
Speak is a language learning app that sets users on the path to fluency with the world’s most advanced AI tutor. Built on the core learning philosophy of getting users speaking out loud as much as possible, Speak's AI language-learning experience encourages dynamic two-way dialogue through personalized content and real-time speech recognition. Speak was founded by Connor Zwick and Andrew Hsu in 2016 to democratize access to high quality language education through AI. Backed by Y Combinator, Open AI, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Matrix Partners and more, Speak is a series B startup with a global presence and offices in San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, and Ljubljana. Featured by Apple as the ‘App of the Day’ and ‘Best New App’, Speak is hiring across the globe. Come join us as we teach the next billion people English and reinvent the way the world learns, staring with language!

Speak is a language learning app that sets users on the path to fluency with the world’s most advanced AI tutor. Built on the core learning philosophy of getting users speaking out loud as much as possible, Speak's AI language-learning experience encourages dynamic two-way dialogue through personalized content and real-time speech recognition. Speak was founded by Connor Zwick and Andrew Hsu in 2016 to democratize access to high quality language education through AI. Backed by Y Combinator, Open AI, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Matrix Partners and more, Speak is a series B startup with a global presence and offices in San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, and Ljubljana. Featured by Apple as the ‘App of the Day’ and ‘Best New App’, Speak is hiring across the globe. Come join us as we teach the next billion people English and reinvent the way the world learns, staring with language!
Company: Speak — AI-powered language-learning app
Founded: 2016
Core product: AI tutor focused on spoken conversational practice with real-time speech feedback
Recent funding: $78M Series C (Dec 2024) led by Accel; $1B valuation
Headcount (reported): 273 employees
Language education / skills learning focused on speaking fluency
2016
Software Development
$27M
$20M
Raised as a Series B extension; reported valuation $500M at time
$78M
Reported valuation $1B
“Backed by institutional investors including OpenAI Startup Fund, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Accel, Buckley Ventures and angel investors such as Sam Altman and others”
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About Us Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language. Learning a language can change a life by opening doors to new cultures, careers, and communities. Two billion people around the world are actively trying to learn a language, but the best way to learn (one-on-one tutoring) is hard to access at scale and hasn’t been meaningfully improved in decades. Speak is building a human-level, AI-powered tutor in your pocket: a conversation-first experience that lets learners actually speak, get instant feedback, and progress through carefully designed lessons. The result is a complete path from beginner to confident speaker across multiple languages.
Speak first launched in South Korea in 2019, where Speak has now become the number one language learning app, and we now serve learners across many markets and 15+ languages. Speak is one of the world’s leading AI companies, with over $150m raised in venture investment from OpenAI, Accel, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and more, with a distributed team across San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana.
About This Role As an iOS Engineer on Speak’s engineering team, you will be responsible for a variety of areas including improving how we serve our content, run A/B tests on monetization features, and supporting the launching of new markets and new languages. You will collaborate closely with backend engineers and our partners in Product and Design. You’ll be responsible for shipping product features to millions of users.
What you'll be doing
What we're looking for
5+ years of industry experience working as a Mobile Engineer, preferably in a fast-paced startup environment
bonus: worked on an app that has been used by 1M users
Proficiency in Swift, with a strong understanding of common mobile architectures including MVC/MVVM
bonus: Experience in SwiftUI
bonus: Experience in mobile streaming technologies (websockets, ll-hls)
Reactive programming(RX Java, etc)
Knowledgable in mobile build practices(eg jenkins, bitrise)
Knowledgable in Apple StoreKit/RevenueCat
Excellent problem-solving and communication skills, and the ability to work independently or as part of a team
Coach and mentor other engineers
Strong product sense: ability to think broadly/cross-functionally about product experiences
Office
Why work at Speak
Speak does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.