Working for spotify: Work From Anywhere | Life at Spotify

Given Spotify’s worldwide presence, job seekers already had many options but remote work has brought that flexibility to another level. Spotify launched its Work From Anywhere program in February 2021 which allows employees to work from the office, work from home, or a combination of the two. (Employees need to consult with their immediate supervisors.)

“We believe we’re happier and more productive when we have the freedom to choose where we work. It helps us find better ways to communicate and collaborate with one another. It means we can work with the very best people for the job, regardless of what city or country they call home. It helps us to become a more diverse place to work – a place that can flex with our people as their lives and ambitions change. And perhaps best of all, it supports a better work-life balance. A life-work balance,” the company states on its website.

Spotify is treating this policy as a workplace remix and is always exploring other ways to make the workplace more flexible.

4. It’s an opportunity to experience great entertainment

Prior to COVID-19, it was very common for band members to bond at trips to concerts, industry festivals, and other events. These experiences are a big part of Spotify’s business and culture and they will be again. You can’t stop the music forever!

What Spotify Looks For In Band Members 

@workitdaily

Reply to @siren_ee 200+ remote positions open?!? #workitdaily #AerieREAL #jobtok #jobportalabroad #wfhjobs #remotework #remotejobs #hiring #hiringnow

Spotify is hiring in the following departments: Engineering, Data, Research & Insights, Design, Product, Content, Finance, Sales, Business Support & Operations, Global Affairs, Marketing, and Human Resources.

Spotify also offers multiple internship programs throughout the academic year and summer, so students are urged to check the company’s website frequently.

Spotify’s interview process usually begins with a video or phone interview with a recruiter, and those who make it past the screen are invited to a second interview with one or two Spotify band members. The final round of interviews usually involves meeting multiple band members across the business. Job seekers are told in advance of all interviews who they’ll be meeting with at each step of the process.

Here are some of the benefits and perks that come with a job at Spotify:

• Global parental leave – Six months off—fully paid—for all new parents
• Flexible public holidays – Swap days off according to your values and beliefs
• Extensive learning opportunities – Spotify wants its members to stay with the band and become leaders
• Employee well-being – Spotify has a great employee assistance program and self-care hub

Career Opportunities At Spotify 

If you’re interested in working at Spotify, visit the company’s careers page to learn more.

I want to work at Spotify / Sudo Null IT News

In October, we talked about how Alexander Lubozhenko (back-end and data engineer at Spotify), dreaming of California, moved first to New Zealand and then to Sweden. Readers liked the article, but many wanted to learn more about working at Spotify. Therefore, we asked Alexander how to get there, whether you will be transported during a pandemic, and what technologies the company uses. As a bonus, we compared Sweden and New Zealand, in which Alexander lived, and let’s start with that. nine0003

Sweden vs. New Zealand

Although neither New Zealand nor Sweden are in the top 5 popular countries for relocation, they are worth a closer look. For example, in the Numbeo rating for quality of life, Russia is in seventieth place, Sweden is in thirteenth place, and New Zealand is in eighth place.

Cost of living

In Sweden, pricing is unusual for us. Food and a gym membership are cheap, while services and entertainment are sky-high. For example, a men’s haircut in Stockholm costs about 90 euros, if you want to shave too, the price will rise to 170 euros.

Comparison of the cost of goods and services in Stockholm and Auckland can be found on Numbeo.

In addition to housing and food prices, there are other indicators that are important for choosing a country. Let’s consider some of them.

Salaries and taxes

Both countries have progressive income tax rates. In New Zealand, the tax rates for individuals consist of four stages, depend on the amount of income and are valid throughout the country. The minimum rate is 10.5%, the maximum is 33%. nine0003

In Sweden, income tax reaches 55% and is divided into 2 categories:

• municipal – 29-35% depends on the commune where the person is registered, paid from all income;
• national – 20% paid on income that exceeds SEK 509,300 per year (€50,400).

In both countries, you can get a tax deduction for various categories of expenses. In Sweden, there is a tax deduction for travel costs to and from work that exceed SEK 11,000 per year (€1,089). Also, under certain conditions, you can return the tax on books and subscriptions for professional activities, a new laptop or phone if the work is related to IT or negotiations, and other categories. New Zealand also has deductible spending categories.

Senior developer gets €60,000-75,000 a year both. The job offer package often includes the company’s stock options.

