Senior II Full-Stack Engineer (back-end heavy)

WE POWER PEOPLE'S PROGRESS. At Preply, we're all about creating life-changing learning experiences. We help people discover the magic of the perfect tutor, craft a personalised 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.

MEET THE TEAM!

Our team builds scalable, resilient products using Python/Django on the backend and React on the frontend, all with one goal in mind: creating a smooth, meaningful experience for our learners and tutors. We're proudly tech-agnostic, great engineers come from all kinds of backgrounds. Whether you've worked with Java/Spring, Node.js, Ruby on Rails, Scala/Play, PHP, or Go, you'll feel right at home here. Python experience isn't required. We make decisions based on data and real user feedback: running A/B tests, shipping iteratively, and constantly improving. We also put a strong focus on observability, monitoring, and metrics, so we can keep our systems healthy and continue optimizing at scale. At Preply, we ship 50-60 times per day, thanks to a solid CI/CD setup and a culture that values action over ceremony. As a fast-growing company, you'll find a wide range of technical challenges (we even write about many of them on our Engineering Blog https://medium.com/preply-engineering!), the kind of work that keeps you learning, stretching, and growing. We've reached 90%+ adoption of AI coding tools across engineering, and we're now moving towards more autonomous, AI-Augmented development at scale. At Preply, engineers have direct access to the best tools available, with the freedom to use them fully and experiment as they build.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

You will work in a cross-functional team alongside Product Managers, Product Designers, UX Writers, Data Analysts, Engineering Managers, Engineers, and other stakeholders to deliver meaningful outcomes for learners and tutors. As a Senior II Full Stack Engineer, you will combine hands-on execution with technical leadership, helping shape both product direction and engineering excellence through initiatives that drive customer and business impact, including, but not limited to:

• Back-end Development: Design, build, and evolve scalable backend systems using Python/Django, driving architectural decisions, creating new services, and owning critical integrations that support Preply's growth;
• UI Development: Develop and evolve frontend experiences in React/Typescript, contributing to experimentation frameworks and helping establish frontend engineering best practices;
• Implementation & Ownership: Lead complex initiatives from discovery through deployment, taking ownership of solutions throughout their lifecycle and balancing immediate product needs with long-term sustainability;
• Raising the Bar: Drive engineering excellence through mentorship, architectural reviews, and the adoption of best practices across frontend and backend development;
• Data-Driven Product Development: Partner closely with Product, Data, and UX teammates to identify opportunities, validate hypotheses, and maximize customer value through experimentation and measurable outcomes;
• System Design: Shape architectural direction for complex systems, making technical decisions that improve scalability, reliability, maintainability, and developer productivity;
• Prioritisation & Decision-Making: Navigate ambiguity, evaluate trade-offs, and align technical investments with business objectives and customer impact;
• Technical Leadership: Influence technical direction beyond your immediate scope, collaborating with engineers, managers, and stakeholders to drive alignment and successful delivery;
• Chasing Excellence: Continuously raise the quality bar through craftsmanship, curiosity, continuous learning, and a commitment to helping others grow.

WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED

• Full-Stack Expertise: This is a backend-heavy full-stack role, with approximately 85% of the work focused on backend development and 15% on frontend development. You bring deep backend engineering expertise alongside the ability to contribute across the full stack and deliver end-to-end solutions;
• Scalable Systems & Architecture: Experience designing and evolving large-scale web applications, including well-designed APIs, distributed systems, high-volume data flows, and scalable architectural patterns. Ability to make sound technical trade-offs that balance short-term delivery with long-term sustainability;
• Technical Leadership: Demonstrated ability to influence technical decisions, drive engineering best practices, and contribute to architectural direction within and beyond your immediate team;
• Product & Business Impact: Strong product mindset with the ability to translate ambiguous business challenges into scalable technical solutions, using experimentation, data, and customer insights to guide decisions;
• Proactive Problem-Solving: Comfortable navigating ambiguity and independently solving complex technical and product challenges, while knowing when to engage others to maximize impact;
• Ownership & Accountability: High level of self-organization, ownership, and responsibility, with a track record of driving initiatives from concept through delivery and measurable outcomes;
• Collaboration & Communication: Excellent collaboration, stakeholder management, and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively a