Backend Engineer II - Data Platform

Spotify
Stockholm, Sweden
Hybrid

Who this role is best for

Best suited to backend engineers with experience in data management working in a dynamic platform environment.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with experience in building and operating backend services using Java in a data platform setting
    — “You have solid experience building and running backend services and APIs in production with Java”
  • Individuals who are comfortable with SQL and have worked on data pipelines or cloud data warehouses
    — “You're comfortable with SQL and have worked with data pipelines or a cloud data warehouse”
  • Engineers who have experience in data governance, metadata management, and lineage tracking
    — “You have a working understanding of data engineering concepts such as orchestration, metadata management, data quality, governance and lineage”
  • Candidates who can own projects end to end and deliver results in a fast-moving environment
    — “You own Projects End to End: Turn what the teams using our platform need into technical designs”

Things to consider

  • The role requires on-call responsibilities for critical services, which may involve unexpected work hours
    — “Take part in on-call for critical services”
  • The position is based in Stockholm or London, with limited flexibility for remote work due to in-person meetings
    — “This role is based in Stockholm or London. There will be some in person meetings”

How to stand out

  • Highlight experience with data lineage and metadata systems in your resume and interview responses
    — “capturing lineage across batch and streaming workloads”
  • Demonstrate your ability to evolve systems as the platform adopts new technologies
    — “those standards and the systems behind them have to evolve with it”
  • Show examples of how you've built observability and reduced toil using automation
    — “build in observability and quality checks by default, and use automation”
  • Emphasize your track record of delivering backend services with high correctness and reliability
    — “Hold them to a high bar for correctness, performance and reliability”
Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • accurate data catalog
  • evolving standards
Typical background
backend engineerdata engineer

Skills & requirements

Required

Backend ServicesAPI DesignData PipelinesMetadata ManagementData Quality

Preferred

AI Tooling

Stack & domain

Backend ServicesApisJavaSQLData PipelinesCloud Data WarehouseBatch And Streaming FrameworksData Engineering ConceptsMetadata ManagementData QualityGovernanceLineageProblem-solvingCommunicationCollaborationOperating SystemsOn-call ResponsibilitiesAutomationData PlatformData CatalogMetadataStorage TechnologiesData Assets

About the role

Original posting from Spotify via Lever

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. 

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.

Source: Spotify careers (Lever)

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