IT job market

The IT markets in these countries are very different. According to Alexander, there are only 3–4 large interesting product companies in New Zealand. In Sweden, there are traditionally large telecommunications companies, such as Ericsson, and there are other offices of big businesses. nine0003

Sweden wins in the number of start-ups. The country is famous for its good development school and the relatively cheap implementation of IT projects, so new startups with fan projects appear every day and grow rapidly. An important role is also played by the geographical proximity to the UK, where the funding comes from. Startup ideas can be diverse – from electric scooters and renewable energy, to fintech projects and online medicine.

New Zealand has a lot of consulting companies and outsourcing based on Microsoft – New Zealanders respect this brand. Startups also appear there, but their path, as a rule, is less rapid and noticeable on the world stage. They focus on the New Zealand market with a population of five million. If a startup is ambitious, it conquers the Australian market with a population of 25 million. Conquering this stage is considered a huge success, where most companies stop. Only a few continue to expand the English-speaking market – the UK, then Canada and the USA. nine0003

Preferred modes of communication

Interviews, settlement of issues with the embassy and other communication takes place in New Zealand in English and by telephone. In Sweden almost everything can be done online, but some websites are only available in Swedish. This is usually not a problem, Google Translate does a great job. nine0003

Free time

New Zealand is a beautiful green country with a measured pace of life, where 96% of the inhabitants speak English. In Auckland, concerts of famous artists are becoming a big event. At the same time, one gets the impression that technology in the country is lagging behind: the metro is mostly surface, and you can see the smoke from the locomotive’s chimney.

Stockholm, compared to other key cities in Europe, is also relatively measured and not so densely populated. At the same time, something is constantly happening in it: exhibitions, concerts, events, some kind of movement. Artists always come to Stockholm with world tours, so it’s easy to lose the wow effect: there will still be all this, you won’t miss anything. nine0003

Swedes speak English well. In communication, they switch to English without changing their faces, with minimal latency.

Fly home or travel

Traveling around the world and traveling from New Zealand is quite difficult, it is located far from Europe and the USA. Very far. Visiting relatives in Russia is long and expensive, especially if you are not flying alone. On short trips, you can go to Australia and the nearby islands.

In Sweden, this is easier: on weekends you can fly home or relax in one of the European cities. When traveling in Europe, even the landscapes are more diverse and the view from the window changes with every kilometer. nine0003

How to get a job at Spotify

Spotify provides music streaming services around the world, so the HR-related numbers are impressive: 5,000+ employees in 48 offices in 25 countries, 60,000 resumes submitted per month. The company even developed its own Scaled Agile model to address scalability, dependencies, and team collaboration when there are more than 5 teams.

How Sasha got into Spotify

Alexander was looking for vacancies and interviewed at Spotify four years ago, when the development team there worked one and a half thousand people. It was Spotify that was not a dream for Alexander. His goal was to move to the USA or Europe. Therefore, initially he structured his approach to finding a job. For example, I followed the vacancies of European companies on LinkedIn, and if I found an interesting one, I studied the following parameters:

• how many and what kind of vacancies does the company post;
• geography of offices;
• how they work, what processes and technologies;
• which product;
• profiles of employees, their expertise and what they write about professional topics and work in the company.

So he compiled a short list of international companies of interest to him with offices in Europe, prioritized it and sent a resume to the highest priority. First on the list was Spotify with a vacancy in the Swedish office. nine0003

Remembering that the company has offices in both Europe and the US, he decided that this was a good option: he could always transfer to another. Sweden, as a starting point, attracted by the fact that almost everyone in the country knows English, and the conditions for obtaining citizenship are simplified. The love of music made the choice of the company obvious.

Alexander had no contacts in the company, he found a vacancy on LinkedIn, checked it on the official Spotify website and responded there. He did not have high hopes, but a couple of days later he was contacted and agreed on a half-hour Skype call with a recruiter. nine0003

Interview process

Spotify is looking for employees in specific teams, so when viewing resumes, it pays attention to experience that fits the current role. But this does not limit employees: the company has the concept of embed, when you can work in another team from two weeks to three months.

A typical interview process looks like this:

The chart is taken from a NoblAcademy article and is a good representation of how Spotify conducted interviews before the pandemic. In 2020, all stages take place remotely. According to the reviews of people who got a job in one of the Stockholm offices during the pandemic, now it is like this:

• Skype or a phone call from HR, which checks the adequacy, compatibility of culture and values, motivation to move to Sweden, salary expectations;
• logical time test online at a convenient time;
• coding challenge in an online editor with two interlocutors in a conversation format.
  The task is role-specific, such as covering basic web development. There are no complex JavaScript algorithms. You can compile and check if the code works. You can ask questions and ask your interlocutors to Google a call to a specific function. nine0004
  Both interviewers give feedback independently to avoid bias;
• 3-4 more technical interviews, where knowledge of data structures, knowledge of algorithms, system design, development in one of the programming languages ​​are tested;
• online meeting with the hiring manager, where compliance with the culture and values ​​of the company and the team is checked, interview on competencies;
• online meeting with the team.

nine0124

The candidate receives feedback a couple of days after the next stage, the last six interviews are held on the same day and the whole process is fast despite the impressive number of meetings.

