About the job Senior Software Engineer
About ELSA:
ELSA is a global leader in AI-powered English communication training, dedicated to transforming how people learn and speak English with confidence. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in San Francisco, we operate across the U.S., Vietnam, Portugal, Indonesia, Brazil and Japan.
Powered by proprietary speech-recognition technology and generative AI, ELSA delivers real-time, hyper-personalized feedback to help learners improve pronunciation, fluency, and overall communication effectiveness. With over 50 million learners and 1 billion hours of anonymized speech data, ELSAs depth of language training intelligence is unmatched in the industry.
Our B2B flagship platforms ELSA Enterprise and ELSA Schools empower organizations and educational institutions to elevate communication capabilities and unlock personal and professional opportunities for their people. We design engaging, bite-sized learning experiences that adapt to each learners goals and context, ensuring measurable improvement and lasting confidence.
Our vision is to become the global standard for real-time English communication training, enabling 1.5 billion language learners worldwide to speak clearly, be understood, and share their stories with the world.
Backed by world-class investors including Googles Gradient Ventures, Monks Hill Ventures, and SOSV, ELSA has been recognized among the top global AI innovators:
Forbes Top 4 Companies Using AI to Transform the World
Research Sniper Top 5 Best AI Apps
ASU+GSV EdTech 150
CB Insights Top 100 AI Companies
Join us in shaping the future of language learning and empowering millions to unlock opportunity through confident communication.
About the role:
As a Senior Software Engineer, you will play a key role in developing and deploying software that solves critical business needs. You will not only be a skilled developer but also a leader and mentor, guiding your team to deliver high-quality, reliable, and maintainable software. You will have the opportunity to shape the development pipeline, influence technical decisions, and collaborate with stakeholders across the organization.
Key Responsibilities:
Technical Leadership:
Demonstrate thought leadership by contributing to technical design decisions that span vertically through the team's ownership.
Overcome obstacles and setbacks, adapting to ambiguity, and communicating changes to plans effectively and in a timely manner.
Infrastructure and Operations:
You keep the CICD pipelines in good health, adjusting them as needed.
You actively set availability and failure rate goals for services your team owns, and pursue them.
Identify and influence the resolution of infrastructure issues to maintain a reliable and efficient soft environment.
Team Collaboration and Growth:
You force multiply for your team by finding ways to enable them to do more each da
Fostering an environment of knowledge sharing and collaboration within the team.
Focus on enabling colleagues to solve problems independently rather than providing instant solutions.
Code and Quality:
Your code quality is exemplary.
Advocate for automating repetitive tasks to reduce errors, save time, and improve efficiency
Demonstrate a deep understanding of design patterns and architectural principles.
Continuous Improvement:
Staying up-to-date on industry trends and technologies relevant to the team's work.
Embracing experimentation and data-driven decision making for continuous improvement.
Customer Focus:
Empathising with customer needs and translating them into technical solutions.
Gathering and analysing customer feedback to inform product development and improvement.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
Strong interpersonal and communication skills, enabling effective collaboration and stakeholder engagement
Data-driven mindset with the ability to leverage data for strategic decision-making.
In-depth understanding of software development best practices, methodologies, and SDLC in a high-speed setting using cloud computing.
Strong problem-solving abilities and a commitment to delivering high-quality solutions.
Proficiency in technical decision-making and trade-offs, considering both short-term and long-term impact
Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop team members.
Openness and willingness to learn and contribute as a full-stack engineer, with the ability to quickly pick up new, necessary skills to deliver fast.
Experience with AWS and Microservice is an advantage
Experience with mobile development (native or Flutter) app development is desirable
Experience with test-driven development (TDD) and behavior-driven development (BDD) practices is an advantage Engineering Manager
Upper-intermediate proficiency in English
Demonstrated ability to use AI tools for productivity and workflows.
Why ELSA?
Competitive compensation package + Stock options
Hybrid working model: 9:00 AM 6:00 PM, Monday to Friday, with one remote Friday every week
Paid time off: 12 days of annual leave, plus 1 birthday leave and 1 Christmas leave
Premium health insurance and annual health check-up to keep you in top shape
Full coverage of social insurance
Free ELSA Premium membership to help you sharpen your English skills
International, collaborative, and high-energy work culture
Be part of a well-funded, fast-growing Silicon Valley startup, where innovation and agility are at the core of what we do
Work at the storefront of AI applied to language learning.