Staff Software Engineer, Quizlet
Study Hub
$184-225k
+ Stock Options
More information about location
3 days a week in office
Learning tools for students and teachers
Be an early applicant
Learning tools for students and teachers
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
$184-225k
+ Stock Options
More information about location
3 days a week in office
201-500 employees
Company mission
Quizlet's mission is to give every student the tools and confidence to succeed, no matter their motivation or what they’re striving to achieve.
Role
Who you are
- 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with a track record of delivering reliable and scalable systems
- Experience with modern backend frameworks (e.g., Go, PHP, Python, etc.), expertise in distributed systems, and relational databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL)
- Experience designing and operating high-availability, high-scale systems
- Strong experience with Elasticsearch and other search technologies (e.g., Solr, OpenSearch, Vespa), with deep knowledge of indexing strategies, query optimization, sharding strategies, replication, and caching. Skilled in testing and debugging search infrastructure, including load testing, query benchmarking, and failure scenario simulations to ensure scalability, performance, and reliability
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to design and implement end-to-end solutions
- Expertise in backend development using Hack, PHP, and Go (or similar modern backend frameworks) to build and optimize scalable server-side logic and APIs
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts to diverse audiences
Desirable
- Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Terraform, ArgoCD, GitHub Actions, or similar tooling
- Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (Google Cloud, AWS, etc.) and modern DevOps practices
- Experience working with vector-based search applications
What the job involves
- You will be joining a fast-moving and rapidly growing team dedicated to reimagining how students interact with Quizlet and its products
- Our primary goal is to encourage users to return more frequently for longer study sessions, ultimately helping them achieve academic success
- To meet these objectives, you'll collaborate closely with a cutting-edge engineering team that leverages the latest AI methodologies for Quizlet’s search and recommendations system
- Our team is dynamic and agile, designed to quickly adapt to user feedback as we push forward with major product innovations
- Together, we are committed to delivering a transformative learning experience for students everywhere
- We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer who brings expertise in reliability, performance, scalability, and software engineering best practices
- You will leverage your experience to help solve some of our hardest problems, model best practices, and drive learning and improvement across engineering teams while contributing to broader software development initiatives
- You will collaborate with product and platform teams to build robust, scalable, and high-performing systems that support our products and services
- Drive the evolution of our systems by identifying areas for improvement, setting technical direction, and leading architectural decisions to align with business objectives
- Work closely with engineering, product, and infrastructure teams to build robust, scalable applications
- Act as a technical mentor by guiding engineers in system design, best practices, and career growth, while fostering a culture of collaboration and learning
- Lead by example in writing clean, efficient, and well-documented code
- Shape the strategy for our search infrastructure, driving innovations in indexing, query performance, and scalability to support business needs
- Facilitate knowledge-sharing sessions, tech talks, and code reviews to elevate engineering excellence
Our take
Quizlet has built a large-scale business around simple-to-share and simple-to-use products. Its free flashcard maker helps students prepare for exams. Those insights fuel Quizlet Plus, the startup’s subscription product that charges an annual fee for access to more features, including tutoring services.
After a long period of runaway growth, during which the company achieved a $1 billion valuation, Quizlet has been somewhat buffered by the general market downturn affecting the tech sector in 2022, which hit EdTech particularly heavily. It has responded by a shakeup of its leadership team, appointing AirBnB and Starship Technologies veteran Lex Bayer.
With an entrepreneurial management team and a strong user base of over 60 million students and teachers, Quizlet seems likely to weather the current economic situation and resume its growth in the near future.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
75% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
May 2020
$30m
SERIES C
Feb 2018
$20m
SERIES B
Total funding: $62m
Company benefits
- Comprehensive health, dental, vision and disability plans for you and your family. 100% paid premiums for employees, 75% for dependents
- 20 days of PTO, 10 paid holidays, and 5 volunteer days
- Generous family leave plan
- $1,000 stipend each year for professional development
- $100/month reimbursement towards wellness, plus memberships to physical & mental health resources
- Stock options
- 401k match
- Free lunch and dinner, healthy snacks & drinks daily
- Commuter Benefits - we'll help cover 50% of your public commuter & parking costs, plus pre-tax FSA.
Company HQ
China Basin, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Dave Margulius
(Board Member)Currently Advisor at Law Students for Climate Accountability. Previously on the Board of Directors at Churchill Club and Founder at Enterprise Insight.
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