Senior Principal Engineer, Backend

A Career at HARMAN

As a technology leader that is rapidly on the move, HARMAN is filled with people who are focused on making life better. Innovation, inclusivity and teamwork are a part of our DNA. When you add that to the challenges we take on and solve together, you’ll discover that at HARMAN you can grow, make a difference and be proud of the work you do every day.

About the Roon

At Roon, we are at the forefront of revolutionizing the way people experience music. Since our inception, we have dedicated ourselves to developing software that transforms music streaming into an immersive journey, tailored specifically to the listener's preferences and unique tastes.

Under the umbrella of Harman International, Roon Labs continues to operate with the spirit of a nimble startup, backed by the resources and reach of a global powerhouse. Our team comprises passionate individuals who believe in the power of music to connect and inspire. We are developers, designers, engineers, and audiophiles united by a common goal—to make listening to music more engaging, personal, and connected.

About the Role

Join our team as a Senior Principal Backend Engineer and play a crucial role in building the backend for a new and innovative music discovery platform. This position offers the unique opportunity to be part of the founding team, working alongside experienced leaders with a successful history of launching and scaling products. Your expertise will be key in making important decisions that will shape the future of our platform. As our team grows, this role will transition into a Team Lead position. Our product is designed to provide a highly engaging user experience by integrating content delivery, audio playback, machine learning, and recommendation systems. Be a part of transforming music consumption with us.

What You Will Do

• Operate in a dynamic, startup-like environment to launch a new business within Harman.
• Exercise a high degree of autonomy and ownership.
• Make critical, early-stage development decisions that ensure long-term success.
• Serve as the “local expert” on backend engineering.
• Collaborate actively with product stakeholders in an iterative and adaptive environment.
• Develop a scalable, maintainable, and operable backend infrastructure to support both the launch and future growth.
• Work closely with app developers and engineers to drive the project to success.

What You Need

• Experience: 15+ years in backend services development.
• Leadership: Demonstrated engineering leadership as a team lead or staff engineer.
• Technical Skills: Proficient with modern backend development tools, Node.js, and Python.
• Cloud Platforms: Hands-on experience with GCP, AWS, or Azure.
• Deployment Technologies: Expertise with Docker, Kubernetes, and Serverless architectures.
• Backend Architecture: Strong knowledge of databases, caches, event streaming, queues, data warehouses, etc.
• Performance Optimization: Proven ability to optimize backend performance.
• Scalability: Experienced in architecting and building scalable, production-grade data systems.
• CI/CD: Proficient with automated pipelines for continuous integration and deployment systems.

What is Nice to Have

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or another related field.
• A passion for music and interest in working on products that bring joy to music lovers worldwide.
• Virtual or Remote work in any US time zone.
• Experience working with machine learning workloads in production
• Experience with social products or recommendation systems

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HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.