Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Coursera
United States, California, Mountain View
281 East Evelyn Avenue (Show on map)
Jan 16, 2026
About Coursera Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. Today, it is one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 197 million registered learners as of December 31, 2025. Coursera partners with over 375 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, and degrees. Coursera's platform innovations - including generative AI-powered features like Coach, Role Play, and Course Builder, and role-based solutions like Skills Tracks - enable instructors, partners, and companies to deliver scalable, personalized, and verified learning. Institutions worldwide rely on Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, students, and citizens in high-demand fields such as GenAI, data science, technology, and business, while learners globally turn to Coursera to master the skills they need to advance their careers. Coursera is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp Why Join Us At Coursera, we're looking for inventors, innovators, and lifelong learners ready to shape the future of education. You'll help build global programs and tools that power online learning for millions turning bold ideas into real impact. People who thrive here are customer-first builders who move fast, simplify ruthlessly, and iterate relentlessly on the metrics that matter. We're a globally distributed team and let you choose the best way you work, whether it's from home, a Coursera hub, or a co-working space near you. Our virtual hiring and onboarding make it easy to join us and start making an impact from anywhere. If you're ready to make a global impact, scale unique products exclusive to Coursera, and expand your career horizons, apply below. Job Overview: As a Senior Backend Engineer, you'll partner closely with Product, Design, and other stakeholders to break down ambiguous business problems into scalable backend solutions, owning both the technical approach and the resulting product outcomes.In this role, you'll take up significant technical ownership for Coursera in these areas: service architecture, product API development, data modeling, and more. Our backend developers mostly work with modern Java (16+), MySQL, DynamoDB, gRPC, GraphQL (DGS), Kafka, and more within a microservices architecture. Responsibilities: Design and implement scalable systems and infrastructures Collaborate with Product Managers and stakeholders to shape requirements, clarify tradeoffs, and translate business goals into technical designs Break down complex, ambiguous problems into iterative backend solutions that balance speed, quality, and long-term maintainability Participate in product discussions, proposing technical approaches and influencing roadmap decisions through data and system insights Measure your work thoroughly, analyze results, and generate hypotheses to drive new product changes through A/B testing Setup monitoring and testing of your APIs and services to better understand real time health of your products Qualifications: 5+ years of experience working in a relevant software engineering role Expertise in designing highly-scalable and performant micro-services and storage layers using common frameworks, languages, and infrastructure (e.g. Java, Play/Scala, MySql, Cassandra, Solr, Kafka) Experience partnering with product and business stakeholders to deliver user-facing or platform features end-to-end Demonstrated ability to operate in ambiguous problem spaces and drive clarity through technical and product collaboration Comfortable working in a fast-moving team environment (we deploy many times a day!) Data-driven and strongly motivated by success and learnings through experiments and metrics analysis Compensation: This role is available in the following US Pay Zones: US Zone 1: This zone is not available in Zone 1 US Zone 2: $137,600 - $188,500 US Zone 3: This zone is not available in Zone 3 US Zone 4: This zone is not available in Zone 4 At Coursera, we offer competitive, zone-based pay aligned to your location, experience, and role level across four U.S. pay zones. Our total rewards package goes beyond salary, with comprehensive health and wellness benefits, bonus and RSU equity programs, and global perks designed to help you grow and thrive wherever you are. US Pay Zones: US-Z1: SF Bay Area US-Z2: NYC and Seattle Metro US-Z3: CA, WA, NY, NJ, CO, CT, DC, GA, IL, MA, MD, OR, RI, TX, VA US-Z4: AK, AZ, DE, FL, HI, ID, IN, IA, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NV, NH, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, UT, VT, WI Keep Learning If this opportunity interests you, you might like these courses on Coursera: Object Oriented Java Programming: Data Structures and Beyond Specialization Object Oriented Programming in Java Specialization Introduction to Programming with Python and Java Specialization Functional Programming in Scala Specialization Coursera is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to building a welcoming and inclusive workplace. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations upon request at accommodations@coursera.org. Learn more in our CCPA Applicant Notice and GDPR Recruitment Notice. To protect against recruitment fraud, please note that Coursera recruiters will only communicate with candidates using official coursera.org email addresses. We do not conduct interviews or negotiate offers via personal or non-coursera.org accounts.