Senior Media Backend Engineer
Content Platform
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Permanent
Stockholm or London
Join us to build products impacting over half a billion users globally, shaping their audio and video consumption one stream at a time. Your contributions will have significant impact at scale.
Spotify's backend media transcoding teams are responsible for processing all audio, video, and image content on the platform. We handle diverse media files and are committed to delivering a high-quality user experience through our large-scale, high-performance cloud-based services.
Our team fosters a collaborative and passionate environment where a deep interest in technical details like timestamps, codecs, and video quality is highly valued. We encourage in-depth exploration, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving. We offer a flexible hybrid work model and prioritize genuine work over performative actions. Here, what you create and how you create it are paramount.
What You’ll Do
- Design, develop, deploy, maintain, and support backend media processing and packaging services - with a sharp eye on performance, scalability, and maintainability.
- Work primarily with Rust, Python, and a bit of Java, leveraging C/C++ libraries - all running smoothly in Google Kubernetes Engine.
- Take operational ownership of your team’s services, including participating in an on-call rotation (because you care about what you build).
- Dive deep into media technologies and optimize video/audio processing
- Collaborate with a dedicated team of media tech enthusiasts who think reading a 200-page ISO specification is a good day.
Who You Are
- Fluent in systems-level engineering (think highly-optimized, cross-platform C/C++ libraries).
- Experience in media formats, codecs (audio & video), containers - and you love knowing why they work the way they do.
- Worked with open Source tools like FFmpeg (and yes, we mean libav*), Shaka Packager, and friends.
- Experienced in data structures, algorithms, CPUs, caches, RAM and how to leverage them to maximize performance.
- Has experience building high-throughput networking services that don’t flinch under load.
- You get a thrill from optimizing media delivery - whether that’s tweaking transcoding pipelines, improving playback start times, or debating progressive download vs adaptive HTTP streaming.
- You’re comfy in Linux environments and know your way around container-based infrastructure.
- You care about the craft of software engineering: continuous delivery, defensive programming, automated testing, and writing code your future self will thank you for.
- You’re curious, always keeping up with the latest in media codecs and high-performance backend trends.
- Bonus points if you’ve contributed to Open Source media projects, compiled your own FFmpeg, or can explain why pixels aren’t always square.
- You architect, design, develop, test, and maintain reliable, high-throughput backend services.
Where You´ll Be
- This role is based in Stockholm or London.
- We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best! There will be some in person meetings, but still allows for flexibility to work from home.
Learn about life at Spotify
Spotify is an equal opportunity employer. You are welcome at Spotify for who you are, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or what’s playing in your headphones. Our platform is for everyone, and so is our workplace. The more voices we have represented and amplified in our business, the more we will all thrive, contribute, and be forward-thinking! So bring us your personal experience, your perspectives, and your background. It’s in our differences that we will find the power to keep revolutionizing the way the world listens.
At Spotify, we are passionate about inclusivity and making sure our entire recruitment process is accessible to everyone. We have ways to request reasonable accommodations during the interview process and help assist in what you need. If you need accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know - we’re here to support you in any way we can.
Spotify transformed music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the chance to enjoy and be passionate about these creators. Everything we do is driven by our love for music and podcasting. Today, we are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service.
Our global benefits
Extensive learning opportunities, through our dedicated team, GreenHouse.
Flexible share incentives letting you choose how you share in our success.
Global parental leave, six months off - for all new parents.
All The Feels, our employee assistance program and self-care hub.
Flexible public holidays, swap days off according to your values and beliefs.