Media Backend Engineer, Spotify

Content Platform

Salary not provided

Kubernetes

Python

Java

Linux

C++

Rust

Junior, Mid and Senior level

London

More information about location

Commercial music streaming service

Be an early applicant

Commercial music streaming service

1001+ employees

B2CMusicEntertainmentDigital MediaSaaSMobile

Be an early applicant

Salary not provided

Kubernetes

Python

Java

Linux

C++

Rust

Junior, Mid and Senior level

London

More information about location

1001+ employees

B2CMusicEntertainmentDigital MediaSaaSMobile

Company mission

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 opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it

Job

Company

Role

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

What the job involves

Our team fosters a collaborative and passionate environment where a deep interest in technical details like timestamps, codecs, and video quality is highly valued
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

Salary benchmarks

Our take

Spotify was founded in an attempt to combat the rampant music piracy that was causing significant harm to the industry. The company has since taken music streaming mainstream and now has 180m+ paying subscribers across the world.

With features that include a highly accessible interface and a vast catalogue of artists, Spotify's strong brand has been able to maintain growth in spite of fierce competition from deep-pocketed rivals like Amazon and Apple. The company has achieved this by making smart acquisitions to move into other verticals to strengthen its offerings, especially podcasting, by acquiring Gimlet Media, Anchor and Parcast.

Spotify's future plans include rapid growth with a goal to become a one-stop destination for all digital sound, as well as AI and NFT integrations. However, high costs incurred from the acquisition of exclusive podcasts, increasing competitor strength, and weak bottom-line growth mean that the company must find a balance to maintain its position in the sector.

Freddie

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Insights

Top investors

23% employee growth in 12 months

Glassdoor (4)

Trustpilot (1.7)

Company

Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)

Jan 2016

$1bn

CONVERTIBLE

Jun 2015

$526m

SERIES G

Total funding: $2.1bn

Company 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 - fully paid - 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

Company HQ

Norrmalm, Stockholm, Stockholms län

Leadership

Daniel Ek

(CEO & Chairman)

Founded Spotify in 2006. Previously worked as an executive at Tradera, an auction company that was sold to eBay and was briefly the CEO of uTorrent.

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