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Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Personalization

Spotify · New York, NY · posted 102 days ago

In short: Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Personalization at Spotify in New York, NY, posted 102 days ago.

By AtiveSite · Published 07/11/2026 · Updated 09/11/2026 · Every figure is linked to its source below.

Spotifyemployer

New York, NYlocation

Data, analytics and AIsub-niche

102 days agoposted

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The job

LIVE Employer public job feed (private-sector employer) Source: the employer's public careers feed · Data: listed 2026-07-30

Employer	Spotify
Location	New York, New York
Field	Technology › Data, analytics and AI
Level	not stated
Source category	Personalization, Engineering
Posted	2026-07-30 (102 days ago)
Work arrangement	A remote or flexible location is listed
Pay	Not published in the source listing

Job description

The Personalization team makes deciding what to play next easier and more enjoyable for every listener. From Blend to Discover Weekly, we're behind some of Spotify's most-loved features. We built them by understanding the world of music and podcasts better than anyone else. Join us and you'll keep millions of users listening by making great recommendations to each and every one of them.

Surfaces Moments is a ML team within the Personalization Mission focused on creating moment-based experiences across Spotify surfaces. The team owns and evolves the experiences that help listeners quickly connect with the content that matters most to them, including the Home Shortcuts experience and the underlying intelligence that powers it. By combining cutting-edge machine learning, recommendation systems, and product thinking, the team delivers highly relevant, personalized experiences to millions of listeners around the world.

As a Staff Machine Learning Engineer, you will help shape the future of personalized discovery and engagement at Spotify. You'll work at the intersection of recommendation systems, large language models, and production-scale machine learning infrastructure to build experiences that delight users and drive meaningful impact. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys taking models from research to production, driving technical direction in ambiguous problem spaces, and solving complex personalization challenges at global scale.

What You'll Do

Own and improve the machine learning models and systems that power the Home feed, including the Shortcuts experience.
Design, build, and ship personalized recommendations that serve millions of Spotify listeners globally.
Build content recommendation systems for emerging agentic and AI-powered user experiences.
Train, fine-tune, evaluate, and optimize large language models using techniques such as supervised fine-tuning (SFT), distillation, and parameter-efficient training approaches.
Partner closely with product managers, engineers, data scientists, and designers to define and execute experimentation strategies.
Drive A/B testing, monitoring, model evaluation, and continuous optimization of recommendation quality, reliability, and cost efficiency.
Improve ML platform capabilities, data pipelines, and production systems that support personalization at Spotify scale.
Drive technical direction in ambiguous problem spaces and contribute to the long-term architecture of personalization systems.
Mentor and support other machine learning engineers, helping raise the bar across the team.

Who You Are

You have 8+ years of experience building and deploying machine learning systems in production environments.
You have deep expertise in recommendation systems, ranking models, personalization, or large-scale content discovery platforms.
You have strong proficiency in Python and hands-on experience building machine learning systems with PyTorch.
You are experienced with large language model training, fine-tuning, evaluation, and optimization techniques including SFT, distillation, and LoRA.
You have worked with large-scale inference systems and understand the challenges of latency, reliability, and cost optimization.
You care deeply about creating high-quality user experiences through thoughtful application of machine learning.
You communicate effectively across technical and non-technical audiences, and you influence technical decisions beyond your immediate team
You know how to design, execute, and interpret online experiments and A/B tests to improve user outcomes.
You have experience operating distributed machine learning workloads using technologies such as Ray, FSDP, HSDP, or similar frameworks.
You are experienced building and maintaining data pipelines and orchestration workflows using technologies such as Flyte, Airflow, BigQuery, and cloud-based storage platforms.

Where You'll Be

We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best! For this role, you can be within the North Americas region as long as we have a work location.
This team operates within the Eastern Standard time zone for collaboration.

