Lead Software Development Engineer, Playback Team

At Audible, we believe stories have the power to transform lives. It's why we work with some of the world's leading creators to produce and share audio storytelling with our millions of global listeners. We are dreamers and inventors who come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences to empower and inspire each other. Imagine your future with us.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

As a Lead Software Development Engineer, it's up to you to define, design and refine the tech that keeps us one step ahead of listeners. Anticipate. Innovate. Bring challenging ideas and we'll support you with the latest tech, tools and systems that you need to succeed. You'll drive the team forward, guiding them over every obstacle and leading the way to develop exciting, original and effective solutions. Leading the way, you'll bring our team together to build and maintain our platform to bring thousands of stories to millions of listeners and unleash the power of the human voice.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Playback team at Audible owns the core playback logic and services, including players, content delivery, security, listening data, metrics and insights, and a unified SDK. This team focuses on optimizing playback quality, performance, and customer experience across platforms, using automated tools for monitoring and analysis. The Playback team also drives Audible's efforts to advance the state of internet audio through faculty collaborations. You will own critical infrastructure supporting audio ads at Audible, you'll build scalable systems processing billions of ad opportunities annually, delivering world-class advertising experiences to millions of customers.

This role offers hands-on technical ownership of audio ad systems, real-time ad serving pipelines, and conversational AI integration. You'll work with talented engineers solving complex distributed systems challenges while directly impacting a business.

ABOUT YOU

We are seeking a highly skilled and innovative Software Development Engineer to design, architect, and implement machine learning solutions that drive transformative technological advancements. You will combine deep technical expertise with strategic thinking, capable of translating complex business challenges into scalable, intelligent systems.

As a Lead Software Development Engineer, you will...

• - Design, develop, and test software components and applications for a leading global provider of audiobooks
• - Collaborate with Product, Applied Science, and cross-functional engineering teams to define and deliver innovative advertising products
• - Optimize ad serving latency, cost, and business metrics for audio advertising at scale
• - Collaborate on an agile engineering team, writing scalable and maintainable code and influencing team decisions
• - Collaborate with stakeholders to envision, design, develop, test, and launch customer-centric software solutions
• - Utilize technology to tackle challenging problems and deliver high-quality code on schedule
• - Demonstrate proficiency in a wide range of data structures and algorithms, applying them effectively
• - Independently clarify technical requirements, assess development estimates, and employ diverse design approaches
• - Conduct code reviews and provide constructive feedback to team members
• - Foster continuous improvement in software quality, customer experience, and product maintainability
• - Mentor and lead developers, fostering curiosity and deep technical understanding
• - Independently lead complex technical initiatives within your team
• - Explore technical needs and bring solutions to the table

ABOUT AUDIBLE

Audible is the leading producer and provider of audio storytelling. We spark listeners' imaginations, offering immersive, cinematic experiences full of inspiration and insight to enrich our customers' daily lives. We are a global company with an entrepreneurial spirit. We are dreamers and inventors who are passionate about the positive impact Audible can make for our customers and our neighbors. This spirit courses throughout Audible, supporting a culture of creativity and inclusion built on our People Principles and our mission to build more equitable communities in the cities we call home.

• - 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
• - 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
• - 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
• - 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
• - Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team