What has changed during the pandemic

According to getmatch’s internal statistics, 40% of companies with relocation vacancies now offer new employees remote work until the end of the year, and then, depending on the situation, they plan to relocate.


There are a lot of vacancies in getmatch with a relocation from 350k ₽. For example, here is an interesting vacancy for a Senior Frontender at Miro. And here – for the team lead in Hireright.


Spotify’s policy in 2020 is different: even in a pandemic, they prefer to transport new employees. But doing this is difficult now, so recruiters first look for people within the country of the hiring office. In the case of Sweden, if they cannot find it inside the country, they extend the search to the European Union, and only then to other countries. nine0003

At the same time, Spotify recruiters say that if you want to get to them, you need to apply for vacancies, regardless of the situation. You can be interested in your experience or cover letter and resume, then you will be contacted anyway.

For a response, we recommend working out a resume:

• make it informative and concise;
• use services that analyze resumes (such as JobScan or Glassdoor partner TopCV) and make recommendations;

nine0120 sharpen your resume and cover letter for a specific vacancy;

• indicate the title corresponding to the vacancy;
• structure optimally;
• bring relevant technologies to the fore, draw attention to them;
• provide a brief description of the services you have worked on with data on load and number of users;
• advertise yourself, but know when to stop;
• will be a plus if you worked for a well-known IT company in Russia. Foreign recruiters working with relocation from the CIS countries are well versed in the Russian market and the rating of IT companies. nine0121

Spotify’s article on how to get a job with them will come in handy when preparing for an interview.

How Spotify works now

Spotify employees are working remotely from March 2020 to July 2021. What will happen next is unknown, but most likely the company will switch to a mixed format: for example, part of the week work at home, part in the office, or by agreement with the manager.

Even though the offices are closed, we have learned that even newly hired employees see colleagues: they meet outdoors at lunchtime, bring food and socialize in the park. nine0003

Spotify has a lot of expats, which helps newcomers to quickly adapt, find friends and companies of interest, and just chat after work.

The company has an excellent onboarding process, which has been changed to fit the quarantine conditions. The manager holds personal online meetings with a new employee every day, monitors his emotional state. Teams prepare cards with photos and descriptions of who they are, where they are from, what their hobbies are, and so on. A beginner does each task in tandem with one of the team members, and both are constantly changing – A / B testing, GraphQL, APIs, etc., which helps to both get to know each other and get acquainted with different parts of the product. nine0003

The company values ​​and forms T-shaped employees. There is even an online course available that will guide you through the development of a full stack application with the technologies used in the company.

Among other things, Spotify offers a good relocation package. But before you rejoice, recalculate how much the tax will increase. It may turn out that you have to pay up to 55% of the income.

Technology Overview

Mobile Apps	Android: Java, less than Kotlin iOS: Objective-C, new functionality on Swift
Web client Desktop clients, Clients in game consoles and Big Screen TV	JavaScript, React
Internal projects with web interfaces	React, Angular, whatever
Backends	Java, Python legacy
Data engineering	Scala, Scio
Infrastructure	Google Cloud

Spotify is loyal to knowledge of other programming languages. For example, even if the hiring team is all Java, the interview can be done in Scala or Python if you know these languages ​​better. It won’t become a blocker. nine0003

Of course, getting into Spotify is not so easy, especially during a pandemic, but the company is worth a try. According to Glassdoor, interview difficulty is rated 2.9 out of 5, and 79% of the 500+ employees surveyed recommend it to friends.

As a parting word. If you want to get the experience of relocation and work in another country, we recommend doing this. To do this, simply apply more often to vacancies of companies that you like. To make it convenient, you can set up a mailing list for vacancies that are suitable for technologies and salaries in our @g_jobbot bot. There will definitely be a company with which you will have a conversation. nine0003

How to get a job at Spotify and move to Sweden

Roksolana Kosiv. Photo: DOU

The DOU portal released an article about Roksolana Kosiv, an iOS developer at Spotify’s Stockholm office. The girl moved there from Lviv in 2018. The editors of AIN.UA chose the main points from her story about relocation and work in a leading Swedish startup.

