team we're hiring for:

Ads

Duolingo's Monetization pillar builds the systems that fund our mission — from subscription packaging and advertising to ML-powered personalization. As a Backend Engineer on the Ads team, you'll work on a product engineering team responsible for growing and scaling Duolingo's ads business: high-quality ads that delight learners, fit seamlessly into the product experience, and meaningfully contribute to our bottom line. The team owns ad serving, mediation and demand, in-product ad formats and surfaces, and more. You'll work cross-functionally with product, design, data science, machine learning, and ad operations.

AI Platform

As a member of the AI Tooling and Ecosystem Team, you will be responsible for developing and maintaining tools and services that power Duolingo's use of AI in the product. You will design systems for managing datasets, evaluating the performance of AI models, and building AI workflows. You will help shape how Duolingo builds features using AI, enabling teams to easily define quality metrics, combine human and AI feedback, and compare model performance across different use cases.

You will

• Collaborate on software projects with product design and backend aspects
• Develop, release, and maintain backend services and/or infrastructure
• Lead individual project priorities, milestones, and ensure we're always shipping

You have

• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field
• Strong competencies in data structures, algorithms, and software design
• Experience programming in Java, Python, or Kotlin
• Solid understanding of one or more database technologies

Exceptional candidates will have

• Industry experience building high-traffic APIs using public cloud providers
• Experience with industry observability technology, such as OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Prometheus, or DataDog.

The offered salary is dependent upon several factors, including work experience, skills, and internal peer comparisons. The posted range is subject to change in the future. For this role, base salary is supplemented by equity compensation. We encourage you to talk with your recruiter for more information related to compensation for this role!

Salary Range

$182,800—$247,300 USD

Benefits

• Take a peek at how we care for our employees' holistic well-being with our benefits.

Accommodations

We will do everything we can within reason to make sure that your interview takes place in an environment that fairly and accurately assesses your skills. If you need assistance or accommodation, please contact [e-mail].

Equal Employment Opportunity

Duolingo is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

By applying for this position your data will be processed as per the Duolingo Applicant Privacy Notice.