Staff Software Engineer, Search

SiriusXM; Georgia; On-site; USD 102,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

SiriusXM in the United States is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to design, build, and operate scalable search services for automotive and mobile platforms. You will shape distributed systems, guide architectural decisions, and collaborate with content, ML, and infrastructure teams to deliver fast, relevant results.

The role requires 7+ years in backend software engineering (Java), 3+ years Python, and deep experience with AWS services and metadata indexing.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of backend software engineering in Java.
• 3+ years of Python programming.
• Experience with search frameworks and indexing.
• Proven ability to lead complex initiatives and communicate effectively.
• Strong AWS expertise and design-pattern knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate scalable search microservices.
• Drive architecture evolution of indexing and retrieval pipelines.
• Evaluate and integrate ML models where appropriate.
• Collaborate with product, ML, and infrastructure teams.
• Mentor engineers and promote best practices.

Skills

Java backend

Python

System design

Leadership

Communication

Time management

Initiative

Team collaboration

Tools

AWS

EC2

Lambda

S3

DynamoDB

CloudWatch

ElastiCache

IAM

Job description

Who We Are

SiriusXM and its brands (Pandora, SiriusXM Media, AdsWizz, Simplecast, and SiriusXM Connect) are leading a new era of audio entertainment and services by delivering the most compelling subscription and ad-supported audio entertainment experience for listeners -- in the car, at home, and anywhere on the go with connected devices. Our vision is to shape the future of audio, where everyone can be effortlessly connected to the voices, stories and music they love wherever they are.

Who We Are

SiriusXM and its brands (Pandora, SiriusXM Media, AdsWizz, Simplecast, and SiriusXM Connect) are leading a new era of audio entertainment and services by delivering the most compelling subscription and ad-supported audio entertainment experience for listeners -- in the car, at home, and anywhere on the go with connected devices. Our vision is to shape the future of audio, where everyone can be effortlessly connected to the voices, stories and music they love wherever they are.

This is the place where a diverse group of emerging talent and legends alike come to share authentic and purposeful songs, stories, sounds and insights through some of the best programming and technology in the world. Our critically acclaimed, industry-leading audio entertainment encompasses music, sports, comedy, news, talk, live events, and podcasting. No matter their individual role, each of our employees plays a vital part in bringing SiriusXM’s vision to life every day.

SiriusXM is the leading audio entertainment company in North America, and the premier programmer and platform for subscription and digital advertising-supported audio products. SiriusXM’s platforms collectively reach approximately 150 million listeners, the largest digital audio audience across paid and free tiers in North America, and deliver music, sports, talk, news, comedy, entertainment and podcasts. Pandora, a subsidiary of SiriusXM, is the largest ad-supported audio entertainment streaming service in the U.S. SiriusXM's subsidiaries Simplecast and AdsWizz make it a leader in podcast hosting, production, distribution, analytics and monetization. The Company’s advertising sales organization, which operates as SiriusXM Media, leverages its scale, cross-platform sales organization and ad tech capabilities to deliver results for audio creators and advertisers. SiriusXM, through SiriusXM Canada Holdings, Inc., also offers satellite radio and audio entertainment in Canada. In addition to its audio entertainment businesses, SiriusXM offers connected vehicle services to automakers.

How You’ll Make An Impact

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will help make SiriusXM’s massive content catalog easily discoverable across automotive and mobile platforms. You’ll work on the core search infrastructure that powers how millions of users find content every day. In this role, you’ll design, scale, and evolve distributed search systems that retrieve high-quality results at scale. You’ll drive architectural decisions, own complex, business-critical components, and establish best practices as the team and platform grow. You’ll also play a pivotal role in exploring new ML models, re-architecting our search services, improving scalability, reliability, and cost efficiency. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in ambiguity, is technically pragmatic, and can make strong architectural decisions in imperfect, real-world conditions. You’ll collaborate closely with content services teams, product partners, ML/science teams, and downstream client applications to deliver cutting-edge search experiences.

What You’ll Do

• Design, build, and operate well-architected, scalable microservices for the search services stack.
• Drive architectural evolution of indexing, retrieval, and serving pipelines from prototype to production.
• Evaluate, fine-tune, and integrate off-the-shelf LLM models, rapidly prototyping where needed.
• Drive cross-functional initiatives, collaborating with product, science, design, and infrastructure partners.
• Act as a strong technical bridge between science/ML and engineering teams.
• Partner with the Voice Search team to eliminate redundancies and enhance the overall search ecosystem.
• Influence and uphold engineering best practices, mentoring other engineers as the team scales.

What You’ll Need

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience building large-scale backend systems in Java, building backend microservices and scalable distributed systems.
• 3+ years of experience with Python.
• Deep experience with search frameworks, metadata indexing, and retrieval systems.
• Proven experience leading complex, cross-functional technical initiatives.
• Expert-level experience with AWS, including deploying applications using services such as EC2, Lambda, S3, DynamoDB, CloudWatch, ElastiCache, and IAM.
• Strong foundation in object-oriented design, system design, and design patterns.
• Proven ability to make sound architectural trade-offs while maintaining long‑term extensibility.
• Comfort working across system boundaries (infrastructure, ML, and adjacent service domains).
• Ability to handle multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Willingness to take initiative and to follow through on projects.
• Excellent time management skills, with the ability to prioritize and multitask, and work under shifting deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Must have legal right to work in the U.S.

At SiriusXM, we carefully consider a wide range of factors when determining compensation, including your background and experience. These considerations can cause your compensation to vary. We expect the base salary for this position to be in the range of $ 101,500 to $ 195,000 and will depend on your skills, qualifications, and experience. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives.

We encourage all interested candidates to apply.

Our goal at SiriusXM is to provide and maintain a work environment that fosters mutual respect, professionalism and cooperation. SiriusXM is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, gender identity, marital status, familial status, veteran status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

The requirements and duties described above may be modified or waived by the Company in its sole discretion without notice.

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