Lead Software Engineer - Content Systems

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will be tasked with key areas of Paramount Streaming's content management systems. You will design systems and collaborate closely with your peers, product managers, and stakeholders. Your goal is to provide reliable and scalable content management for Paramount+ and Pluto TV. This role is focused on leading the development and evolution of content systems that enable a next-generation streaming personalization engine, a real-time inference platform that dynamically determines the optimal streaming experiences for each viewer.

The engine will ingest high-volume user event signals and apply real-time decisioning to personalize:

• Content recommendations and sequencing
• Ad experiences, formats, and timing
• In-stream interaction surfaces across the viewing experience

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

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

• Design, build, and maintain high-performance, scalable APIs that power content management, metadata services, and interaction experiences
• Lead the evolution of Content Systems APIs, including content ingestion, metadata management, search, and editorial workflows
• Define and apply API standards and best practices, including versioning, contract design, and backward compatibility
• Evolve existing content metadata models and services to support personalization, discoverability, and real-time engagement use cases
• Integrate Content Systems with personalization engines, enabling real-time decisioning based on content metadata and user behavior
• Collaborate with content, editorial, and product teams to ensure APIs support content lifecycle workflows (ingestion, curation, publishing, and updates)
• Design APIs for event-driven content pipelines, integrating with Kafka, Pub/Sub, or similar messaging platforms
• Enable seamless data flow between content systems, personalization services, ad systems, and client applications
• Optimize APIs for performance, scalability, and reliability under high traffic conditions and global usage
• Leverage AI-assisted development tools to accelerate API and service development, testing, and debugging
• Participate in architecture discussions, RFCs, and cross-team technical initiatives
• Mentor engineers and promote best practices in API design, content systems architecture, and distributed system development

We believe the right individual will have the following skills and experience in order to be successful in this role:

• BS in Computer Science or related technical field, or equivalent functional experience.
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with 2+ years in a technical lead or senior engineering role
• Proven track record of leading complex technical initiatives to successful completion.
• Experience using or solid knowledge with AI-powered development tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, code generation and debugging assistants) to improve engineering productivity
• Strong proficiency in Java (17+) and Spring Boot - building RESTful APIs, data access layers, and microservices
• Production experience with React and Next.js (or equivalent modern frontend frameworks) using TypeScript
• Experience with Python for services, scripting, or data pipelines
• Solid knowledge of relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) - schema design, query optimization, and migration tooling (e.g., Liquibase, Flyway)
• Experience with message brokers and event-driven architecture - Apache Kafka, GCP Pub/Sub, or similar
• Experience with search infrastructure - Apache Solr, Elasticsearch, or equivalent.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (GCP or AWS) and containerized deployments (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Strong CI/CD experience - building and maintaining automated build, test, and deployment pipelines
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to translate technical complexity for diverse audiences
• Demonstrated ability to balance technical excellence with realistic 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 architectures that can operate in multiple regions and can support multiple tenants.
• 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

Hiring Salary Range: $157,000.00 - 200,000.00.

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 Agreement. This position is bonus eligible., * Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages. Check out our full list of benefits here: https://www.paramount.com/careers/benefits

• Generous paid time off.
• An exciting and fulfilling opportunity to be part of one of Paramount's 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: https://www.paramount.com/careers/life-at-paramount

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.

We've got the brands, we've got the stars, we've got the power to achieve our mission to entertain the planet - now all we're 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., Paramount Streaming, a division within Paramount Global, is the home to the company's 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 1,400 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®.