Senior Software Engineer, Learning Commons

Learning Commons is Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s education initiative, which aims to scale proven teaching and learning practices to benefit every learner. Learning Commons became the name of our education efforts in 2025 to build on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s work over the past decade to advance learning science and help translate that research into classroom practice.

The Team

At Learning Commons, we pair technology with grantmaking to scale proven teaching and learning practices to benefit every learner. We aim to translate what learning science tells us about how students learn best into classroom practice. With the advent of generative AI, that translation work can be accelerated and scaled to have a greater impact. 

Our mission is to bring learning science into the tools used every day by teachers and students, ensuring that technology reflects the realities of classrooms and strengthens teaching and learning.

In today’s fragmented edtech landscape, school districts are often left piecing together products that don’t always align with curricula or instructional needs. While AI holds enormous potential to support educators, it can only deliver on that promise when grounded in research, high-quality educational data, and expert evaluation. That’s why we’re building open, public-purpose infrastructure — datasets, rubrics, and resources — that help raise the standard for educational tools and create more consistent, impactful learning experiences for all students and teachers.

At our core, we are builders, and our unique builder philanthropy approach is what sets us apart from other education funders. Take a closer look at the highlights and significant milestones of CZI’s first eight years of education work.

The Opportunity

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Curriculum Sync team, you'll help build and evolve the middleware layer that powers the Open Edtech Ecosystem. Our system connects K–12 learning platforms with the Knowledge Graph to enable rich, curriculum-aligned learning experiences for school districts and their suite of tools.

Curriculum Sync sits at the heart of CZI’s Open Edtech Ecosystem strategy — enabling K–12 school districts to deliver high-quality, openly licensed curriculum directly within their Learning Management Systems (LMS). As we move into a pivotal phase, the team is prioritizing standalone value: making it easier and more scalable for districts to adopt instructional materials like IM360 without vendor lock-in or custom integrations.

As a senior software engineer, you’ll join a team building the critical middleware infrastructure that connects curriculum, platform, and pedagogy. You’ll work on impactful projects like a full web application redesign, a Google Classroom integration that expands reach to over 50% of the U.S. K–12 market, and foundational infrastructure that enables curriculum-aligned AI experiences through the Knowledge Graph.

This is a rare opportunity to shape both the technical architecture and educator experience at scale — helping schools get more value from their LMS while laying the groundwork for future AI-powered instructional tools.

What You'll Do

• Lead and contribute to high-impact projects, including a web application redesign and rebrand, and a Google Classroom integration for loading and syncing HQIM (high-quality instructional material).
• Own features end-to-end — from architecture and design to implementation, testing, deployment, and ongoing improvement.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with designers, product managers, infra partners, and other engineers to align on scope, deliverables, and tradeoffs.
• Apply sound engineering practices to ensure performance, maintainability, and reliability across distributed systems and cloud infrastructure.
• Contribute to technical strategy by evaluating tools, shaping APIs, and documenting architectural decisions that scale with the growing ecosystem.
• Mentor peers and elevate team quality through thoughtful code review, knowledge sharing, and leadership in team processes.

What You'll Bring

• Strong software engineering fundamentals with 5+ years of experience building web applications, backend services, and cloud infrastructure.
• Fluency with our core stack: TypeScript, React (ideally React Router 7 and Remix), PostgreSQL, Redis, and CI/CD via GitHub Actions.
• Experience designing and implementing distributed systems using Kubernetes, Docker, AWS, and Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform).
• Ability to navigate and simplify complexity — you’ve been a part of large, multifaceted projects with clean abstractions and minimal disruption.
• Growth mindset and adaptability — you’re comfortable working across the stack, learning new technologies, and embracing feedback.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, especially across disciplines and in ambiguous problem spaces.
• A passion for improving education and enabling interoperable, equitable digital learning experiences.

Compensation

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for a new hire in this role is $190,000 - $261,800. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. 

Better Together

As we grow, we’re excited to strengthen in-person connections and cultivate a collaborative, team-oriented environment. This role is a hybrid position requiring you to be onsite for at least 60% of the working month, approximately 3 days a week, with specific in-office days determined by the team’s manager. The exact schedule will be at the hiring manager's discretion and communicated during the interview process.

Benefits for the Whole You 

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible. 

• Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice. 
• Funding for select family-forming benefits. 
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

#LI-Hybrid