The United States base range for this position is $227,495- $324,993 plus equity. The benefits available for this position include health insurance, six month paid parental leave, 401(k) retirement plan, monthly meal allowance, 23 paid days off, 13 paid flexible holidays, paid sick leave. These ranges may be modified in the future.
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.

Explore around this job

Field: Technology Sub-niche: Data, analytics and AI All jobs at Spotify Jobs in New York Jobs in New York, NY New York city guide New York state guide Kings County economy

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About the role

This is a — role in the Technology field (Data, analytics and AI) at Spotify.

We could not match this job title to one occupation in the official wage statistics, so no pay estimate is shown. Pay is not in the source listing; ask the employer for the range and compare in the 240 job niches.

Does the pay work here? (estimate)

Gross salary a year Filing State income tax rate %

Estimate for a wage earner: 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction (IRS), Social Security 6.2% up to $184,500, Medicare 1.45% (+0.9% above $200,000 single / $250,000 married), and a state rate you set; set your own state tax rate. It ignores credits, pre-tax deductions, local taxes and benefits. Sources: IRS: tax year 2026 inflation adjustments · SSA wage base per Federal Register notice 2025-19763.

How to prepare and behave

This is editorial guidance, not information from the employer.

Read the whole description and match your examples to its requirements; use the same words the posting uses where they are true for you.
Research the employer before the interview: what it does, who its customers are and recent news; prepare two or three questions about the work.
Arrive early (or log in early for a video call), dress one step above the daily dress code, and test your camera and audio beforehand.
Answer with short stories: the situation, what you did and the result. Give numbers when you have them and never invent them.
Be honest about gaps; say what you did to learn and how fast you can close them.
Ask about the team, the first 90 days, how success is measured and the schedule; do not open with salary and time off.
When pay comes up, know the market range for the occupation and your lowest acceptable offer before you answer; ask for the full package in writing.
Send a short thank-you message within a day, mentioning one thing you discussed.
The listing mentions a remote or flexible location. Confirm with the employer whether remote work applies to your state: taxes, licensing and benefits can depend on where you live.
Have code, data work or projects you can show, and be ready to think aloud: many technical interviews test how you reason, not only the answer.

Know your rights as a candidate and an employee:

The city

The job is in New York, NY. Below is what the official statistics say about living and working there.

How New York compares. Among the 120 largest places in New York, New York is #1 by population, #117 for homeownership (#1 = highest), #115 for long commutes (#1 = fewest), #31 for remote work (#1 = most). Its county, Kings County, is #38 of 62 counties for average pay ($59,980).

The place in numbers

New York has 8,483,844 residents (ACS 2020–2024), about 42.7% of the population of New York. It covers 300 square miles of land, which works out to roughly 28,236 people per square mile. The median age is 38.2, 4% younger than the state median (38.2 against 39.8).

Housing

The median gross rent is $1,821 a month (rent plus utilities), 12% above the state median ($1,821 against $1,621). Over a year that is 27.2% of the median household income. US housing guidance treats housing as affordable when it takes 30% of income or less, so the typical household is under that line. The median home value is $777,600, which is 9.7 times the median household income ($80,483); a ratio above 5 usually means buying is out of reach without savings or a second income. 32.8% of households own their home, 40% below the state average (32.8% against 54.4%). A low ownership share points to a rental-heavy market with more apartments and shorter stays.

Work and pay

The New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area has 9,492,000 jobs in the BLS wage survey, and the median pay across all occupations is $61,430 a year, 20% above the national median ($61,430 against $50,980). The biggest occupation groups are office and administrative support (1,109,360 jobs, median $55,080); healthcare support (843,730 jobs, median $40,100); sales and related (751,110 jobs, median $47,540). The area is most specialised in healthcare support (1.8 times) and legal (1.7 times), where the share of workers is well above the national share. The best-paying groups with at least 5,000 jobs are management ($171,990) and legal ($150,990). In 2026M09 the unemployment rate of Kings County was 5.3%. 63.1% of residents aged 16 and over are in the labour force. The city lies in Kings County; its jobs, pay by industry and GDP are on the county page.

