Senior Software Engineer, Platform
Lirvana Labs
Software Engineering
Menlo Park, CA, USA
Posted on May 24, 2025
About Us
Lirvana Labs is an early-stage, VC-backed ed-tech startup turning the dream of truly personalized learning into everyday reality. Backed by Kapor Capital and other mission-aligned investors, with design and development partners such as Sesame Workshop, TNTP, Educators Rising, Stanford University’s Deliberative Democracy Lab, MIT Solve and MIT Raise, we are racing toward our next horizon of impact and ground-breaking use of AI to push the envelope in learning, teaching and coaching.
Our flagship suite combines Yeti Confetti Kids—a playful AI tutor that adapts on the fly—with a Teacher Co-Pilot Portal that delivers real-time insights and one-click actions for educators. Under the hood, we’re pushing LLMs to the edge of what’s possible in recommendation, session planning, and formative feedback, ensuring each student gets just-right challenges while teachers stay firmly in the loop.
We’re gearing up to expand our elementary literacy, math and SEL programming success beyond K12, with new and existing market expansion across APAC, the Middle East, and the U.S. Join us if you’d rather build the future of education than wait for it.
What You’ll Do
- We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer, Platform who combines deep technical expertise with a product-minded approach. You’ll lead the design and implementation of scalable backend systems with GraphQL and Java, while also developing features across our mobile and web apps using Flutter.
- This role goes beyond technical execution—it requires a strategic mindset and a passion for building personalized learning experiences powered by data, AI, and thoughtful user design.
- You’ll play a critical role in defining how learners engage with our platform—guiding the architecture behind LLM-based recommendation systems, adaptive content, and exploring the latest frontiers in generative AI experiences including conversational AI, generative image/animation, and MCP toolkits that evolve with each user's needs.
Key Responsibilities: Product Development
- Lead the design and maintenance of backend services and GraphQL APIs, that power data-rich and responsive user experiences.
- Build secure, compliant, and efficient data flows that support personalization recommendation engine.
- Ensure high performance and scalability across frontend and backend systemsDrive design decisions and guide the evolution of our full-stack platform.
Key Responsibilities: Personalization & Recommendations
- End-to-end design and implementation of systems that enable personalized content delivery, adaptive learning flows, and smart recommendations.
- Collaborate with Product teams to design and refine algorithms that tailor experiences to user behavior, preferences, and learning goals.
- Leverage AI/LLM tools and techniques (e.g., embeddings, vector search) to improve engagement and outcomes.
- Translate fuzzy product ideas into clear technical strategies with measurable impact.
- Continuously test, evaluate, and iterate on personalization features using real-world data and user feedback
Key Responsibilities: Collaboration
- Partner with cross-functional teams including product, design, and QA to deliver end-to-end features
- Participate in roadmap planning, architecture reviews, and mentoring of junior engineers
- Contribute to and uphold best practices in testing, code quality, and development workflows
- Serve as a thought leader on the engineering team—sharing insights on full-stack development, LLM innovations (MCPs, Agentic workflow/frameworks), and EdTech innovation
What You’ll Bring
- 6+ years of professional experience in full-stack development
- Advanced experience in Java, GraphQL, and API architecture
- A solid grasp of modern web and mobile performance, cross-platform development, and accessibility standards
- Hands-on experience with AI/ML APIs (OpenAI, Hugging Face, etc.) or incorporating intelligent features in user-facing applications
- Zero-to-one mindset, with strong systems thinking, product intuition, and communication skills
Bonus Skills
- Demonstrated success designing and implementing personalization, recommendation, or adaptive UX features in production systems
- Experience in Flutter and building complex, interactive mobile/web apps
- Experience building or integrating learning management systems (LMS) or working in the EdTech sector
- Experience in early-stage startups or high-growth product environments
- Familiarity with experimentation platforms (Mixpanel, Amplitude Experiment, etc)
- Experience with Rive animations, real-time feedback mechanisms, or gamification frameworks
- Genuine curiosity for how kids learn and grow through digital tools.
- A knack for experimentation and research into the latest frontiers of generative AI user-interactions and experiences is a big bonus
What We Offer
- Career-defining ownership over a mission‑critical personalization platform.
- A chance to work at the intersection of cutting edge mobile and web applications, and AI.
- Opportunity to work alongside a passionate team building delightful, impactful products
- Co-working space access at SPACES Menlo Park
- Mission-aligned culture focused on learning, play, and equity in education
- Subsidized meals M-F, medical and family insurance, exposure to global teams (our APAC regional HQ in Hong Kong, and remote teams across NYC, Texas, the Middle East and SE Asia) working to redefine the education experience together with us!
Next Steps
If you’re passionate about shaping the future of learning and excited to build intelligent, responsive, and playful digital experiences, we’d love to hear from you. Please include a short note sharing what excites you about this role—especially your thoughts or experience with personalization, recommendation systems, or EdTech platforms.