Lead Software Engineer, Backend Services

#WeAreParamount on a mission to unleash the power of content you in

Weve got the brands weve got the stars weve got thepowerto achieve our mission to entertain the planet now all were missing is YOU! Becoming a part of Paramount means joining a team of passionate people who not only recognize the power of content but also enjoy a touch of fun and uniqueness. Together we co-create moments that matter both for our audiences and our employees and aim to leave a positive mark on culture.

Location: In-Office Los Angeles or San Francisco

Summary

As a Lead Software Engineer on the Backend Services team you will take ownership of core API services and contracts within Paramount Streamings content discovery and engagement systems. You will drive API design contribute to system architecture and partner closely with peers product managers and stakeholders to deliver reliable scalable and high-performance APIs for Paramount and Pluto TV. This role is focused on leading API development for a next-generation streaming personalization engine a real-time inference platform that dynamically determines the optimal streaming experiences for each viewer.

You will design and build APIs that:

• Expose real-time decisioning and personalization capabilities
• Integrate high-volume user event data and content metadata systems
• Enable seamless communication between content systems video and ad services and client applications

This role requires both deep technical expertise and the ability to lead engineers through influence shaping platform direction and enabling engineering velocity at scale.

Responsibilities

This is a meaningful role with a wide range of responsibilities including:

• Design build and maintain high-performance scalable APIs that power content personalization and engagement experiences
• Define and enforce API standards and best practices including versioning contract design and backward compatibility
• Lead the development of APIs supporting personalization engines enabling real-time decisioning and low-latency responses
• Collaborate with frontend backend data and platform teams to ensure clean reliable system integrations
• Evolve existing content management and metadata APIs to support dynamic personalized experiences
• Design APIs for event-driven systems integrating with Kafka Pub/Sub or similar messaging platforms
• Optimize APIs for performance scalability and reliability under high traffic conditions
• Leverage AI-assisted development tools to accelerate API development testing and debugging
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines automated testing and release processes to ensure safe and efficient deployments
• Participate in architecture discussions RFCs and cross-team technical initiatives
• Mentor engineers and promote best practices in API design and system development

Experience

• BS in Computer Science or related technical field or equivalentpractical experience
• 8 years of professional software engineering experience with 2 years in a technical lead or senior engineering role
• Proven track record of designing and delivering high-quality APIs and backend systems at scale
• Strong proficiency in Java (Spring Boot) or similar backend frameworks building RESTful APIs and microservices
• Deep expertise in API design (REST GraphQL contract-first development OpenAPI/Swagger versioning strategies)
• Experience designing APIs for high-scale low-latency systems (thousands of RPS millions of users)
• Strong knowledge of event-driven architectures (Kafka Pub/Sub Kinesis) and asynchronous API patterns
• Experience integrating APIs with data pipelines content systems and real-time services
• Solid experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL MySQL) and data modeling
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS or GCP) and containerized environments (Docker Kubernetes)
• Strong experience with CI/CD pipelines automated testing and API validation strategies
• Experience using or familiarity with AI-powered development tools (e.g. Claude Code GitHub Copilot ChatGPT)
• Excellent communication skills and ability to drive technical alignment across teams
• Demonstrated ability to balance technical excellence with pragmatic delivery

Additionally the ideal candidate will also have the following skills and experience:

• Experience incorporating AI into the software development lifecycle including code generation testing documentation and system design
• Familiarity with content management domains editorial workflows or media/streaming platforms.
• Experience with multi-region or multi-tenant architectures.
• API design expertise OpenAPI/Swagger contract-first development versioning strategies.
• Infrastructure as code and deployment tooling (Helm ArgoCD Terraform).
• Observability and monitoring platforms (Grafana Prometheus Datadog or similar).
• Experience with Redis (caching RediSearch) and NoSQL data stores.
• OAuth2/OIDC authentication and authorization patterns.
• Experience with automated testing at scale integration testing with TestContainers E2E with Playwright or similar.

#LI-TG1

Paramount Streaming a division within Paramount Global is the home to the companys direct-to-consumer services spanning free and paid in the form of Pluto TV and Paramount. Pluto TV is the global leader in free ad-supported TV delivering more than 1400 global channels and an extensive library of streaming content including live and original channels. Paramount digital subscription video-on-demand and live streaming service combines live sports breaking news and A Mountain of Entertainment. Paramount features an expansive library of original series hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios including SHOWTIME.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hiring Salary Range: $164640.00 - 246960.00.

The hiring salary range for this position applies to New York California Colorado Washington state and most other geographies. Starting pay for the successful applicant depends on a variety of job-related factors including but not limited to geographic location market demands experience training and education. The benefits available for this position include medical dental vision 401(k) plan life insurance coverage disability benefits tuition assistance program and PTO or if applicable as otherwise dictated by the appropriate Collective Bargaining position is bonus eligible.

• Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages. Check out our full list of benefits here: paid time off.
• An exciting and fulfilling opportunity to be part of one of Paramounts most dynamic teams.
• Opportunities for both on-site and virtual engagement events.
• Unique opportunities to make meaningful connections and build a vibrant community both inside and outside the workplace.
• Explore life at Paramount: is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) including disability/vet.

  At Paramount the spirit of inclusion feeds into everything that we do on-screen and off. From the programming and movies we create to employee benefits/programs and social impact outreach initiatives we believe that opportunity access resources and rewards should be available to and for the benefit of all. Paramount is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race color ethnicity ancestry religion creed sex national origin sexual orientation age citizenship status marital status disability gender identity gender expression and Veteran status.

  If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by calling 212.846.5500 or by sending an email to Only messages left for this purpose will be returned.