Staff Software Engineer, Backend

Sorry, this job was removed at 04:11 p.m. (CST) on Tuesday, Sep 02, 2025
Be an Early Applicant
Seattle, WA
Hybrid
200K-360K Annually
Edtech • Machine Learning • Mobile • Other • Software
We’re here to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.
The Role

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.

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

DevX AI Team:
The DevX AI team empowers engineers at Duolingo to be more effective by introducing AI-infused tools that simplify workflows and reduce friction and toil. As a Staff Engineer in the team, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of engineering at Duolingo. You will define the strategy and architecture of AI-driven developer tools, mentor senior engineers, and drive high-leverage initiatives that touch every part of our software lifecycle. You will build developer tooling that amplify the impact of engineers, including productionizing an MCP infrastructure to connect with AI coding agents. 


  You will...
  • Develop, release, and maintain backend services and/or infrastructure
  • Introduce and iterate on developer tools, and advocate for adoption
  • Collaborate on projects with developers across the company
  • Lead individual project priorities, milestones, and ensure we're always shipping

  You have...
  • A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related technical field
  • Strong competencies in data structures, algorithms, and software design
  • Experience programming in Java, Python, or Kotlin
  • Experience working closely with customers and building products that they love

  Exceptional candidates will have...
  • Industry experience with full stack development for iOS or Android
  • Industry experience building high-traffic products using public cloud providers
  • Experience integrating AI/ML systems into developer-facing tools, including prompt design, model evaluation, or agent workflow orchestration

We post a multi-level salary range for all of our roles.

This is not inclusive of the rest of our awesome portfolio that includes equity compensation and world-class benefits. Our salary ranges are the same for all US locations. Your recruiter can share more details about the range for a specific level during the hiring process. The actual salary within the range is determined by many factors including but not limited to, skills, experience, education, and internal equity.

Salary Range:
$200,000$360,000 USD

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

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 [email protected].

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.

Sign up for job alerts here.

Similar Jobs

PwC Logo PwC

Consultant

Artificial Intelligence • Professional Services • Business Intelligence • Consulting • Cybersecurity • Generative AI
Hybrid
67 Locations
370000 Employees
124K-280K Annually

PwC Logo PwC

Consultant

Artificial Intelligence • Professional Services • Business Intelligence • Consulting • Cybersecurity • Generative AI
Hybrid
67 Locations
370000 Employees
99K-232K Annually

Boeing Logo Boeing

Cloud Solutions Architect

Aerospace • Information Technology • Cybersecurity • Defense • Manufacturing
In-Office
27 Locations
141000 Employees
125K-211K Annually

Boeing Logo Boeing

Mid-Level Security Design Specialist

Aerospace • Information Technology • Cybersecurity • Defense • Manufacturing
In-Office or Remote
24 Locations
141000 Employees
98K-153K Annually
Get Personalized Job Insights.
Our AI-powered fit analysis compares your resume with a job listing so you know if your skills & experience align.

The Company
HQ: Pittsburgh, PA
670 Employees
Year Founded: 2011

What We Do

Duolingo is a language-learning education platform that offers 98 total courses across nearly 40 distinct languages.

Duolingo is the world’s most popular way to learn a language. Our mission is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. Some of our products include:

1. Duolingo: The free, fun, and effective way to learn a language!
2. DET (Duolingo English Test): A modern language proficiency tool designed for today's international students and institutions. It offers an English proficiency score, video interview, and writing sample in an accessible, efficient, and secure testing experience.
3. Duolingo Math: An app that can make math be fun. For everyone. Students can focus on elementary math, which covers classroom topics, or adults can focus on brain training, which strengthens mental math skills and covers more advanced topics.
4. Duolingo ABC: An educational learning app that offers immersive lessons to teach preschool to second grade kids reading fundamentals.

Founded in 2011 by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, Duolingo is the most downloaded education app in the history of the App Store and in 2019 became the top-grossing education app worldwide. The app has been awarded Apple's iPhone App of the Year and Android's Best of the Best.

Learning a new language used to be expensive; we believe it should be free. Over 1.2 billion people are learning a second language and most of them are learning English to improve their lives.

Learning a new language is hard; we believe it can be fun. We use bite-sized lessons that feel like playing a game to keep our learners motivated.

With over 500 million learners we have unprecedented data insights on how people learn. Our teams of language learning scientists, machine learning engineers, and AI experts use this data to constantly improve our effectiveness. We’re building a future in which the highest-quality education is accessible to all.

Duolingo has been named:
2022 Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators
2022 Fast Company 10 Most Innovative Education Company
2021 Forbes Best Startup Employers
2020, 2018, 2017, 2013 Most Innovative Company by Fast Company
2020 Best Machine Learning Startups for by Glassdoor
2018 Inc. Best Places to Work
2018 Entrepreneur Top Company Culture List

University Program Awards:
2022 Handshake Early Talent Award
2022 Untapped Top Internship Programs
2022 OneReq Internship Program Trailblazer Award

Why Work With Us

Our global team works together to make language learning fun, free, and effective for anyone who wants to learn, wherever they are. Best of all, you get to work alongside Duo (literally)!

Gallery

Gallery

Similar Companies Hiring

PRIMA Thumbnail
Travel • Software • Marketing Tech • Hospitality • eCommerce
US
15 Employees
Scotch Thumbnail
Software • Retail • Payments • Fintech • eCommerce • Artificial Intelligence • Analytics
US
25 Employees
Milestone Systems Thumbnail
Software • Security • Other • Big Data Analytics • Artificial Intelligence • Analytics
Lake Oswego, OR
1500 Employees

Sign up now Access later

Create Free Account

Please log in or sign up to report this job.

Create Free Account