Backend Engineer - Podcast

Spotify•New York, NY

1d•$132,948 - $189,927•Hybrid

About The Position

Spotify's Podcast Mission is building the platform that powers how podcasts and video podcasts reach hundreds of millions of listeners. We're responsible for the backend infrastructure that enables creators and large podcast networks to publish, manage, and distribute content on Spotify at scale. In this role, you will take ownership of backend systems that are central to Spotify's podcast ecosystem. You will work closely with other backend engineers, fullstack engineers, SREs, and cross-functional partners to design, build, and operate services that handle high-throughput content ingestion, support podcast content management systems, and power the tooling that internal teams rely on daily.

Requirements

Experience building and maintaining backend services in production, with a focus on reliability, scalability, and operational readiness.
Strong proficiency in Ruby or Java, with experience designing and operating services in at least one of these languages.
Hands-on experience with relational databases, including schema design, query optimization, and operating databases at scale.
Understanding of what it takes to run high-availability systems: monitoring, alerting, graceful degradation, and incident response.
Care about engineering best practices and want to build systems that are well-tested, well-documented, and easy to operate.
Enjoy collaborating in a team environment and working closely with stakeholders to understand real-world problems and deliver practical solutions.
Embrace AI-native development practices, using AI tools to accelerate your workflow and improve code quality.
Curious about applying AI-powered or agent-based approaches to improve backend, support, or operational workflows.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Node.js is a plus.

Responsibilities

Design and build backend services that support podcast and video podcast content ingestion, management, and administration at scale.
Own and operate high-availability systems, ensuring they are reliable, observable, and easy to maintain in production.
Collaborate with SREs, other backend engineers, and cross-functional partners such as customer support and product managers to understand requirements and deliver effective solutions.
Build and maintain integrations that support the podcast distribution API and content management systems.
Drive operational excellence through better monitoring, alerting, automation, and incident response practices.
Contribute to the technical direction of the platform, including evaluating AI-powered approaches to automate operational workflows.