Getting around

Among workers, 21.6% drive alone, 44.0% use public transit, 9.2% walk, 16.9% work from home. 41.2% of workers commute 45 minutes or more, 50% above the state average (41.2% against 27.4%).

People and education

41.6% of adults aged 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 4% above the state share (41.6% against 40.2%). 36.6% of residents were born outside the United States, 61% above the state share (36.6% against 22.8%). The poverty rate is 17.9%, 28% above the state rate (17.9% against 14.0%).

Climate

The warmest month is Jul, averaging 75°F (23.7°C), and the coolest is Jan at 34°F (1.1°C). About 1,313 mm (52 inches) of precipitation falls in a year; Dec is the wettest month (133 mm) and Feb the driest (95 mm). These values come from NASA satellite-based climatology on a grid of about 50 km, so they describe the wider area, not a weather station in the city.

Nearby cities to compare

Closest cities in this guide: Hoboken (7 miles, rent 61% higher); Jersey City (7 miles, rent 10% higher); Union City (9 miles, rent 16% lower); Bayonne (9 miles, rent 8% lower). Rent differences are against New York; use the Compare tab to put any two cities side by side.

Full guide to New York →New York guide All jobs in New York

Official links for New York

These links go to official sources and open in a new window. The first one is the government's or company's own site as listed in Wikidata (property "official website"); check it before relying on it.

Where to live

CITY Official statistics Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year (via Census Reporter) · Data: ACS 2020–2024

Places within 50 miles (straight line) of New York, NY that have a guide, with what living there costs. No pay estimate is shown because the title did not match one occupation.

Sort:

Place ⇅	Distance from the job city ⇅	Median rent ⇅	Median home value ⇅	Median household income ⇅	Commute 45+ min ⇅	Rent as % of occupation pay ⇅	Open jobs there ⇅
New York, NY	0 mi	$1,821	$777,600	$80,483	41.2%	n/a	Jobs
Hoboken, NJ	7 mi	$2,938	$895,100	$180,579	38.7%	n/a	—
Jersey City, NJ	7 mi	$2,007	$566,900	$97,710	36.0%	n/a	Jobs
Union City, NJ	9 mi	$1,537	$471,600	$64,310	27.9%	n/a	—
Bayonne, NJ	9 mi	$1,682	$460,100	$83,887	31.0%	n/a	—
West New York, NJ	9 mi	$1,716	$465,600	$71,729	30.6%	n/a	—
Secaucus, NJ	11 mi	$2,391	$571,900	$139,821	33.9%	n/a	Jobs
Cliffside Park, NJ	11 mi	$1,837	$588,200	$93,452	33.1%	n/a	—
Edgewater, NJ	11 mi	$2,579	$715,700	$124,050	43.6%	n/a	—
Fairview, NJ	11 mi	$1,694	$511,400	$63,606	25.4%	n/a	—
Kearny, NJ	11 mi	$1,720	$459,400	$79,154	26.6%	n/a	—
Woodmere, NY	12 mi	$2,720	$975,400	$172,537	45.7%	n/a	—
North Valley Stream, NY	12 mi	$3,059	$613,800	$142,733	36.1%	n/a	—
Valley Stream, NY	12 mi	$2,124	$616,100	$133,190	34.5%	n/a	—
Elmont, NY	12 mi	$2,209	$602,900	$114,217	35.9%	n/a	—
Harrison, NJ	13 mi	$2,226	$505,800	$93,013	42.0%	n/a	—
Newark, NJ	13 mi	$1,392	$373,700	$52,060	25.1%	n/a	Jobs
North Arlington, NJ	13 mi	$1,738	$474,500	$94,201	29.5%	n/a	—
Floral Park, NY	13 mi	$2,243	$789,600	$150,084	32.3%	n/a	—
Fort Lee, NJ	13 mi	$2,270	$448,000	$107,274	34.3%	n/a	—

Career paths

We could not match this title to one occupation, so here are the other sub-niches in Technology, where your skills may carry over:

Cybersecurity (713) Software engineering (4089) Cloud, IT and infrastructure (1040) Product management (836)

Distances

CITY Calculation (straight line) Source: U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer (coordinates) · Data: 2024

How far New York, NY is from the 20 largest US cities, in straight-line miles (not driving distance). Click a column to sort.