About the beginning of a career

Kosiv studied at the Lviv Polytechnic with a degree in Software Engineering. In 2013, after her third year, she applied for an Android developer position at the Swedish-Ukrainian company Remit. Instead, she was offered to learn iOS development. She worked at Remit for 2 years. Then she went to a startup studio, and then became a Mac developer at N-iX outsourcer. nine0003

Over time, Kosiv realized that she was more attracted to mobile development and wanted to work directly on the product. Not wanting to move to Kyiv food companies, she began working remotely for a restaurateur from France, and at the same time she took online courses and followed the profile community of iOS developers.

How to get into Spotify

Recruiters contacted the developer via LinkedIn and offered to pass an interview.

Having an interview for the sake of an interview at this company is already cool. nine0003

How hiring works

Spotify has a complicated recruitment process. It dragged on for about two months.

The first part of is three online interviews. The first is a conversation with an HR specialist. During it, you need to answer general questions about programming and iOS development, as well as go through those. quiz.

Its successful completion – admission to the second, technical interview. It takes place in the format of online coding: the applicant writes and comments on the code. nine0003

The third bell is dedicated to cultural conversation. It is the most important: they ask about life failures, attitudes towards inclusiveness. This is how the company selects suitable candidates – tech-savvy people with other cultural values ​​will not be hired.

The second part of is an interview in the office. Roksolana was invited to the head office in Stockholm, where she went through three interviews and had lunch with potential colleagues. Of the three conversations, the first is again about culture. The second conversation is a task on System Design, where you need to draw up the architecture of the application. The third stage is a discussion of your projects and source code. nine0003

Roksolana prepared for it and refactored a lot, but still there were places that I would like to improve. This needs to be talked about honestly and frankly. This stage once again proves that in addition to the main work, it is worth having your own pet projects (since most projects for the company are protected by non-disclosure agreements).

All this takes a day – but the company pays for transportation and lodging for two days.

The offer was made two weeks after the completion of negotiations. Before that, she did not know which department or project she could be invited to. As a result, at Spotify she was included in a small team that develops the direction of podcasts. nine0003

How Spotify helps with the move

Each new employee is assigned two managers. One is engaged in paperwork (Roksolana went on a work visa), the other is looking for the best housing for rent.

The company gives a special compensation package to those who have moved: pays for tickets, Swedish ID, helps to open a bank account and provides benefits. You can also bring your family or even your favorite furniture with you – all this will be covered by the employer.

To move, Kosiv had to close a sole proprietorship in Ukraine – this avoids double taxation. The whole process (visa, preparation) took her two months. nine0003

How Spotify works

Kosiv’s team of 8 is developing a podcast business. In general, Spotify adheres to an agile methodology: it forms employees into small groups with high autonomy.

Quarterly they plan tasks and tasks to be completed, and weekly they determine the current focus.

The company also holds a lot of meetings — it helps product managers to convey tasks, define common areas of responsibility with other teams. Spotify also highly values ​​the right to vote: regardless of the position, the company listens to the comments and comments of each employee. nine0003 How teams collaborate at Spotify. Source: Spotify Engineering Culture — Part 1

Teams work in open space. Most of the walls are used as boards. On them, with the help of colored stickers, sprints are planned. For the rest of the planning – JIRA and documents.

1-3 days you can work remotely. To go into this mode for a month, you need the coordination of the manager and the team. The standard work week is 40 hours, but its exact execution is not monitored: you can come and go at any time. nine0003

Nobody watches you when you work. Basically, probably, it is possible and not to work. But I don’t know anyone who would like to do nothing. Because people love what they do.

Spotify is not afraid of mistakes – the company encourages the initiative of employees and does not scold them for miscalculations. In corporate recommendations for career growth, the development of technical skills takes only 20%.

The main thing is to be proactive, take the initiative, communicate with others and think about how your work will affect the business. nine0003

There is an Engineering Manager position in the teams. He is responsible for the career development of employees. Spotify also hosts workshops and encourages learning. Employees can spend 10% of their time or 2 days a month as they please. They also hold Hack Days and Hack Weeks to bring the craziest ideas to life. The Discover Weekly playlist appeared during such an event.

How life works in Sweden and Spotify

Spofity headquarters is an eight-story building in the center of Stockholm. There is a cafe with free salads, sandwiches and fruits for employees. Cocktails are available on the top floor. The building also houses rehearsal and recording studios. The company also allows employees to choose courses: from playing the guitar to yoga. nine0003

I don’t seem to live in Sweden but in Spotify.

Other benefits:

• social package with insurance;
• the possibility of repurchasing the company’s shares;
• payment for ticket, accommodation and flight for one conference per year;
• 30 days of paid vacation, sick leave and business travel.