Staff Software Engineer - Partner Platform, APIs & Ecosystem Services
About The Position
At Quizlet, our mission is to help every learner achieve their outcomes in the most effective and delightful way. Our $1B+ learning platform serves tens of millions of students every month, including two-thirds of U.S. high schoolers and half of U.S. college students, powering over 2 billion learning interactions monthly. We blend cognitive science with machine learning to personalize and enhance the learning experience for students, professionals, and lifelong learners alike. We're energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools. Let's Build the Future of Learning Join us to design and deliver AI-powered learning tools that scale across the world and unlock human potential. About the Role We're seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead engineering on Quizlet's external API platform and LearnOS plugin architecture. You'll define integration patterns for partner applications, guide API best practices, and build infrastructure that enables seamless learning workflows across external platforms and AI agents. We're happy to share that this is an onsite position in our San Francisco office. To help foster team collaboration, we require that employees be in the office a minimum of three days per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and as needed by your manager or the company.
Requirements
- 8+ years of backend or platform engineering experience, with expertise in API or developer platforms.
- Strong track record designing extensible, secure APIs, SDKs, and plugin systems.
- Understanding of agent frameworks like MCP, protocol design, and AI/LLM interoperability.
- Experience building platform abstractions and developer enablement layers.
- Hands-on expertise with containerized services, OAuth2, gRPC/REST, and event-driven systems.
- Fluency with platform security, privacy, and system design.
- Proven ability to lead architectural transformation while shipping continuously.
Responsibilities
- Design and implement APIs powering partner experiences and agentic workflows.
- Develop MCP and agentic services to build the LearnOS of Quizlet.
- Lead cross-team initiatives to deliver secure, rate-limited, and discoverable APIs.
- Build infrastructure for Quizlet widgets and embedded experiences in LMSs, productivity tools, or creative apps.
- Mentor engineers and influence platform development standards.
Benefits
- Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
- 20 vacation days that we expect you to take!
- Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, Dental, VSP Choice)
- Employer-sponsored 401(k) plan with company match
- Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
- Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, and Wellness benefits
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Industry
Educational Services
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
251-500 employees
