Engineering Manager

We power people's progress.

At Preply, we’re all about creating life-changing learning experiences. We help people discover the magic of the perfect tutor, craft a personalized learning journey, and stay motivated to keep growing. Our approach is human-led, tech-enabled - and it’s creating real impact. So far, 90,000 tutors have delivered over 20 million lessons to learners in more than 175 countries. Every Preply lesson sparks change, fuels ambition, and drives progress that matters.

Meet the Team

The Preply Engineering Team provides the tools to help unlock human potential through learning.

At Preply, we build scalable and reliable applications using Python/Django, with a strong focus on data, A/B testing, and feedback from students and tutors to guide our decisions. We prioritize product quality through robust monitoring, metrics analysis, and continuous optimization. Thanks to our advanced CI/CD processes, we release code 50–60 times per day. As a fast-growing company, we face a wide range of technical challenges, giving our engineers plenty of opportunities to grow and make an impact, some of which we even share on our Engineering Blog.

We’re looking for a hands-on Engineering Manager to lead our ML Platform team, a strategic platform team focused on enabling scalable, production-grade ML capabilities across Preply. This is a high-impact, cross-cutting role at the intersection of infrastructure, data engineering, and ML systems.

You’ll lead a senior team of backend/data/ML platform engineers, working closely with ML practitioners, product engineers, and cross-functional stakeholders across the business.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead and support a high-performing team of senior engineers focused on ML infrastructure, data streaming, and scalable systems.
• Build reusable tools, abstractions, and self-service capabilities to make ML at Preply faster, safer, and more reliable.
• Mentor and grow engineers through regular feedback, mentorship, and career growth opportunities, with a focus on creating an inclusive and collaborative environment.
• Identify and prioritize high-impact opportunities in collaboration with DS/ML teams, platform teams, and product leadership 
• Own execution and delivery, ensuring technical quality, reliability, and timely outcomes 
• Provide technical leadership: guide system design and architectural decisions, help navigate trade-offs, and remove technical blockers 
• Champion engineering best practices, from code quality to scalable processes and tech stack evolution

You may want to know more about what we’re doing in our Engineering blog.

What you need to succeed

Must-Haves

• Proven experience designing and scaling ML infrastructure or big data platforms in production.
• Strong background in ML Ops, data streaming (Kafka), feature stores, model deployment, or real-time processing.
• Hands-on engineering experience and strong system design fundamentals.
• Experience collaborating with DS/ML teams, empowering them with scalable tooling and workflows.
• Experience in building, leading, and scaling development teams
• Ethical Leadership: Lead the team by example, demonstrating unwavering commitment to ethical behavior and integrity. Being a moral compass of a team, Instill a culture that values honesty, fairness, and transparency in all engineering endeavors.

Nice-to-Haves

• Previous experience at high-scale product companies 
• Experience migrating ML platforms from MVP to production.
• Familiarity with Databricks, Airflow, AWS, Kubernetes, and streaming systems.
• Background in Big Data architecture (as an alternative to direct ML experience).

Why you’ll love it at Preply:

• An open, collaborative, dynamic and diverse culture;
• A generous monthly allowance for lessons on Preply.com, Learning & Development budget and time off for your self-development;
• A competitive financial package with equity, leave allowance and health insurance;
• Not in Barcelona? We offer an attractive relocation package to join us in our Preply Barcelona Hub
• Access to free mental health support platforms;
• Access to Gympass-partnered wellness and gym centers throughout Spain to promote and support well-being and physical health; 
• The opportunity to unlock the potential of learners and tutors through language learning and teaching in 175 countries (and counting!).

Our Principles

• Care to change the world - We are passionate about our work and care deeply about its impact to be life changing.
• We do it for learners - For both Preply and tutors, learners are why we do what we do. Every day we focus on empowering tutors to deliver an exceptional learning experience.
• Keep perfecting - To create an outstanding customer experience, we focus on simplicity, smoothness, and enjoyment, continually perfecting it as every detail matters.
• Now is the time - In a fast-paced world, it matters how quickly we act. Now is the time to make great things happen.
• Disciplined execution - What makes us disciplined is the excellence in our execution. We set clear goals, focus on what matters, and utilize our resources efficiently.
• Dive deep - We leverage business acumen and curiosity to investigate disparities between numbers and stories, unlocking meaningful insights to guide our decisions.
• Growth mindset - We proactively seek growth opportunities and believe today's best performance becomes tomorrow's starting point. We humbly embrace feedback and learn from setbacks.
• Raise the bar - We raise our performance standards continuously, alongside each new hire and promotion. We build diverse and high-performing teams that can make a real difference.
• Challenge, disagree and commit - We value open and candid communication, even when we don’t fully agree. We speak our minds, challenge when necessary, and fully commit to decisions once made.
• One Preply - We prioritize collaboration, inclusion, and the success of our team over personal ambitions. Together, we support and celebrate each other's progress.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Preply is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment where people from all backgrounds can thrive. Different opinions and viewpoints are key ingredients in our success as a multicultural Ed-Tech company. 

Preply will consider all applications for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or veteran status. Together, we are The World Class. 

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