Sort:

From ⇅	Straight-line distance (miles) ⇅	Population of that city ⇅
New York, NY	0 mi	8,483,844
Philadelphia, PA	77 mi	1,579,706
Columbus, OH	479 mi	914,802
Charlotte, NC	532 mi	903,844
Indianapolis, IN	646 mi	885,860
Chicago, IL	718 mi	2,711,226
Jacksonville, FL	834 mi	977,670
Oklahoma City, OK	1,327 mi	697,125
Dallas, TX	1,371 mi	1,307,930
Fort Worth, TX	1,401 mi	963,194
Houston, TX	1,419 mi	2,328,253
Austin, TX	1,512 mi	979,539
San Antonio, TX	1,583 mi	1,479,835
Denver, CO	1,625 mi	718,877
Phoenix, AZ	2,141 mi	1,642,323
Seattle, WA	2,407 mi	754,195
San Diego, CA	2,427 mi	1,389,526
Los Angeles, CA	2,459 mi	3,857,263
San Jose, CA	2,550 mi	990,138
San Francisco, CA	2,602 mi	830,235

Nearby cities with open jobs (within 120 miles)

Sort:

City ⇅	Straight-line distance ⇅	Open jobs ⇅
Brooklyn, NY	1 mi	16
Jersey City, NJ	7 mi	108
Manhattan, NY	8 mi	5
Iselin, NJ	21 mi	2
Mahwah, NJ	31 mi	2
Deer Park, NY	33 mi	17
Darien, CT	38 mi	11
Lakewood, NJ	42 mi	2
Marlton, NJ	74 mi	13
Bethlehem, PA	75 mi	3
Fort Washington, PA	75 mi	2
Philadelphia, PA	77 mi	208
Atlantic City, NJ	93 mi	5
Wilmington, DE	106 mi	6
Newark, DE	118 mi	8

The employer

Spotify is the employer in this listing. See all its open jobs here →

We do not hold headcount or revenue for this employer. Check its careers site and, if it is listed on a stock exchange, its public filings (SEC EDGAR search).

What it is like to work at a company (culture, schedules, benefits) is not in the source data, so we do not describe it. Read the description and ask the questions under "How to prepare".

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FAQ

What is the Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Personalization job at Spotify?

A private-sector role in technology (data, analytics and ai) listed 102 days ago. The full description is on this page and on the employer's page.

Where is this job?

New York, NY. A remote or flexible location is listed; confirm with the employer which states are accepted.

How do I apply?

Use the "View this job and apply on the employer's page" button. AtiveSite does not receive applications.

How much does it pay?

The listing does not publish pay, and we could not match the title to one official occupation.

What is the cost of living there?

Median rent in New York is $1,821 a month and median household income $80,483 (ACS 2020–2024).

How old is this listing?

It was posted on 2026-07-30 (102 days ago). Jobs older than 90 days are not shown.

Are there similar jobs?

Yes: browse data, analytics and ai jobs in New York.

Sources and terms

Job data: Spotify careers page public feed (listing dated 2026-07-30). The job disappears from this site when it disappears from the source.
Wages and projections: BLS OEWS (May 2025) and Employment Projections 2025–35.
City and county figures: Census Bureau ACS 2020–2024, BEA, BLS QCEW and LAUS, NASA POWER climatology; distances from Census Gazetteer coordinates.

AtiveSite is not affiliated with or endorsed by the employer or any government agency, and does not process applications. Verify every detail with the employer before acting.

Sources

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