Overview
Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 175 million registered learners as of March 31, 2025. Coursera partners with over 350 leading universities and industry leaders to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, and degrees. Coursera’s platform innovations enable instructors to deliver scalable, personalized, and verified learning experiences to their learners. Institutions worldwide rely on Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in high-demand 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
We are looking for a Backend-focused Software Development Engineer I (SDE-I) to join our Internal Tools team at Coursera. This team builds platforms and internal services that help our employees work more efficiently, scale operations, and improve how we run our business. As part of this team, you’ll contribute to backend systems that support internal workflows, partner tools, and automation pipelines.
Key Responsibilities
Build and enhance internal backend services, APIs, and data workflows.
Write clean, efficient, and well-documented code using modern backend technologies.
Collaborate with product managers, designers, and engineers to scope and deliver technical solutions.
Participate in code reviews, debugging, testing, and performance tuning.
Maintain existing services and contribute to their reliability, scalability, and maintainability.
Take ownership of small to mid-sized features and iterate based on feedback.
Basic Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
1–2 years of experience in software development, preferably with backend focus.
Proficiency in at least one backend programming language such as Java, Python, Go, or similar.
Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, and object-oriented programming.
Hands-on experience with REST APIs, database systems (SQL or NoSQL), and service architecture.
Familiarity with version control tools (e.g., Git) and CI/CD workflows.
Nice to Have
Exposure to microservices architecture or distributed systems.
Experience with AWS, Docker, or other cloud and container technologies.
Basic understanding of front-end technologies (e.g., React) is a plus but not required.
Why Join Us?
Build internal tools that empower Coursera’s global teams to operate efficiently.
Work in a mission-driven company committed to expanding access to education.
Be mentored by experienced engineers and have access to growth opportunities.
Join a collaborative, diverse, and supportive engineering culture.
Contribute to meaningful work that impacts education at scale.
