Senior Backend Engineer — Distributed Systems (Streaming Platform)

About Roku and Team

Roku is the leading TV streaming platform in North America, aiming to power every television worldwide. As pioneers of TV streaming, our mission is to connect consumers with their favorite content, help publishers grow and monetize their audiences, and provide advertisers with unique tools to engage viewers. Joining Roku means making meaningful contributions from day one within a fast-growing public company, impacting millions of streamers globally.

The team is responsible for the architecture and implementation of the browse and discovery platform which supports The Roku Channel. This backbone platform delivers an extensive range of free and premium entertainment content to millions of users across the U.S. and worldwide.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer experienced in developing services at scale. Given the platform’s reliance by millions for movies, TV, and news, priorities focus on scalability, reliability, fallback mechanisms, and automation, as we continuously enhance the system. Collaboration with product teams enables quick iteration from prototypes to feature releases. This early-stage platform offers plenty of challenging and engaging problems to solve.

Responsibilities

• Develop large-scale platform services used both internally by Roku engineers and externally by millions of devices.
• Collaborate with Product and Design teams to iterate from concept ideation to production deployment and support.
• Lead technology evaluations and promote best practices throughout the software development lifecycle including code and design reviews.
• Manage project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables efficiently.
• Engage actively in Agile processes including scoping, design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong software development background with a preference for Java; Python knowledge is beneficial.
• Proven experience building large-scale cloud services, especially within AWS.
• Expertise in selecting appropriate data stores and understanding trade-offs.
• Familiarity with in-memory caching systems like Redis, Redis Cluster, or Memcached.
• Demonstrated ability to monitor deployments and troubleshoot production issues.
• Comprehensive understanding of end-to-end web architecture from user devices to data center services.
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Work Culture and Benefits

Roku advocates hybrid working with office presence generally from Monday to Thursday and flexibility on Fridays unless specific roles require full-time office attendance. Benefits include global mental health and financial wellness support, healthcare options (medical, dental, vision), life and disability insurance, commuter benefits, retirement plans, and generous leave policies tailored to support employees’ changing needs. Availability of benefits may vary by location.

Inclusion and Accommodations

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the hiring process as required by applicable law.

Company Culture

Our culture emphasizes working at a fast pace focused on collective company success. We value talented, collaborative, and humble individuals with a good sense of humor. We thrive on independent thinking, bold action, and pragmatic innovation that turns ideas into delivered solutions.