Machine Learning Engineer

Spotify; New York (NY); Remote; USD 148,000 - 212,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Six month paid parental leave

401(k) retirement plan

Monthly meal allowance

23 paid days off

13 paid flexible holidays

Paid sick leave

Job summary

Spotify is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer for the Personalization team to advance home recommendations and improve user satisfaction. You will design, scale, and productionize ML models that power features like Discover Weekly and Made-for-you experiences.

You should be proficient with Python and Java/Scala, and have hands-on experience with PyTorch, Ray, and Hugging Face. Familiarity with Spark/Beam and cloud platforms (AWS/GCP) is preferred.

Qualifications

• Strong background in machine learning, statistics, and optimization.
• Experience building and deploying ML systems at scale.
• Hands-on with PyTorch, Ray, and Hugging Face.
• Familiarity with Spark/Beam and cloud platforms (AWS/GCP).
• Collaborates effectively with research, data science, and engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Design, scale/build, evaluate, integrate, ship, and refine reward signals for recommendations.
• Lead collaborations and align across Personalization to integrate and A/B test mid-term signals in various recommendation systems.
• Promote and model best practices of ML systems development and testing across the organization.

Skills

Machine learning

Statistics

Optimization

Production ML systems

Python

Java

Scala

PyTorch

Ray

Hugging Face

Transformers

LLMs

Tools

Apache Spark

Apache Beam

Scio

AWS

GCP

Job description

The Personalization team makes deciding what to play next easier and more enjoyable for every listener. From Blend to Discover Weekly, we’re behind some of Spotify’s most-loved features. We built them by understanding the world of music and podcasts better than anyone else. Join us and you’ll keep millions of users listening by making great recommendations to each and every one of them.

We are looking for a Machine Learning Engineer to join the Personalization (PZN) team - an area of hardworking engineers that are passionate about understanding what drives user satisfaction with Spotify - and who make impactful changes to Home recommendation systems to achieve this goal. As an integral part of the squad, you will collaborate with research scientists, data scientists and other engineers across PZN in prototyping and productizing state-of-the‑art ML at the intersection of recommendations and long‑term user satisfaction.

What You’ll Do

Contribute to designing, scaling/building, evaluating, integrating, shipping, and refining reward signals for recommendations by hands‑on ML development.Lead collaborations and align across Personalization to integrate and A/B test mid‑term signals in various recommendation systems.Promote and role‑model best practices of ML systems development, testing, evaluation, etc., both inside the team as well as throughout the organization.

Who You Are

You have a strong background in machine learning, enjoy applying theory to develop real‑world applications, with expertise in statistics and optimization, especially in sequential models, transformers, generative AI and large language models, and relevant fine‑tuning processes.You have hands‑on experience with large cross‑collaborative machine learning projects and managing stakeholders.You have hands‑on experience implementing production machine learning systems at scale in Java, Scala, Python, or similar languages. Experience with PyTorch, Ray, Hugging Face and related tools is required.You have some experience with large scale, distributed data processing frameworks/tools like Apache Beam, Apache Spark, or even our open source API for it - Scio, and cloud platforms like GCP or AWS.You care about agile software processes, data‑driven development, reliability, and disciplined experimentation.

Where You'll Be

We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best! For this role, you can be within the North America region as long as we have a work location.This team operates within the Eastern Standard time zone for collaboration.

The United States base range for this position is $148,000 $212,000 plus equity.

• health insurance
• six month paid parental leave
• 401(k) retirement plan
• monthly meal allowance
• 23 paid days off
• 13 paid flexible holidays
• paid sick leave

These ranges may be modified in the future.

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.

Spotify transformed music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the chance to enjoy and be passionate about these creators. Everything we do is driven by our love for music and podcasting. Today, we are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service.