API Engineer

Location: Remote (Canada, United Kingdom, or Europe)

Sponsorship: Not available. We cannot support visas, work permits, or extensions in any country (including PGWP, Graduate Route, or similar programs).

Salary: Senior to Staff level;
Varies by region — see details below

Distro Kid is the world’s largest distributor of music to Spotify, Apple Music, You Tube, and beyond. Most new music today is released through Distro Kid.

As an API Engineer at Distro Kid, you will be instrumental in building and scaling the API infrastructure that powers our integrations, partnerships, and emerging AI capabilities. You will own the design, development, and evolution of APIs that connect millions of musicians to streaming platforms, third-party services, and cutting‑edge AI tools.

In this role, you will establish API standards and patterns across our ecosystem, including mobile applications, partnership integrations, telemetry infrastructure, and emerging AI/LLM integrations. You will work closely with cross‑functional teams to design robust, scalable APIs that assist both internal development and external partnerships.

This is a foundational role on our API team. You’ll have the opportunity to shape our API strategy, working alongside talented engineers to build infrastructure that enables Distro Kid to move faster on partnership opportunities and innovative integrations. While this is primarily a senior to staff individual contributor role, experience leading teams and projects as a team lead is highly valued.

Distro Kid is a fully remote company with an employee‑first culture and excellent benefits.

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable REST and Graph
  
  QL APIs that assist internal teams and external partnerships
• Establish and document API design standards, patterns, and best practices across the organization
• Lead technical design discussions and architecture decisions for new integrations and partnership opportunities
• Build and support APIs for emerging integration opportunities, including AI/LLM tools and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementations
• Implement secure authentication and authorization systems, including OAuth integrations
• Collaborate with other teams to understand API requirements and deliver robust solutions
• Review code and provide technical guidance to team members and engineers across the organization
• Own the API roadmap and prioritize work to support development velocity and business needs
• Ensure APIs are well‑documented, versioned appropriately, and maintain backward compatibility
• Build and maintain API testing frameworks and automation
• Respond to technical requirements from partnership teams and third‑party integrators
• Work with AWS services to build resilient, scalable API infrastructure
• Contribute to reducing technical debt and improving consistency across existing APIs

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with a strong focus on API development
• Expert‑level knowledge of REST API design principles and experience with GraphQL
• Proven experience designing and building APIs for partnerships, integrations, or third‑party developers
• Proficiency in at least one of:
  Java, PHP, Ruby, Python or Cold Fusion
• Strong understanding of authentication and authorization patterns (OAuth 2.0, JWT, API keys)
• Experience with AWS services and cloud‑native API development
• Track record of establishing API standards, documentation practices, and design patterns
• Experience leading technical projects or teams and mentoring other engineers
• Strong understanding of API versioning, backwards compatibility, and deprecation strategies
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work with non‑technical stakeholders
• Experience with API testing frameworks and test automation
• Self‑directed and able to work independently in a remote environment

• Experience with AI/LLM integrations, Model Context Protocol (MCP), or similar emerging technologies
• Experience with mobile API development (iOS/Android)
• Experience with event‑driven architectures and telemetry systems
• Enthusiasm for music!

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