Software Engineer II (Backend) – Authoring Platform

Launched in 2012 by two Stanford professors, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, Coursera is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 168 million registered learners. Our mission is to provide universal access to world-class learning. We partner with over 350 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations and Professional Certificates degrees. Institutions around the world use Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in fields such as GenAI, data science, technology, and business. Coursera is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp.

Join us in our mission to create a world where anyone, anywhere can transform their life through access to education. We're seeking talented individuals who share our passion and drive to revolutionize the way the world learns.

At Coursera, we are committed to building a globally diverse team and are thrilled to extend employment opportunities to individuals in any country where we have a legal entity. We require candidates to possess eligible working rights and have a compatible timezone overlap with their team to facilitate seamless collaboration. 

Coursera has a commitment to enabling flexibility and workspace choices for employees. Our interviews and onboarding are entirely virtual, providing a smooth and efficient experience for our candidates. As an employee, we enable you to select your main way of working, whether it's from home, one of our offices or hubs, or a co-working space near you.

Job Overview:

The Authoring Team builds Coursera's core platforms and tools for creating rich, high-quality online learning experiences. This role will work on our AI-assisted Course Builder and backend services that enable universities, governments, and businesses to efficiently create and scale learning content. The engineer will collaborate with product, design, and AI teams to build robust, scalable systems critical to Coursera’s mission.

Responsibilities:

• Design and build scalable backend services supporting Course Builder and other authoring tools.
• Integrate AI-assisted workflows, content ingestion, and assessment generation capabilities.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to deliver features from design to production.
• Implement robust monitoring, alerting, and production readiness standards.
• Contribute to design discussions, code reviews, and technical decision-making.
• Stay current on Generative AI trends to influence new features and system evolution.

Basic Qualifications:

• 3+ years of backend software engineering experience.
• Experience with Java or similar object-oriented programming languages.
• Hands-on experience designing scalable microservices and REST/gRPC APIs.
• Experience with databases such as MySQL or DynamoDB.
• Experience working with event-driven architectures using Kafka or similar systems.
• Experience with Generative AI applications including prompt engineering and using APIs such as OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini.
• Familiarity with emerging GenAI features like function calling, chain of thought reasoning, and agentic workflows.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Background in content platforms.
• Experience with GraphQL and gRPC-based service design.
• Familiarity with prompt engineering and quality measurements on prompt responses
• Strong collaboration skills in remote-first, cross-functional teams.

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

Compensation: 

Our job titles may span more than one career level. The starting base pay for this role is between $110,000 and $145,750. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, and location. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, and benefits. 

 

 

Coursera is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected class.   If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, please contact us at accommodations@coursera.org.   For California Candidates, please review our CCPA Applicant Notice here. For our Global Candidates, please review our GDPR Recruitment Notice here.   #LI-Remote