Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Posted 14 Days Ago
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Bengaluru, Bengaluru Urban, Karnataka, IND
In-Office
Senior level
News + Entertainment
The Role
Build and support highly scalable, reliable, low-latency search infrastructure for query understanding, autocomplete, candidate retrieval, ranking, and personalization. Optimize search APIs, indexing systems, machine learning infrastructure, and data platforms for reliability, stability, performance, and cost efficiency. Manage project priorities and deliverables independently while using agentic engineering tools to lead development and validate AI-generated code.
Summary Generated by Built In
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 Search team directly contributes to Roku's mission by helping connect users to the content they like and enabling content publishers to build and monetize large audiences. Our team builds state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms to optimize search relevance and highly scalable, reliable & low latency search platform infrastructure to power a delightful search experience.

 What is the role?

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help us take our Search infrastructure to the next level of scalability, power innovation, and growth worldwide. You will build and support world-class search platform infrastructure that powers Search Query Understanding, Autocomplete, Candidate Retrieval (Lexical & Embedding Based), Search Ranking, and Personalization. You will iterate and optimize for improving platform KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), driving reliability, stability, low latency, and cost efficiency across search API and indexing systems, ML infrastructure, and search data platforms. You will manage individual project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables with limited supervision. This is a high-impact engineering role where your work will directly shape the search experience for millions of Roku users globally.

 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 context, planning work, verifying outputs, and recovering when the agent goes off course. If you are excited about working this way, 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 for our customers. Across teams, we're exploring how AI can enhance our work — and we're only looking for people who are curious, adaptable, and excited to grow alongside these technologies.

 What are the responsibilities of the role?
  • Build and support world-class search platform infrastructure that powers Search Query Understanding, Autocomplete, Candidate Retrieval (Lexical & Embedding Based), Search Ranking, and Personalization
  • Iterate and optimize for improving platform KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), driving reliability, stability, low latency, and cost efficiency across search API and indexing systems, ML infrastructure, and search data platforms
  • Manage individual project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables with limited supervision
 What experience would help someone be successful in this role at Roku?
  • 5+ years of experience building large-scale software solutions to concrete problems
  • Strong computer science fundamentals with the ability to write algorithms with ease
  • Fluency in one of the high-level programming languages like Java, Scala, Go, or Python
  • Experience working with big data systems (Spark, Kafka, Flink, S3, Airflow)
  • Expertise in data storing solutions with the ability to make a reasoned choice between various products like MySQL, DynamoDB, Redis, and RocksDB
  • Experience with ETL pipelines, both streaming and batch
  • In-depth knowledge of at least one search engine (Elasticsearch, Solr, Lucene, Vespa)
  • You have built 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 you shipped real work with these tools. You know how to drive an agent, verify its output, and ramp on an unfamiliar codebase with an agent helping you
#LI-SJ1
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 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 [email protected].


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.

By providing your information, you acknowledge that you want Roku to contact you about job roles, that you have read Roku's Applicant Privacy Notice, and understand that Roku will use your information as described in that notice. If you do not wish to receive any communications from Roku regarding this role or similar roles in the future, you may unsubscribe at any time by emailing [email protected].

Skills Required

  • 5+ years of experience building large-scale software solutions
  • Strong computer science fundamentals and algorithm-writing ability
  • Fluency in at least one high-level programming language: Java, Scala, Go, or Python
  • Experience with big data systems, including Spark, Kafka, Flink, S3, or Airflow
  • Expertise in data storage solutions such as MySQL, DynamoDB, Redis, or RocksDB
  • Experience with streaming and batch ETL pipelines
  • In-depth knowledge of at least one search engine: Elasticsearch, Solr, Lucene, or Vespa
  • Fluency with agentic engineering tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, MCP servers, custom skills, or agent frameworks
  • Ability to drive AI agents, verify their output, and use them to ramp up on unfamiliar codebases

Roku Compensation & Benefits Highlights

The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Roku and has not been reviewed or approved by Roku.

  • Fair & Transparent Compensation Pay is positioned as competitive across many roles, with frequent emphasis on strong base and total compensation relative to market expectations. Fair-pay perception appears comparatively stronger than overall satisfaction with the broader rewards package.
  • Healthcare Strength Healthcare coverage is framed as a standout, with sizable employer premium contributions that can reduce employee premiums significantly depending on plan choice. Preventive care and mental-health support are also described as part of the core offering.
  • Leave & Time Off Breadth Time-off offerings are presented as broad, including paid holidays, PTO, and multiple leave categories such as bereavement and family-related leave. Self-managed or “unlimited” PTO is also described for many salaried roles, supporting flexibility in taking time off.

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The Company
HQ: San Jose, CA
2,724 Employees
Year Founded: 2002

What We Do

Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. We connect users to the streaming content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers with unique capabilities to engage consumers. Roku streaming players and Roku TV™ models are available around the world through direct retail sales and licensing arrangements with TV OEMs and service operators.

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