Data Engineer

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
At Preply, data is at the heart of every decision we make, from optimizing tutor-learner matching to scaling personalized learning experiences across the globe. With hundreds of A/B experiments running concurrently and vast volumes of behavioral, transactional, and interactional data generated daily, our platform presents a rich and complex data ecosystem.

As a Data Engineer, you will be joining us at a high-growth inflection point. This role offers a rare opportunity to shape the foundations of our next-generation data. You will design scalable pipelines, establish robust data quality practices, and drive the architectural evolution that will enable real-time experimentation, ML-driven personalization, and faster iteration cycles. Your work will directly empower our data scientists, product teams, and leadership to make smarter, faster decisions that impact millions of learners worldwide.

We're looking for someone who is excited to build, own, and elevate a world-class data platform, and who sees data engineering not just as a technical challenge, but as a strategic force multiplier for the entire company.

Why You'll Love This Role

• Shape the future of Data at Preply: Play a critical role in defining and scaling our Data Engineering practices, establishing foundational architectures that drive lasting impact.
• End-to-end ownership: Own and optimize the complete data platform, from ingestion and orchestration to storage, transformation and retention, ensuring reliability, scalability, and efficiency.
• Cutting-edge technology: Engage with a sophisticated data stack using Airflow, dbt, Snowflake, Databricks, Kafka, Kubernetes, Cursor, and explore emerging technologies to address evolving business needs. Check out our Tech Radar for more info
• High-impact collaboration: Collaborate deeply different job functions to maximize data accessibility, enhancing teams' autonomy.
• Growth and learning: Deepen your expertise in big data architectures, cloud-native computing, Kubernetes, and real-time data processing - all within a fast-paced, innovation-driven startup environment.

What You'll Be Doing

• Infrastructure scaling: Optimize and scale our data infrastructure, focusing on performance, cost efficiency, reliability, and future-proofing.
• Data strategy alignment: Collaborate to evolve and refine data models and architectural frameworks smoothly.
• ETL & Data processing: Architect and optimize complex ETL pipelines, integrating multiple data sources efficiently and reliably.
• Data Platform ownership: Manage and evolve our multi-terabyte data lake and warehouse, driving accessibility and discoverability within our Data Platform through innovation and optimization.
• Technical guidance: Support and guide data and AI scientists in optimizing pipelines, reducing redundancy, and improving efficiency and effectiveness.
• Data quality management: Drive the selection, implementation, and optimization of data validation, quality assurance, and governance tools/processes.

What You Need To Succeed

• At least 5+ years of hands-on experience in data engineering
• Strong proficiency in SQL, Python, and Spark for data processing and pipeline development.
• Hands-on experience with technologies like dbt, Airbyte, Databricks, Snowflake, Kubernetes, and Airflow.
• Extensive experience with high-volume data ingestion techniques (e.g., CDC) and familiarity with third-party ingestion tools.
• Proven expertise building mature Data Platforms with ETL orchestration frameworks and modern data transformation practices following best-practices data modelling.
• Solid understanding and experience working within cloud-based data ecosystems.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills paired with a proactive, innovative mindset focused on continuous improvement.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across teams with security, engineering, and data.
• Fluent written and verbal English communication skills (C1 level or above).

Nice To Have

• Previous success in scaling data infrastructures within fast-growing startups.
• Proven experience designing and implementing real-time data infrastructures.
• Experience developing the foundational data architecture for a ML Platform.
• Expertise with AWS or Google Cloud data ecosystems.

Why You'll Love It At Preply

• An open, collaborative, dynamic and diverse culture;
• A generous monthly allowance for lessons on , Learning & Development budget and time off for your self-development;
• A competitive financial package with equity, leave allowance and health insurance;
• Access to free mental health support platforms;
• 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.