Director, Software Development, Personalization

DescriptionAt Audible, we believe stories have the power to transform lives. It’s why we work with some of the world’s leading creators to produce and share audio storytelling with our millions of global listeners. We are dreamers and inventors who come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences to empower and inspire each other. Imagine your future with us.ABOUT THIS ROLEAs a Director, Software Development, you'll lead a high-performing team building innovative personalization systems that power content discovery and recommendation experiences across Audible's platforms. This position requires a leader with strong technical acumen in machine learning systems, recommendation systems proven people management experience, and the ability to drive technical strategy while delivering customer-focused personalization solutions.ABOUT THE TEAMThe Personalization team's mission is to help customers discover their next great listen by personalizing every interaction they have with Audible content. We develop scalable frameworks and systems that transform customer signals into meaningful insights, enabling personalized, contextual recommendations across our platforms. Our teams work with cutting-edge ML technologies and large-scale distributed systems to process billions of content interactions and deliver real-time personalized experiences.ABOUT YOUYou're a strategic technical leader who thrives on solving complex personalization problems at scale. You have deep experience building and leading engineering teams, with a strong foundation in recommendation systems and distributed computing. You're passionate about developing talent and creating an inclusive team culture that drives innovation. You demonstrate excellent judgment in balancing technical tradeoffs while maintaining unwavering focus on customer experience and business impact.As a Director, Software Development, you will

Lead and grow a team of ML/software engineers building personalization and recommendation systems, providing technical mentorship and career development while fostering an inclusive environment

Own the technical strategy and roadmap for personalization systems that power discovery experiences across Audible platforms

Drive architectural decisions and technical excellence in building scalable recommendation pipelines and frameworks

Partner with product, science, and platform teams to define and execute on personalization initiatives

Establish and optimize development processes that enable rapid experimentation while maintaining high quality standards

Build mechanisms to measure and improve the customer impact of our recommendation systems

Lead hiring and development of diverse technical talent

Drive operational excellence in deploying and maintaining large-scale personalization systems

Influence cross-team technical decisions and contribute to broader organizational strategy

Champion best practices in ML engineering, including experimentation, testing, and monitoring

ABOUT AUDIBLEAudible is the leading producer and provider of audio storytelling. We spark listeners’ imaginations, offering immersive, cinematic experiences full of inspiration and insight to enrich our customers daily lives. We are a global company with an entrepreneurial spirit. We are dreamers and inventors who are passionate about the positive impact Audible can make for our customers and our neighbors. This spirit courses throughout Audible, supporting a culture of creativity and inclusion built on our People Principles and our mission to build more equitable communities in the cities we call home.Basic Qualifications

7+ years of software engineering experience with 3+ years of people management experience

Experience building and operating large-scale ML/recommendation systems in production

Technical background in distributed systems, data processing, and ML infrastructure

Track record of delivering complex technical projects through effective team leadership

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with recommendation systems, personalization technologies, or related ML applications

Track record of building and growing high-performing engineering teams

Strong understanding of ML development lifecycle and operational excellence

Experience with cloud platforms (AWS) and modern ML frameworks

Excellent communication skills with ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders

History of mentoring and developing technical talent

Experience with A/B testing and metrics-driven development

This role helps fulfill our mission of personalizing every customer interaction by building systems that surface contextuallyrelevant, time-sensitive, individualized, diverse and fresh recommendations throughout their journey on Audible

Amazon is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. For individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation, please visit https://www.amazon.jobs/en/disability/us.