The Role
About Quizlet:
Inspired by our belief that anyone can learn anything and powered by our own curiosity, we build the smartest tools we can imagine to help students learn.
Quizlet is the popular, global learning platform and app that millions of students, teachers and everyday people use to study any subject imaginable for school, work or as part of their personal interests -- including two-thirds of high school students and half of all college students in the US. Combining cognitive science and machine learning, Quizlet guides students through adaptive study activities to confidently reach their learning goals.
Valued at $1 billion, Quizlet has raised over $60 million in venture capital from investors including Icon Ventures, Union Square Ventures, General Atlantic, Costanoa Ventures, Owl Ventures, and Altos Ventures.
To serve our global community of learners, our teams tackle lofty technical challenges and design for use cases across cultures and languages. We work hard, act like owners, and collaborate every chance we get. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.
About the Team:
The Consumer Experiences team at Quizlet delivers delightful study experiences to our learners wherever and however they want to study.
About the Role:
We’re looking for a Principal Engineer to advance our ability to build scalable systems, experiences, and APIs. You will provide technical leadership across our Consumer Experiences team. You’ll drive architectural approaches, decisions, and design rigor across our engineering teams. You’ll influence our tech choices and you’ll drive an engineering culture of high ownership with a special focus on quality and observability. You’ll work with your fellow leaders in engineering to help uplevel our engineering culture across Quizlet and help build our new London-based engineering culture from the ground up.
We’re happy to share that this is an onsite position at our San Francisco office. To help foster team collaboration, we require that employees be in the office at a minimum of three days a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and as needed by your manager or the company. We believe that this working environment facilitates increased work efficiency, team partnership, and supports growth as an employee and organization.
In this role, you will:
- Report to the VP of Engineering and contribute as a key member of the leadership team
- Serve as a subject matter expert and drive best practices across the organization with respect to software architecture
- Influence the overall target architecture of our product, aligning with engineers, leadership, and stakeholders at all levels
- Mentor teams in the design and implementation of complex systems, fostering a culture of innovation and technical excellence
- Ensure the delivery of high-quality, scalable, and resilient systems that meet business goals and customer needs
- Drive strategic technology decisions working with engineering leaders, and stakeholders across the organization
- Lead code reviews, architectural discussions, and troubleshooting sessions to ensure the highest standards of development
- Proactively anticipate and identify potential challenges, risks, and scaling issues in the quarters and years ahead while avoiding overengineered systems
What you bring to the table:
- 10+ years of software development experience with expertise in frontend systems
- Demonstrated ability in system architecture and design, understanding of design patterns, and ability to solve complex technical design challenges, with attention to scalability and performance concerns
- Experience designing and implementing high performance APIs
- The desire to work across team boundaries to understand the needs of our product development teams, and partner with infrastructure teams
- Strong problem solving skills, and attention to the little details needed to make informed decisions
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Track record of planning and executing technical initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and complex requirements, applying strategic prioritization
- Excitement about the impact your work could have on the lives of students and teachers every day
Bonus points if you have:
- Professional experience at all levels of the tech stack (web, mobile, and backend)
- Experience leading organizations through complex migrations and refactors
- Prior management experience with teams of 20+
Compensation, Benefits & Perks:
- Quizlet is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Salary transparency helps to mitigate unfair hiring practices when it comes to discrimination and pay gaps. Total compensation for this role is market competitive, including a starting base salary of $245,000 - $315,000, depending on location and experience, as well as company stock options
- Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
- 20 vacation days (and we expect you to take them!)
- Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, HMO, VSP Choice)
- Employer-sponsored 401k plan with company match
- Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
- Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, and Wellness benefits
- 40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice
We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome!
We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership.
We provide a transparent setting, that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!
In Closing:
We hope you are excited about everything you read so far. We highly encourage you to apply for this position, even if you feel you do not meet all the requirements. Quizlet is always looking for amazing folks that believe in our mission and can contribute to our team in various ways - not merely candidates that fit a certain mold.
We have a bias for action, take initiative, and take pride in delivering results. We make informed decisions whenever possible but are unafraid to take calculated risks on great ideas to promote learning. We embrace challenges and see effort as the path to mastery. We’re constantly seeking opportunities to learn and we embrace curiosity. Quality matters at Quizlet, and we hold the bar high on everything we do.
We treat each other with honesty and respect, encourage vigorous debate, and seek critical feedback. We value diversity, humility, transparency, and collaboration as the best paths to our success — as individuals, as a team, and as a company.
Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are actively working to build a team that is representative of the diverse communities we serve, and an open, inclusive work environment where all employees can thrive. As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Come join us!
To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies:
At this time Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles.
Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.
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The Company
What We Do
Quizlet is a leading consumer learning brand that builds learning tools to inspire and empower students and teachers. Our team is already supporting a user base of over 60 million active users a month. We're also among the top 20 U.S. websites and top education apps for iOS and Android - and it's only the beginning. We’re a fast-growing Series C startup, valued at $1 Billion and backed by Union Square Ventures, Costanoa Venture Capital, Icon Ventures, Owl Ventures, Altos Ventures and General Atlantic.
With our massive reach and focus on delivering high-quality innovative learning tools, we're having a major global impact on education.
