Role Overview
Duolingo is hiring a Senior Software Engineer, Backend. This is a full-time role in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Part of Duolingo's Backend hiring. Full responsibilities, required qualifications, and the apply link are listed in the description below.
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Job Description
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.
Observability Team
This team builds infrastructure and tools that give engineers confidence and clarity at Duolingo scale. We create monitoring, alerting, and debugging experiences that help teams ship faster and respond to incidents effectively. In this team, you'll build instrumentation frameworks, deploy telemetry infrastructure, design dashboards, and connect signals to catch issues before they impact learners. We're looking for engineers passionate about developer experience and reliability.
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 Software Engineer II on the team, you’ll contribute to building and improving AI-driven developer tools used across Duolingo’s engineering organization. You’ll work on projects that improve day-to-day developer workflows. You will help build and maintain systems that integrate AI into the software lifecycle, including contributing to production MCP infrastructure that connects to AI coding agents, with a focus on reliability, usability, and measurable impact.
🧠 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
- Experience onboarding AI tools and changing engineering processes
- Focus on streamlining engineering processes with AI tools
✅ 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
⭐ Exceptional candidates will have...
- Industry experience building high-traffic APIs using public cloud providers
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:
$177,700—$240,400 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 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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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I apply for the Senior Software Engineer, Backend position at Duolingo?
Use the Apply button above to submit your application directly to Duolingo. Most applications take less than 5 minutes if your resume and contact details are ready, and you'll be routed to the employer's official application system to finish.
Where is the Senior Software Engineer, Backend position at Duolingo located?
This position is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Duolingo has not indicated remote or hybrid options for this role, so candidates should plan for on-site work.
What does a Senior Software Engineer, Backend at Duolingo earn?
Duolingo has not disclosed a salary range in this posting. Many employers share specifics later in the interview process; you can also ask during a recruiter screen if compensation transparency is important to you.
When was the Senior Software Engineer, Backend role at Duolingo posted?
This role was posted on March 17, 2026 (83 days ago). It's still listed as actively hiring; we re-confirm openings against the source system multiple times per day and remove closed roles.
How much experience does the Senior Software Engineer, Backend role at Duolingo require?
This is a senior-level position. Most senior roles call for 5+ years of directly relevant experience. Duolingo lists their specific requirements in the description below, so review the must-have qualifications closely before applying.
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