Senior Software Engineer, Roku
Search & Recommendations Platform
$286-340k
+ Equity
Office located in San Jose, CA
Convenient and affordable TV streaming players
Open for applications
Convenient and affordable TV streaming players
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$286-340k
+ Equity
Office located in San Jose, CA
1001+ employees
Company mission
To provide its users with a more convenient and cost effective way of watching the programs they love.
Role
Who you are
- 8+ years of professional experience building large-scale distributed systems
- Proficiency in modern backend languages (Java, Python, Go) and scalable cloud-native architectures (AWS, Kubernetes, service meshes, etc.)
- Deep knowledge of DevOps practices, SRE principles, infrastructure-as-code, and real-time data processing
- Experience collaborating with engineers and product stakeholders to shape features and systems
- A platform mindset: you design with reuse, observability, and scale in mind, supporting not only your team but the broader engineering organization
- A track record of improving performance, cost efficiency, and maintainability in complex environments
- Expertise in deploying and operating observability and tracing tools such as OpenTelemetry, Grafana Tempo, Thanos, Loki, and Prometheus at scale
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience
What the job involves
- Roku’s Search & Recommendations (S&R) Platform Engineering team is central to our mission of delivering outstanding streaming experiences to millions of people around the world. We develop and maintain the core platform that powers search, personalization, and content discovery at scale across every Roku device and service
- We are a technically diverse and collaborative team that values ownership, transparency, and a culture of continuous improvement. We work closely with colleagues across platforms and infrastructure teams to deliver high-performance distributed systems and observability capabilities that enable real-time search, ranking, and recommendations
- Our work includes designing and optimizing online inference infrastructure, feature stores, and data pipelines — all seamlessly integrated with the broader platform ecosystem (Kubernetes, Istio, Envoy). We’re passionate about solving complex technical challenges that have a direct impact on how users experience Roku
- We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer with experience in building scalable, reliable systems to help evolve and extend the infrastructure behind our Search and Recommendations platform. In this role, you’ll be part of a cross-functional, globally distributed team dedicated to creating fast, cost-efficient solutions that deliver relevant and seamless user experiences
- You’ll contribute to the design, development, and operation of critical systems that power real-time search and personalized recommendations for millions of users. You’ll help shape the roadmap for our next-generation architecture, drive standardization and tooling efforts, and champion best practices in observability and resilience
- We are a fast-moving team with a strong engineering culture built on clear communication, thoughtful decision-making, and a shared commitment to delivering impactful solutions. Collaboration is fundamental to how we work — we invest as much in supporting our growth as we do in building exceptional systems
- Design, build, and operate platform infrastructure powering real-time search and personalized recommendations
- Work closely with machine learning engineers, data scientists, and infrastructure teams to scale our Machine Learning Platform
- Shape the roadmap for our next-generation architecture, including improvements in cost efficiency, observability, and resilience
- Drive tooling and standardization, working with the broader platform teams to identify and align on shared approaches
- Design and implement multi-tenant systems and APIs that accelerate development, reduce coupling, and serve multiple teams across Roku
- Take ownership of quality and system performance from design through deployment and operation in production
Our take
According to Nielsen data, the average streamer spends over seven minutes searching for something to watch. Streaming services use customers' viewing history to make suggestions, but these are limited to programs licensed for that particular service.
Roku provides an integrated streaming service that offers TV channels, movies and third-party streaming services, resulting in an all-in-one streaming platform. The service can be accessed through a variety of customized subscription packages and fees.
Roku stands out in the streaming industry by bringing many competitors together in one package. The startup provides further innovative services such as a weekly TV series named 'Roku Recommends' which uses first-party data to recommend essential viewing to users. Alongside funding filmmakers through its "Change Makers Program", Roku also acquired its own original library of shows through its acquisition of now-defunct Quibi's library in 2021. After successful collaborations with TCL and Hisense, the first in-house "Roku Television" was released in 2023, further exemplifying the streaming company's wider ambitions in the media sector.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-6% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 9 rounds)
Jan 2016
$45.5m
LATE VC
Nov 2015
$45.5m
SERIES H
Total funding: $247.8m
Company benefits
- Medical, wellness and financial benefits
- Unlimited paid time off policy
- Work from home opportunities
- Free snacks and access to the company fitness center
Company HQ
Newhall, San Jose, CA
Leadership
Anthony Wood
(CEO)Studied Engineering at Texas A&M before founding their first company in 1986. They held VP roles at both Adobe and Netflix.
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