Lead Software Development Engineer, Playback Team

Amazon • Newark, NJ

5d

About The Position

As a Lead Software Development Engineer, it’s up to you to define, design and
refine the tech that keeps us one step ahead of listeners. Anticipate. Innovate.
Bring challenging ideas and we’ll support you with the latest tech, tools and
systems that you need to succeed. You’ll drive the team forward, guiding them
over every obstacle and leading the way to develop exciting, original and
effective solutions. Leading the way, you’ll bring our team together to build
and maintain our platform to bring thousands of stories to millions of listeners
and unleash the power of the human voice.

The Playback team at Audible owns the core playback logic and services,
including players, content delivery, security, listening data, metrics and
insights, and a unified SDK. This team focuses on optimizing playback quality,
performance, and customer experience across platforms, using automated tools for
monitoring and analysis. The Playback team also drives Audible's efforts to
advance the state of internet audio through faculty collaborations. You will own
critical infrastructure supporting audio ads at Audible, you’ll build scalable
systems processing billions of ad opportunities annually, delivering world-class
advertising experiences to millions of customers.

This role offers hands-on technical ownership of audio ad systems, real-time ad
serving pipelines, and conversational AI integration. You'll work with talented
engineers solving complex distributed systems challenges while directly
impacting a business.

We are seeking a highly skilled and innovative Software Development Engineer to
design, architect, and implement machine learning solutions that drive
transformative technological advancements. You will combine deep technical
expertise with strategic thinking, capable of translating complex business
challenges into scalable, intelligent systems.

Requirements

• 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
• 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
• 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
• 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
• Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team
• Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent

Nice To Haves

• Experience building complex software systems that have been successfully delivered to customers
• Experience with machine learning and related engineering skill sets
• Full stack proficiency (e.g., Java, NoSQL, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, node.js)

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and test software components and applications for a leading global provider of audiobooks
• Collaborate with Product, Applied Science, and cross-functional engineering teams to define and deliver innovative advertising products
• Optimize ad serving latency, cost, and business metrics for audio advertising at scale
• Collaborate on an agile engineering team, writing scalable and maintainable code and influencing team decisions
• Collaborate with stakeholders to envision, design, develop, test, and launch customer-centric software solutions
• Utilize technology to tackle challenging problems and deliver high-quality code on schedule
• Demonstrate proficiency in a wide range of data structures and algorithms, applying them effectively
• Independently clarify technical requirements, assess development estimates, and employ diverse design approaches
• Conduct code reviews and provide constructive feedback to team members
• Foster continuous improvement in software quality, customer experience, and product maintainability
• Mentor and lead developers, fostering curiosity and deep technical understanding
• Independently lead complex technical initiatives within your team
• Explore technical needs and bring solutions to the table

Benefits

• health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage)
• 401(k) matching
• paid time off
• parental leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level