At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and grow high-performing engineering teams to shape the future of education.
- Company: Join Preply, a unicorn Ed-Tech company transforming learning experiences globally.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive pay, equity, health insurance, and a monthly allowance for lessons.
- Other info: Collaborative, dynamic culture with excellent career growth opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on millions of learners while fostering a culture of growth.
- Qualifications: 3-5+ years in leading development teams with strong technical and people skills.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
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 personalised learning journey, and stay motivated to keep growing. Our approach is human-led, tech-enabled - and it’s creating real impact. We’ve just reached unicorn status with a $150M Series D, accelerating our vision to transform education through human-led, AI-enhanced learning. Today, 100,000+ tutors teach 90+ languages to learners in 180 countries - and we’re only getting started. As a category-defining company, we’re shaping what the future of learning looks like at global scale. Every Preply lesson sparks change, fuels ambition, and drives progress that matters.
At Preply, we build scalable and reliable applications using Python/Django, with a strong focus on data, A/B testing, and feedback from students and tutors to guide our decisions. We prioritise product quality through robust monitoring, metrics analysis, and continuous optimisation. Thanks to our advanced CI/CD processes, we release code 50–60 times per day. We’ve reached 90%+ adoption of AI coding tools across engineering, and we’re now moving towards more autonomous, AI-Augmented development at scale. At Preply, engineers have direct access to the best tools available, with the freedom to use them fully and experiment as they build. As a fast-growing company, we face a wide range of technical challenges, giving our engineers plenty of opportunities to grow and make an impact.
We're looking for an Engineering Manager to join one of 2 high-impact tribes at Preply:
- Growth Tribe - owns a significant part of the learner journey, from helping students discover value on Preply and successfully start learning, to driving subscription conversion, engagement, retention, and long-term learner success.
- Monetization Tribe - is the centre of Preply’s economic engine, owning the systems and experiences that drive how learners purchase, how tutors earn, and how the marketplace grows.
As an Engineering Manager, you'll help shape the strategy, execution and growth of teams working on products that directly impact millions of learners worldwide.
What you’ll be doing:
- Lead and grow high-performing engineering teams, fostering a culture of ownership, continuous improvement and technical excellence.
- Coach and develop engineers, support them through regular feedback, mentorship and career development, while creating an inclusive and collaborative team environment.
- Define and drive long-term vision, set the strategy for your teams, ensuring perfect alignment with company objectives and product priorities.
- Identify and prioritise high-impact opportunities, partner closely with Product, Data and Design to ensure teams focus on initiatives that deliver the greatest customer and business value.
- Own execution and delivery. Balance speed, quality and reliability while ensuring teams consistently achieve desired outcomes.
- Provide technical leadership, guide system design and architectural decisions, help teams navigate trade-offs and remove technical obstacles.
- Champion engineering best practices. Drive continuous improvements in code quality, operational excellence, development processes and technology evolution.
- Collaborate cross-functionally, work with stakeholders across the broader business to maximise impact and align on priorities, strategy and outcomes.
What you need to succeed:
- 3-5+ years of experience in building, leading and scaling development teams.
- People-Centric Approach and Team Building Skills: a passion for building high-performing teams and helping people grow.
- Strong technical judgement and systems thinking.
- Product & Business Partnership: You're comfortable working closely with Product, Design and Data partners to identify opportunities, prioritise investments and drive measurable outcomes.
- Results-Oriented: A track record of driving performance.
- Ethical Leadership: You lead by example, serving as the team's moral compass by demonstrating empathy, transparency, accountability and a strong sense of ownership.
Why you’ll love it at Preply:
- An open, collaborative, dynamic and diverse culture;
- A generous monthly allowance for lessons on Preply.com, 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.
- 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.
- Disciplined execution - What makes us disciplined is the excellence in our execution.
- 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.
- Raise the bar - We raise our performance standards continuously, alongside each new hire and promotion.
- Challenge, disagree and commit - We value open and candid communication, even when we don’t fully agree.
- One Preply - We prioritise collaboration, inclusion and the success of our team over personal ambitions.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Preply.com is committed to creating an inclusive environment where people of diverse backgrounds can thrive. We believe that the presence of different opinions and viewpoints is a key ingredient for our success as a multicultural Ed-Tech company.
Engineering Manager Location: London employer: Preply
At Preply, we pride ourselves on being an excellent employer that fosters creativity and innovation in a collaborative work environment. Our commitment to employee growth is reflected in our supportive culture, where team members are encouraged to explore new ideas and develop their skills. Located in a vibrant city, we offer unique advantages such as flexible working arrangements and a focus on work-life balance, making it a rewarding place for those looking to make a meaningful impact in user engagement.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Engineering Manager Location: London
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Preply or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Preply.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Preply.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Preply that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Engineering Manager Location: London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Preply.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Preply and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Preply
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Preply uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.