Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This Senior Research Scientist role stands out in the SaaS ecosystem because it sits at the intersection of subscription platform economics and applied generative AI. The remit is not generic ML research, but work that can be validated against real product usage at significant scale, where model quality, latency, and reliability directly influence customer experience and retention. It also reflects a mature SaaS environment where research is expected to connect to shipped capabilities rather than remain purely exploratory.
For a SaaS career, the differentiator is learning how to translate state of the art methods into production constraints and measurable outcomes. Running large experiments on substantial infrastructure, collaborating across product and engineering, and engaging with external research communities builds a profile that transfers across AI driven SaaS categories, from creator tools to personalization and content intelligence. The role also reinforces a key SaaS skill: iterating on models with feedback loops tied to real user behavior.
This position is best suited to scientists who want their research agenda to be shaped by product questions and operational realities. It fits candidates comfortable communicating complex work to non specialists, collaborating through multi discipline tradeoffs, and balancing publication level rigor with practical deployment considerations.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
We are seeking a Senior Research Scientist to join our Artist-First AI Music lab. Our team pioneers and advances state-of-the-art generative technologies for music that create breakthrough experiences for fans and artists. We invent entirely new listening experiences that center and celebrate artists and creatives. All of our products will put artists and songwriters first, through these four principles:
Partnerships with record labels, distributors, and music publishers: We’ll develop new products for artists and fans through upfront agreements, not by asking for forgiveness later.
Choice in participation: We recognize there’s a wide range of views on use of generative music tools within the artistic community. Therefore, artists and rightsholders will choose if and how to participate to ensure the use of AI tools aligns with the values of the people behind the music.
Fair compensation and new revenue: We will build products that create wholly new revenue streams for rightsholders, artists, and songwriters, ensuring they are properly compensated for uses of their work and transparently credited for their contributions.
Artist-fan connection: AI tools we develop will not replace human artistry. They will give artists new ways to be creative and connect with fans. We will leverage our role as the place where more than 700 million people already come to listen to music every month to ensure that generative AI deepens artist-fan connections.
For more information, see this press release: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-10-16/artist-first-ai-music-spotify-collaboration/
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What You'll Do- Conduct ground breaking research in music generation (diffusion, flow matching, or autoregressive models), as well as related domains like ML-based audio processing, music information retrieval, machine learning, and signal processing.
- Run large-scale experiments with access to Spotify’s extensive infrastructure and an audience of more than 700 million monthly active users.
- Create practical applications that harness generative technologies, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in listening experiences.
- Collaborate as part of a cross-functional team—working closely with scientists, engineers, product managers, designers, user researchers, and analysts—to craft innovative solutions to complex challenges.
- Have a direct impact on Spotify’s products, tools, and services, working on projects that influence the entire organization.
- Engage with the broader research community by publishing your findings, delivering talks, and attending top conferences.
Who You Are- You have a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field. Previous industry experience is helpful.
- You have experience in one or more of the following fields: generative modeling, machine learning, music information retrieval, speech processing, audio processing, signal processing, probabilistic modeling, computer vision, or related areas.
- You have publications in communities such as ICASSP, ISMIR, INTERSPEECH, ICLR, AAAI, IJCAI, NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, or related.
- You have strong coding skills in the following languages/libraries: Python, PyTorch, NumPy.
- You are a creative problem solver who is passionate about building outstanding products that add real value to millions of people.
- You are enthusiastic about learning more about turning research ideas into products operating at scale.
- You can explain complex topics in simple terms, and you enjoy building strong relationships with colleagues and stakeholders.
Where You'll Be- We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best! For this role, you can be within the North Americas region as long as we have a work location.
- This team operates within the Eastern Standard time zone for collaboration.
- Core working hours are CET 3pm-6pm / EST 9am-12pm.
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The United States base range for this position is $164,231 - $234,615 plus equity. The benefits available for this position include health insurance, six month paid parental leave, 401(k) retirement plan, a monthly meal allowance, 23 paid days off, 13 paid flexible holidays. These ranges may be modified in the future.
Spotify is an equal opportunity employer. You are welcome at Spotify for who you are, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or what’s playing in your headphones. Our platform is for everyone, and so is our workplace. The more voices we have represented and amplified in our business, the more we will all thrive, contribute, and be forward-thinking! So bring us your personal experience, your perspectives, and your background. It’s in our differences that we will find the power to keep revolutionizing the way the world listens.
At Spotify, we are passionate about inclusivity and making sure our entire recruitment process is accessible to everyone. We have ways to request reasonable accommodations during the interview process and help assist in what you need. If you need accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know - we’re here to support you in any way we can.
Spotify transformed music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the chance to enjoy and be passionate about these creators. Everything we do is driven by our love for music and podcasting. Today, we are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service.
