---
title: 'Engineering Manager - Ads at SoundCloud'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-ads-soundcloud-london-r0ar524pfxph'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-29'
---

# Engineering Manager - Ads at SoundCloud

- **Company:** SoundCloud
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Posted:** 2026-10-16
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-29
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/soundcloud71/jobs/8893994002

## Job description

## About SoundCloud

What's next in music happens on SoundCloud first. As the world’s largest open audio platform, SoundCloud is powered by a connected community of creators, listeners, and curators who share, discover, and influence what’s new, now, and next in music and audio.

We are looking for an Engineering Manager to lead our Ads ML (Machine Learning) team within the Growth, Revenue and Commerce group, and to take SoundCloud's ad delivery into the machine learning era.

Advertising is one of SoundCloud's core revenue streams. It earns money directly, and it is also one of the main ways free listeners discover and move to a paid subscription. That revenue pays creators on our platform, covers content costs, and keeps SoundCloud a healthy, independent company. Getting ad delivery right matters to listeners, artists, and the business.

Our team builds the systems that decide which ads SoundCloud listeners hear and see, how many, and when. We're replacing fixed rules with ML: contextual bandits and predictive models (churn risk, subscription propensity, user LTV) that set ad load for each listener in real time. The goal is more ad revenue without hurting retention, and you'll decide how far and how fast we get there.

This is a hybrid leadership role with a strong hands-on component. You'll lead a team of four backend and ML engineers, contribute directly to the codebase, and own the technical direction of machine learning driven ad delivery. You'll work closely with client engineers, data analysts, and product, and report to the Director of Engineering in a flat structure.

Key Responsibilities:

- Own the ML roadmap for ad delivery. Take personalised ad serving (contextual bandits, churn and subscription-propensity models) from experiment to production across markets, and decide what the team builds next.
- Own the production ML stack behind ad decisions: online model serving, real-time bandit decisioning, feature pipelines, and model evaluation and monitoring.
- Build a rigorous experimentation practice for ML: offline and online evaluation, A/B test design, guardrail metrics, and clear ship-or-hold decisions on ad load and user LTV.
- Own the backend ad delivery services that turn model decisions into the ads served on iOS, Android and web.
- Partner with client engineers, data analysts and product on the roadmap, balancing revenue, retention and ad inventory.
- Grow the team's ML depth through hiring, mentorship and career development, and manage performance effectively.

Background & Experience:

- 2+ years of engineering management experience.
- 5+ years as a backend software developer. You're comfortable writing code, discussing trade-offs and taking part in system design.
- Hands-on experience building and running ML systems in production: model serving, real-time decisioning, feature pipelines, and monitoring for model drift and data quality.
- Solid grasp of applied ML for decision-making (bandits, ranking, recommendation or propensity models), deep enough to challenge modelling choices and trade-offs with the team.
- Strong experiment design skills, including statistical rigour and the trade-off between short-term revenue and long-term retention.
- Experience managing engineers, including coaching, feedback and performance development.
- Clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders, including explaining ML trade-offs in business terms.

Bonus Points

- Experience in ad tech, ad serving or large-scale experimentation on a large consumer platform.
- Contextual or multi-armed bandits, reinforcement learning or uplift modelling in production.
- ML platform tooling: feature stores, model registries and workflow
- User LTV, churn or subscription-propensity modelling.
- Ad standards and integrations: VAST, programmatic demand (SSPs and DSPs), frequency capping.
- Audio or video advertising.
- Scala or another JVM language, and Python for ML work.

If you're excited about bringing machine learning to ad delivery at scale, leading a team, and shaping how millions of listeners experience ads on SoundCloud, we'd love to hear from you.

About us:

- We are a multinational company with offices in the US (New York and Los Angeles), Germany (Berlin), and the UK (London)

- We provide a flexible work culture that offers the opportunity to collaborate and connect in person at our offices as well as accommodating work from home

- We are deeply committed to ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of our organization and fostering a community where everyone’s voice, perspective and experience is respected and heard.

- We believe a strong team is made by investing in employees through mentorship, workshops and enrichment opportunities

Benefits:

- Interested in a gym membership, photography course or book? We have a Creativity and Wellness benefit!

- Employee Equity Plan

- Generous professional development allowance

- Flexible vacation and public holiday policy where you can take up to 35 days of PTO annually

- Various snacks, goodies, and 2 free lunches weekly when at the office

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at SoundCloud

SoundCloud is for everyone. Diversity and open expression are fundamental to our organization; they help us lead what’s next in music by understanding and empowering our creators and fans, no matter their identity. We acknowledge the challenges in the music industry, and strive to influence an inclusive culture where everyone can contribute respectfully and thrive, especially the historically marginalized communities that many of our creators, fans and SoundClouders identify with. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment at SoundCloud for everyone, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, migration background, national origin, age, disability status, or care-giver status.

