Senior Software Engineer - TV Playback (C++)
About this role
That means turning complexity into clarity across hundreds of touchpoints—from our mobile and desktop apps to the smart speakers, TVs, cars, and integrations where Spotify shows up every day. If it touches a consumer, we shape it. We bring deep insight into human behavior, design, and technology to craft experiences that feel intuitive, expressive, and unmistakably Spotify. At Spotify, we’re building the best way to experience audio and video — everywhere, every time. As listening and watching on TV continues to grow, we’re investing deeply in native, video-first playback experiences that are fast, reliable, and feel effortless. The Native Playback team sits at the heart of Spotify’s TV strategy. We integrate Spotify’s playback experience with the native players and media frameworks available on each platform. Our work happens close to the system — where performance, reliability, and quality truly matter — and directly impacts how millions of people experience Spotify every day. Design, build, and evolve the C++ integration layer that powers Spotify’s audio and video playback on TV devices running our new Rust runtime Integrate Spotify’s playback experience with platform-native media frameworks such as AVPlayer, ExoPlayer, or equivalent TV player stacks Own critical playback areas including buffering strategies, playback state handling, A/V synchronization, adaptive bitrate configuration, track selection, and rendering paths Debug complex performance and reliability issues across multiple layers — from application logic to OS-level frameworks and hardware acceleration Partner closely with Playback platform teams and device teams to ensure shared APIs and designs translate cleanly into real-world TV implementations Improve test coverage, tooling, and observability to detect regressions and speed up iteration cycles Contribute to thoughtful technical design discussions and raise the bar for playback quality through code reviews and knowledge sharing You have strong of experience building low-level systems in C++, ideally within video, media, or playback domains You have hands-on experience integrating native playback frameworks such as AVPlayer, ExoPlayer, vendor SDKs, or similar media stacks You have a deep understanding of video playback fundamentals including codecs, streaming formats, adaptive bitrate (ABR), buffering behavior, and A/V synchronization trade-offs You are comfortable working close to the OS and media framework layer and diagnosing issues that span multiple system boundaries You have experience contributing to the design and evolution of scalable technical systems across platforms You are confident debugging performance and reliability issues using logs, traces, profilers, and system diagnostics tools You collaborate effectively across teams and communicate technical trade-offs clearly You care deeply about delivering reliable, high-quality playback experiences for millions of users This role is based in London or Stockholm. We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best. While some in-person collaboration is expected, you’ll also have the option to work from home.
What this role is, and what else it is called
Employers in London advertise this kind of work as Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Web Developer and Full Stack Developer too, so it is worth searching more than one wording. It is a senior Software Engineering role in London, advertised as hybrid, splitting time between home and the office.
About hiring at Lifeatspotify
Lifeatspotify has 14 other live technology roles on its careers page, across Software Engineering, Data, AI & Machine Learning and IT Leadership & Management. Of those, 33% are advertised as fully remote and 67% as hybrid. Elsewhere in its adverts Lifeatspotify asks for SQL, Machine Learning, PyTorch, TypeScript and React. See all Lifeatspotify roles, salaries and stack.
How this role compares to the market
554 live UK roles list C++ right now, from 149 employers. The median advertised salary is £55,000; 48% are advertised as remote. Browse C++ roles.
285 live UK roles list Rust right now, from 64 employers. The median advertised salary is £100,000; 65% are advertised as remote. Browse Rust roles.
London has 4,331 live IT vacancies across 1,366 employers, with a median advertised salary of £70,000. Browse London roles.
Senior roles make up 1,634 of the live UK IT market and advertise a median of £80,000.
Market figures are today's snapshot of live UK roles on employer careers pages; see hiring trends.
Technologies mentioned
Detected on Lifeatspotify's careers page. ProdReady Recruitment lists this vacancy as an aggregator and is not the employer; applications go to the employer's own site. More IT jobs in London.