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Every dataset at Spotify, from the data behind creator royalties to the signals powering recommendations, is registered, published and traced through systems our team builds. We're the source of truth for what data exists at Spotify, where it lives, who owns it, and how it flows from one pipeline to the next.
These systems sit on the critical path of the platform. Data teams use them every day to publish and find data, and other platform teams build on them for access, retention, governance and incident response. That means our work is judged on correctness and reliability, because every system built on top of ours is only as good as the metadata we provide.
This is a backend role focused on data management, working on the problems at the core of any large data platform: running a data catalog that stays accurate at scale, capturing lineage across batch and streaming workloads, managing schemas as they evolve, and guaranteeing that consumers only read complete data. We build on open standards like OpenLineage and Apache Iceberg, and define the internal standards for naming, storage and metadata that the rest of Spotify builds against. As the platform takes on new storage technologies and new kinds of data assets, those standards and the systems behind them have to evolve with it, and you'll help decide how.
What You'll Do
- Build and Evolve Core Services: Design, build and operate the backend services and APIs behind our data catalog, lineage and publishing systems, and evolve them as the platform adopts new storage technologies and new kinds of data. Hold them to a high bar for correctness, performance and reliability.
- Build Data Pipelines: Develop and run the batch and streaming pipelines that keep our metadata current, processing platform events and audit logs to capture how data is created and changed, and turning lineage and metadata into data products other teams build on.
- Own Projects End to End: Turn what the teams using our platform need into technical designs, drive them through delivery and rollout, and own the results once they're in production.
- Keep the Platform Healthy: Take part in on-call for critical services, build in observability and quality checks by default, and use automation, including AI tooling, to reduce toil for the team and our users.
Who You Are
- You have solid experience building and running backend services and APIs in production with Java, and you care about API design, versioning and backward compatibility.
- You're comfortable with SQL and have worked with data pipelines or a cloud data warehouse such as BigQuery, Snowflake or Databricks. Hands-on experience with batch or streaming frameworks like Beam, Flink or Spark is a plus.
- You have a working understanding of data engineering concepts such as orchestration, metadata management, data quality, governance and lineage.
- You break problems down into clear, shippable steps, reasoning through tradeoffs and risks and converging on clear recommendations.
- You own the quality of what you ship, including code written with AI assistance, and you care about operating it well after launch.
- You are a strong communicator and collaborator who enjoys working across teams, and you're comfortable in a dynamic platform environment where many engineers depend on what you build and priorities evolve with the business.
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.
Skills Required
- Production experience building and operating backend services and APIs with Java
- Experience with API design, versioning, and backward compatibility
- Proficiency with SQL
- Experience with data pipelines or a cloud data warehouse such as BigQuery, Snowflake, or Databricks
- Working understanding of orchestration, metadata management, data quality, governance, and data lineage
- Ability to break down problems, evaluate tradeoffs, and make clear recommendations
- Strong communication and collaboration skills
- Hands-on experience with Apache Beam, Apache Flink, or Apache Spark
Spotify Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Spotify and has not been reviewed or approved by Spotify.
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Flexible Benefits — Employees consistently praise the total compensation package beyond base salary, highlighting a mix of RSUs, cash incentives, and stipends alongside core pay. The package is described as flexible and customizable through equity choices (e.g., RSUs, options, cash) that can be tailored for long-term wealth building.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off offerings are repeatedly highlighted as substantial, including generous vacation, paid sick days, volunteer time, and flexible holidays. These policies are framed as a meaningful part of the overall rewards experience beyond salary.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is portrayed as comprehensive, spanning medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability coverage, and mental health support. Additional employer contributions to HSAs are cited as strengthening the overall health and wellness value proposition.
Spotify Insights
What We Do
Spotify transformed music listening forever when it launched in Sweden in 2008. Discover, manage and share over 50m tracks for free, or upgrade to Spotify Premium to access exclusive features including offline mode, improved sound quality, and an ad-free music listening experience.