At SoundCloud you can find your community or elevate your allyship by joining a Diversity Resource Group. Diversity Resource Groups are employee-organized groups focused on supporting and promoting the interests of a particular underrepresented community in order to build a more inclusive culture at SoundCloud. Anyone can join, whether you share the identity or strive to be an ally.

## About SoundCloud

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: SoundCloud is an artist-first, fan-powered music streaming and sharing platform that connects a global community of creators and listeners.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held)
- **Headquarters**: Berlin, Germany (with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London)
- **Founded**: 2007
- **Founders**: Alexander Ljung, Eric Wahlforss

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Music Streaming, Audio Entertainment, Social Community
- Target customers: B2C (artists and fans), with a two-sided ecosystem serving both creators (independent and established) and listeners.
- Mission or purpose statement: "Empower artists and fans to share and connect through music."

## Products & Services
- **SoundCloud (Platform)**: A free and paid music streaming service available on mobile, desktop, and Xbox devices. It offers one of the largest music libraries globally, with over 200 million audio tracks and 40 million+ creators.
- **SoundCloud for Artists**: A suite of tools, services, and resources to help artists upload, promote, share, and monetize their music. This includes audience growth and direct fan engagement features.
- **SoundCloud Go / Go+**: Paid subscription tiers that offer ad-free listening, offline playback, and access to a deeper catalog of full-length tracks.
- **Repost by SoundCloud**: A distribution and monetization service for independent artists.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company). The company has raised **$550.2M in total funding** over 9 rounds.
- **Key Metric (Annual Revenue)**: Estimated at **$300.0 million** (per LinkedIn data). The company has approximately **900 employees**.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not explicitly listed in the provided search results, but the company has raised significant venture capital. Key executives include Eliah Seton (CEO), Drew Wilson (COO, CFO), and Alexander Ljung (Chairman and Co-Founder).
- **Growth Signals**: Reports over **140 million monthly active users** (as of 2023). The platform hosts over **320 million music tracks** and operates in **64 countries**. It is widely recognized as the "leading voice of independence" in the music industry, having launched the careers of major artists like Billie Eilish and Post Malone.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Artist-First Ecosystem**: Unlike general streaming services, SoundCloud is purpose-built for independent creators, offering direct-to-fan engagement and discovery tools.
- **Massive & Unique Catalog**: Boasts "over 4x the catalog of any major platform," with a deep well of emerging and underground music that isn't available elsewhere.
- **Discovery Engine**: Known as a place where "discovery starts early," allowing fans to find new music and artists before they break into the mainstream.
- **Strong Community**: Positioned as the "world's most social music platform," fostering direct connections between artists and fans.

## Strategic Focus
- **Artist Empowerment**: Continuing to build tools and services that help artists build and monetize their careers.
- **Product Innovation**: Constantly evolving the platform with new features, driven by the Engineering, Product & Design (EPD) teams.
- **Global Expansion**: Operating in 190 countries and territories, with a focus on deepening its global community.
- **Two-Sided Growth**: Balancing the needs of both fans (discovery, social features) and creators (monetization, audience growth) within a single ecosystem.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & Vibe**: Described as music and pet-friendly, with on-site industry events and snacks. The company emphasizes being "one team, one dream" and encourages employees to be their "authentic and true self."
- **Diversity & Inclusion**: Diversity is described as "in our DNA." The company has active Diversity Resource Groups (Clouds of Color, Women at SoundCloud, Women in Engineering, QueerClouders) and a dedicated DEI team.
- **Work Environment**: Hybrid model with four main office locations (Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, London) and numerous WFH offices.
- **Total Rewards & Perks**: Offers "flexible vacation up to 35 days" and a "Learning and Development benefit" with time and budget for professional growth (conferences, workshops, classes).
- **Engineering Culture**: The Engineering, Product & Design (EPD) team is positioned as the "backbone" and "leaders of innovation," with a focus on constant product updates and new features.
- **Open Roles (as of search date)**: Includes roles in Engineering (Lead Principal Software Engineer, Senior ML Engineer, Full Stack Engineer), Security (Principal Product Security Engineer), Sales (Associate/Strategist), and Executive (Business Partner to CEO).

## Sources
1. [SoundCloud About Us](https://soundcloud.com/company/about-us)
2. [SoundCloud Careers](https://soundcloud.com/company/careers)
3. [SoundCloud LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/soundcloud)
4. [SoundCloud Community Homepage](https://community.soundcloud.com/company/home)
5. [SoundCloud Job Board (Greenhouse)](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/soundcloud71/jobs/8559361002)

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