Senior Backend Engineer - Audiobooks

Requirements

• You have 5+ years of software engineering experience, ideally across backend systems and distributed architectures.
• You’re highly proficient in Spotify's backend tech stack (Java/gRPC/GCP).
• You have some data experience and a willingness to work across the stack when needed — not because you have to, but because you’re curious.
• You care about clean, maintainable, and testable code and take ownership of quality and operational excellence.
• You thrive in ambiguous, fast-paced environments, enjoy context-switching, and value quick, pragmatic decision-making.
• You demonstrate data proficiency, curiosity about the business domain, and a desire to understand the broader audiobook ecosystem.
• You’re collaborative, humble, and growth-minded — adopting Spotify’s playful culture and Audiobooks Mission ethos of experimentation, ownership, and continuous learning.

What You'll Be Doing

• Design and build systems that power audiobook ingestion, transformation, and delivery — ensuring performance, accuracy, and scalability across millions of titles.
• Contribute across the stack, from backend services and APIs to lightweight interfaces or operational tools, depending on the team’s evolving needs.
• Collaborate with engineers, PMs, and designers to translate sophisticated workflows into elegant, maintainable, and reliable systems.
• Be responsible for your impact — take operational responsibility for the services you build and drive continuous improvement in reliability and performance.
• Adapt and T-shape: Step into areas beyond your comfort zone (e.g., data pipelines, internal tooling, or deployment infrastructure) as the mission evolves.
• Author and review RFCs, sharing your insights and shaping technical decisions that affect the broader Audiobooks ecosystem.
• Embrace the Audiobooks Mission expectations: operate with “short toes,” take ownership beyond team boundaries, and value pragmatic, reversible decisions.
• Mentor and collaborate with peers, sharing knowledge and contributing to an inclusive, psychologically safe engineering culture.

Nice to Haves

• No specific nice-to-haves listed.

Perks and Benefits

• This role is based in London or Stockholm.
• 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.