Senior Software Engineer, Search & Recommendations

Roku; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Global benefits

Healthcare & retirement options

Flexible time off

Job summary

Roku is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for the Search & Recommendations team to build scalable services powering Roku's browse and discovery platform. You’ll work with product to iterate features from prototypes to production, optimize for scale, reliability, and rapid experimentation across millions of users globally.

The role emphasizes collaboration, curiosity, and a global mindset with local execution, in a hybrid working model.

Qualifications

• Strong software development experience in Java and Python
• Experience building large-scale cloud services, ideally in AWS
• Experience selecting data stores and evaluating trade-offs
• Experience with in-memory caching technologies like Redis or Memcached
• Track record of monitoring deployments and troubleshooting production systems
• Solid understanding of end-to-end web architecture from device to data center
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/CE or equivalent experience
• Familiarity with agentic engineering toolchains and AI-assisted coding workflows

Responsibilities

• Build extremely large-scale platform products and services used by developers and consumers
• Collaborate with Product and Design to take concepts from ideation to production
• Lead evaluation of new technologies and promote best practices across development life cycle
• Manage project priorities, deadlines and deliverables
• Participate in Agile processes including design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance
• Leverage AI-powered tools to accelerate coding workflows and productivity

Skills

Java

Python

AWS

Cloud services

Data stores

Redis

Memcached

Web architecture

Agentic toolchain

Code reviews

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

Redis

Memcached

Redis Cluster

Job description

Teamwork makes the stream work.

Roku is changing how the world watches TV

Roku is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and we've set our sights on powering every television in the world. Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. Our mission is to be the TV streaming platform that connects the entire TV ecosystem. We connect consumers to the content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers unique capabilities to engage consumers.

From your first day at Roku, you'll make a valuable - and valued - contribution. We're a fast-growing public company where no one is a bystander. We offer you the opportunity to delight millions of TV streamers around the world while gaining meaningful experience across a variety of disciplines.

What does the team work on?

Roku pioneered streaming to the TV and continues to innovate and lead the industry. While we are well-positioned to help shape the future of television – including TV advertising – around the world, continued success relies on our investment in digital services. Our team is a multi-disciplinary team responsible for the architecture and implementation of services that make up Roku's browse and discovery platform. This platform is the backbone behind The Roku Channel, offering a wide range of free and premium content and entertainment to millions of users in the US and around the world.

What is the role?

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join the Search & Recommendations team, building services at scale that power Roku's browse and discovery platform. This platform is the backbone behind The Roku Channel, offering a wide range of free and premium content and entertainment to millions of users globally. With so many people relying on Roku for great movies, TV, and news, scaling, reliability, fallbacks, and automation are always top of mind as the team continuously adds features to the platform. This role involves working closely with the product team to rapidly iterate on features from prototypes to A/B tests to eventual release to all users. The ideal candidate will bring strong curiosity, a global mindset paired with locally relevant execution, and the ability to respond to changing business needs. It is still early days for this platform, with plenty of challenging and interesting problems to work on.

How will I use AI at Roku?

At Roku, AI agents do most of the keystroke-level coding. Engineers act as the technical leads for those agents — setting architecture, reviewing diffs, debugging failures, and validating that every change meets Roku's quality bar. If you've already shipped features where an AI agent wrote the initial code and you steered it to production, we want to talk to you.

At Roku, we're embracing AI as a powerful tool to amplify human creativity, accelerate innovation, and deliver better results across the company. You already have fluency across the agentic engineering toolchain — coding harnesses like Claude Code or Cursor, MCP servers, custom skills, or agent frameworks. And you can describe projects where these tools made you measurably faster. You know how to drive an agent, verify its output, and ramp on an unfamiliar codebase with an agent helping you.

What are the responsibilities of the role?

• Build extremely large-scale platform products and services, used by Roku engineers across the company and directly by consumers across millions of devices
• Collaborate with Product and Design teams to iterate and build software, taking a concept from ideation to production deployment and support
• Lead efforts to evaluate new technologies and push for best practices across the entire development life cycle, including code and design reviews
• Manage project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables
• Participate in Agile development processes, including scoping, technical design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance
• Leverage AI-powered development tools to accelerate coding workflows and improve engineering productivity

What experience would help someone be successful in this role at Roku?

• Strong software development experience in Java (Python is a plus)
• Expertise in building large-scale cloud services, ideally in AWS
• Experience in the appropriate selection of data stores and analysis of trade-offs
• Experience with in-memory caching layers such as Redis, Redis Cluster, Memcached, or similar technologies
• Track record of monitoring the quality of deployments and troubleshooting production systems
• Strong knowledge of end-to-end web architecture, from end-user device to a service in a data centre
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• Demonstrated fluency across the agentic engineering toolchain — coding harnesses like Claude Code or Cursor, MCP servers, custom skills, or agentic frameworks — and can describe projects where these tools made you measurably faster
• Ability to drive an agent, validate its output, and ramp on an unfamiliar codebase with an agent helping you

What are some of the benefits?

Roku is committed to offering a diverse range of benefits as part of our compensation package to support our employees and their families. Our comprehensive benefits include global access to mental health and financial wellness support and resources. Local benefits include statutory and voluntary benefits which may include healthcare (medical, dental, and vision), life, accident, disability, commuter, and retirement options (401(k)/pension). Employees are supported in taking time off, in accordance with local leave policies and other personal needs to support their evolving work and life needs. It's important to note that not every benefit is available in all locations or for every role. For details specific to your location, please consult with your recruiter.

Accommodations

Roku welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and provides reasonable accommodations and adjustments in accordance with applicable law. If you require reasonable accommodation at any point in the hiring process, please direct your inquiries to

What's Roku's approach to hybrid working?

Roku fosters an inclusive and collaborative environment where teams generally work in the office Monday through Thursday. Fridays are generally flexible for remote work, except for employees whose specific roles or assigned office location require five days' a week attendance.

What should I know about Roku's culture?

Roku is a great place for people who want to work in a fast-paced environment where everyone is focused on the company's success rather than their own. We try to surround ourselves with people who are great at their jobs, who are easy to work with, and who keep their egos in check. We appreciate a sense of humor. We believe a fewer number of very talented folks can do more for less cost than a larger number of less talented teams. We're independent thinkers with big ideas who act boldly, move fast and accomplish extraordinary things through collaboration and trust. In short, at Roku you'll be part of a company that's changing how the world watches TV.

We have a unique culture that we are proud of. We think of ourselves primarily as problem-solvers, which itself is a two-part idea. We come up with the solution, but the solution isn't real until it is built and delivered to the customer. That penchant for action gives us a pragmatic approach to innovation, one that has served us well since 2002.

To learn more about Roku, our global footprint, and how we've grown, visit https://www.weareroku.com/factsheet.

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