Demo

Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Duolingo and Careers
Pittsburgh, PA Full Time
POSTED ON 3/3/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 5/2/2026

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:

Core Service Infrastructure
The Core Service Infrastructure team builds and maintains the foundational systems that power Duolingo's learning app at scale. The team defines and implements best practices to ensure that these critical services remain reliable, high-performing, and easy to operate as the company grows. As a software engineer on the team, you'll play a key role in building the next generation of these services while championing the adoption of next-generation technologies that will power Duolingo's continued growth.


Service Delivery Team

As a Backend Engineer on the Service Delivery team, you will have a direct impact on the work of our entire engineering organization and will help ensure our platform is always available for our learners. The Service Delivery team builds and maintains the automated pipelines that power our software development lifecycle. We're responsible for ensuring the rapid, reliable, and secure delivery of our products, from code commit to production deployment. You will play a key role in optimizing and scaling these pipelines, enabling our engineers to ship features quickly and confidently while maintaining the highest quality standards.


:brain: 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

:check: 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
  • Solid understanding of one or more database technologies

:star: Exceptional candidates will have...

  • Industry experience building high-traffic APIs using public cloud providers

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 accommodations@duolingo.com.

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.

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Salary : $177,700 - $240,400

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