Backend Engineer, Core Experience

Spotify; City of Westminster; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading streaming platform is seeking a backend engineer in the UK to design and maintain scalable backend services. Responsibilities include collaborating with engineering teams to create efficient APIs and data flows while ensuring reliability and performance. Candidates should be proficient in Java, understand distributed systems, and be comfortable using tools like Git and BigQuery. The position allows for flexible remote work alongside in-person meetings, fostering a culture of inclusivity and collaboration.

Qualifications

• Experience in building and maintaining backend services.
• Proficiency in Java or a similar programming language.
• Understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate reliable backend services.
• Collaborate with engineers to design APIs and data flows.
• Own services end-to-end including operations and on-call participation.

Skills

Backend service building and maintenance

Java or similar language proficiency

Data structures and algorithms understanding

Reliability and testing

Familiarity with Git, BigQuery, Grafana

Comfort with AI tools

Curiosity and eagerness to learn

Collaboration and teamwork

Experience with GenAI

Tools

Git

BigQuery

Grafana

JUnit

PagerDuty

Job description

The Experience Mission designs Spotify's consumer experience end to end, moment to moment, across every screen, platform, and partner integration. Our mission is to make listening feel effortless, personal, and joyful for billions of users around the world. That means turning complexity into clarity across hundreds of touch points -from our mobile and desktop apps to the smart speakers, TVs, cars, and integrations where Spotify shows up every day. If it touches a consumer, we shape it. We bring deep insight into human behavior, design, and technology to craft experiences that feel intuitive, expressive, and unmistakably Spotify.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and operate backend services that are reliable, low-latency, and ready to scale globally.
• Partner with engineers and product teams across Spotify to design APIs and data flows that power user-facing experiences.
• Take ownership of your services end-to-end, including operations and on-call participation.
• Evolve our architecture to support new features, performance improvements, and long-term technical health.
• Use experimentation and data to drive decisions and improve feature quality.
• Participate in code reviews, technical discussions, and continuous improvement practices.
• Learn, grow, and contribute to Spotify's engineering culture through collaboration, knowledge sharing, and curiosity.

Who You Are

• You know how to build and maintain backend services, ideally using Java or a similar language.
• You have an understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems concepts.
• You care about reliability, testing, observability, and continuous delivery.
• You are familiar with tools commonly used at scale, such as Git, BigQuery, Grafana, JUnit, and PagerDuty.
• You are comfortable using AI tools to improve developer workflows and boost productivity.
• You are curious, proactive, and eager to learn new approaches and technologies.
• You enjoy collaborating with others and shaping both systems and ways of working.
• You have experience exploring or applying GenAI to improve developer experience or engineering efficiency.
• You are excited about building backend services that power user-facing experiences at massive scale.

Where You'll Be

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

Spotify is an equal opportunity employer. You are welcome at Spotify for who you are, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or what's playing in your headphones. Our platform is for everyone, and so is our workplace. The more voices we have represented and amplified in our business, the more we will all thrive, contribute, and be forward-thinking! So bring us your personal experience, your perspectives, and your background. It's in our differences that we will find the power to keep revolutionizing the way the world listens. At Spotify, we are passionate about inclusivity and making sure our entire recruitment process is accessible to everyone. We have ways to request reasonable accommodations during the interview process and help assist in what you need. If you need accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know - we're here to support you in any way we can.