Staff Software Engineer
Cambly · San Francisco
About this role
## Staff Software Engineer ### About Cambly Cambly’s mission is to bring high-quality English education to every English learner in the world—connecting students with real tutors through a fast, modern learning marketplace. ### Role Overview We’re looking for a **Staff Software Engineer** to own the technical direction of the products we ship. You’ll be a senior technical owner on a fast-moving team (~15 engineers), backend-strong and comfortable across the stack, accountable for taking products from design through launch. You’ll work closely with product managers, designers, and engineers, set the technical bar, and help shape how the team builds—especially as we bring **AI-first** approaches to language learning. ### What You’ll Do - **Own the product platform**: Lead design and delivery of backend systems (APIs, data models, services) and ensure they work in production. - **Make the hard calls**: Drive judgment around domain modeling, and when to build for scale/extensibility vs. when to move quickly for learning. - **Ship end to end**: Take initiatives from technical design through launch. - **Work across the stack**: Support frontend, mobile, and data work when needed (using AI coding tools to stay effective outside your core). - **Set how we build**: Raise the technical bar via architecture, reviews, and best practices; turn successful AI workflows into team standards. - **Grow the team**: Mentor engineers and help raise the overall standard. ### Examples of Projects - Owning the platform behind a new **AI-forward learning experience** that generates personalized activities. - Designing backend systems and **data models** that scale as the AI product grows. - Building **post-lesson activities** tailored to each learner’s improvement areas. ### About You - **7+ years** of engineering experience, with a track record of owning systems and leading them to production. - Strong **backend expertise**: API design, data modeling, and production systems that hold up at scale. - **AI-first mindset**: You direct AI coding tools for implementation and focus your time on decisions, design, and review. - Strong technical judgment: know when to invest in scale/extensibility vs. optimize for speed and learning. - Comfortable working outside your core—prefer shipping over waiting for specialists. - **Product mindset**: care about shipping what learners actually use. - Clear communicator: can explain technical trade-offs to both engineers and non-engineers. ### Life at Cambly - **$60M VC backed** (see Bessemer: https://www.bvp.com/news/our-investment-in-cambly) - **Hybrid-first**: Office days Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday - Daily catered lunch - **100% of medical, dental, and vision paid**, plus **401k match up to 4%** - Paid **maternity and paternity leave** - **20 days PTO**, 9 sick days, 10 company holidays, plus end-of-year shutdown - Mission-driven work helping people unlock economic opportunities by learning English ### Compensation - Location: **San Francisco Bay Area** - Expected base salary range: **$200,000 – $230,000 USD** - Base salary plus **pre-IPO stock options** ### Equal Opportunity Cambly is an inclusive, Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Everyone is welcome to join the mission to make high-quality English education available to all.
Listing freshness
CronJobs last confirmed this listing 2h ago. If its source stops confirming the opening for seven days, this page is removed from active inventory.