Senior IT System Engineer
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. Joining Preply means helping define the future of education at global scale, and building something that truly matters for millions of people, every day.
A Senior IT Systems Engineer is a senior technical leader responsible for the architecture, reliability, and security of the company's core IT infrastructure and services. This role goes beyond complex operational support to drive strategic technical initiatives, define best practices, and mentor P5 and P6 engineers. The P7 Engineer owns the technical roadmap for key systems and is accountable for the successful execution of cross-functional projects that enhance the global employee experience and corporate security posture.
What you’ll be doing
Cloud Infrastructure & SaaS Governance
Own and evolve our cloud infrastructure on GCP — from identity architecture and access controls to cost optimisation and scalability planning
Lead SaaS lifecycle management across 300+ applications: discovery, governance, license optimisation, and vendor accountability using tools like Torii
Design and maintain our IAM ecosystem (Okta, Google Workspace, Jamf) including SSO/MFA enforcement, provisioning workflows, and identity lifecycle automation
Build and enforce endpoint management policies across a 99% Apple fleet via Jamf and MDM, ensuring security baselines and a great employee experience
Create dashboards and reporting frameworks that give leadership real visibility into our SaaS spend, cloud posture, and asset health
Code, Automation & AI Platforms
Write production-quality code daily — Python scripts, API integrations, iPaaS (integration Platform as a platform) workflows (Workato or similar), and lightweight internal tools that solve real problems for our team
Build and maintain integration pipelines that connect our SaaS ecosystem: identity provisioning, automated onboarding/offboarding, license reconciliation, and event-driven workflows
Develop internal tooling and dashboards (Google Apps Script, Python, HTML/CSS/JS) that surface actionable data — from AI usage analytics to hardware fleet health and budget forecasting
Shape and execute our internal AI tools strategy — managing adoption, governance, and usage analytics for platforms like Claude, ChatGPT Enterprise, GitHub Copilot, and Cursor
Evaluate and pilot emerging AI capabilities for IT operations — from AI-assisted troubleshooting to predictive SaaS usage and automated compliance evidence collection
Treat Infrastructure as Code as a default: version-controlled configurations, reproducible environments, and CI/CD pipelines for IT automation deployments
Design automation solutions that are clean, maintainable, and built to last — not just clever scripts, but well-documented, testable, production-grade systems
Team Leadership & Technical Mentoring
Lead and mentor a team of 5–6 IT engineers — hiring, coaching, mentoring, and creating real career development paths
Elevate your team’s engineering skills through hands-on mentoring: pair programming, code reviews, architecture discussions, and setting quality standards that raise everyone’s game
Build a collaborative engineering culture where the team ships robust IT solutions that internal customers genuinely value
Help IT engineers grow from script-writers into systems thinkers — teaching them to build modular, testable, well-documented automation they’re proud of
Champion open communication and a strong feedback culture — great teams are built on psychological safety, trust, and transparency
Collaborate across the Platform group to align your team with company objectives and ambitious IT maturity goals
Build roadmaps that balance long-term strategic vision (governance frameworks, scalable architectures) with tactical quick wins that deliver immediate value
Security & Compliance
Partner with Security and Legal to maintain SOC 2 compliance — owning IT controls, evidence collection, and audit readiness
Ensure GDPR and data protection requirements are embedded into every system and workflow your team touches
Lead initiatives that enforce best-in-class governance practices: access reviews, vendor risk assessments, and shadow IT remediation
Embrace an agile “build it and run it” mindset where your team owns what they build, from launch through ongoing security and support
Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement
Create a learning environment where experimentation is encouraged and delivery proficiency keeps improving
Lead initiatives that crush manual work, boost efficiency, and raise the bar on governance practices
Be the champion for engineering best practices within the IT function and across the organisation
What you need to succeed
8k+ years in IT engineering, platform engineering, or infrastructure roles — with at least 2 years leading or mentoring a technical team
Strong, demonstrable coding ability in Python — not just scripting, but building well-structured, testable automation with proper error handling, logging, and documentation
Hands-on experience building API integrations and working with RESTful services, OAuth flows, webhooks, and API-first SaaS platforms
Proficiency with at least one iPaaS / workflow automation platform (Workato, Tray.io, n8n, or similar) for building enterprise integration pipelines
Experience building internal tools and dashboards — whether that’s Google Apps Script, lightweight web apps (HTML/CSS/JS), or data visualisation frameworks
Deep hands-on experience with our core stack: Okta (or comparable IdP), Google Workspace, Jamf, and GCP
Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code principles and tools (Terraform, Pulumi, or similar)
Version control fluency — Git workflows, branching strategies, and CI/CD pipelines are second nature to you
A genuine passion for AI-assisted workflows and experience adopting or governing AI developer tools (Copilot, Claude, Cursor, or similar)
The ability to balance team management with hands-on technical work — you lead by example and stay close to the code
Experience mentoring engineers: you enjoy pair programming, giving thoughtful code reviews, and helping people level up their craft
Experience navigating compliance frameworks (SOC 2, GDPR, ISO 27001) from the IT operations side
A problem-solving mindset that navigates ambiguity with data, curiosity, and a user-first approach — yes, internal stakeholders are users too
A bias for action: experiment, test new approaches, learn from data, and iterate quickly to deliver value
Clear, effective communication in English (written and verbal)
Openness to giving and receiving feedback in a safe, supportive environment
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;
Not in Barcelona? We offer an attractive relocation package to join us in our Preply Barcelona Hub;
Access to free mental health support platforms;
Access to Gympass-partnered wellness and gym centers throughout Spain to promote and support well-being and physical health;
The opportunity to shape the lives 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.
We do it for learners - For both Preply and tutors, learners are why we do what we do. Every day we focus on empowering tutors to deliver an exceptional learning experience.
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. Now is the time to make great things happen.
Disciplined execution - What makes us disciplined is the excellence in our execution. We set clear goals, focus on what matters, and utilize our resources efficiently.
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. We humbly embrace feedback and learn from setbacks.
Raise the bar - We raise our performance standards continuously, alongside each new hire and promotion. We build diverse and high-performing teams that can make a real difference.
Challenge, disagree and commit - We value open and candid communication, even when we don’t fully agree. We speak our minds, challenge when necessary, and fully commit to decisions once made.
One Preply - We prioritize collaboration, inclusion, and the success of our team over personal ambitions. Together, we support and celebrate each other's progress.
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. That means that Preply will consider all applications for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or veteran status.