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SpotifyResearch Scientist - Personalization
Spotify's Personalization organisation builds the technology behind features that help listeners discover music and podcasts, including Blend and Discover Weekly. Within it, the research team works…
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About This Role
Spotify's Personalization organisation builds the technology behind features that help listeners discover music and podcasts, including Blend and Discover Weekly. Within it, the research team works on advancing machine learning and AI for personalisation and aims to publish, contribute to the wider research community and shape long-term product direction. This full-time Research Scientist role is based in London. The work is original research on reinforcement learning and post-training for generative…
Job Description
Spotify's Personalization organisation builds the technology behind features that help listeners discover music and podcasts, including Blend and Discover Weekly. Within it, the research team works on advancing machine learning and AI for personalisation and aims to publish, contribute to the wider research community and shape long-term product direction. This full-time Research Scientist role is based in London.
The work is original research on reinforcement learning and post-training for generative AI systems and large foundation models. The scientist develops new methods, models and evaluation frameworks for personalisation systems, designs and runs rigorous experiments to test hypotheses, and works with cross-functional partners to turn findings into product opportunities. The posting also asks the person to help set a forward-looking research direction in line with Spotify's personalisation strategy, and to mentor colleagues within a curious, collaborative research culture.
This position suits a researcher with a strong academic or industry record in machine learning who cares about how people experience music and talk content. Occasional in-person meetings are expected, and the role also allows home working. The posting does not state a salary or list benefits.
Responsibilities
- Pursue original ML and AI investigations, with a focus on reinforcement learning after pretraining and on generative systems
- Invent new methods, models and evaluation tools that push personalisation forward
- Design and run rigorous experiments that test research hypotheses
- Publish papers, give talks and take part in conferences
- Partner with teams across the company to convert findings into future product options
- Help chart the direction of future research, aligned with Spotify's personalisation goals
- Mentor colleagues and help sustain a curious, collaborative research culture
Requirements
- Peer-reviewed publications at top-tier conferences (for example NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, KDD, RecSys)
- Solid machine learning background, with practical experience applying reinforcement learning to large models after initial training
- Familiarity with reward shaping, training at scale across many machines, and checking how models behave
- Skill in designing studies and handling real-world data sets to test research ideas
- Interest in how users behave and how they experience music and talk content
- Inquisitive mindset, inventiveness and careful reasoning on open-ended challenges
Qualifications
- Graduate degree (Master's or PhD) in ML, AI or a neighbouring discipline, or equivalent research background
Core Skills
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
Where is this role based?
The role is based in London. The posting notes some in-person meetings, with flexibility to work from home.
What qualifications does the posting ask for?
A graduate degree (Master's or PhD) in ML, AI or similar, or equivalent research background. Peer-reviewed papers at major venues like NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, KDD, RecSys are also expected.
Does the posting give a salary?
The posting does not specify a salary or compensation range.
What does the research focus on?
The research covers reinforcement learning and post-training for generative AI systems, applied to personalisation at Spotify.
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