2026 Summer Internship

Research Scientist - PhD (Stockholm)

Spotify is looking for enthusiastic students/recent graduates with a passion for music, podcasts, audiobooks, or video and an ambition to go far. This isn’t just any internship! Our paid internship program will give you the chance to gain in-depth knowledge of what it’s like to be a Spotify employee, as well as get the opportunity to see the technology side of a fast growing company. Our summer internships will last for approximately 10 or 12 weeks and start in mid-June 2026. We are looking for exceptional Research Scientist Interns who have applied experience in signal processing, audio and video analysis, perceptual quality, Music & Video Information Retrieval (MIR/VIR), or related fields. The Media Quality Lab (MQL) works at the intersection of media quality, perception, and technology, inventing and testing foundational approaches that inform future product experiences.

What You'll Do

Join a small, senior applied research team focused on improving how Spotify understands and evaluates audio and video quality across real user scenarios.
Apply scientific methods to application-oriented problems in audio/video signal processing, perceptual feature design, and retrieval.
Build proofs of concept (POCs) in Music and Video Information Retrieval (MIR & VIR) using perceptual features extracted from audio and video.
Work hands-on in Python using scientific and data-analysis tools.
Present your results in internal forums and, if appropriate and relevant, contribute toward a publication.

Who You Are

You are pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering, Signal Processing, Computer Science, Acoustics, Applied Mathematics, or a related area with a strong computational focus.
You have a baseline understanding of media technology across audio and video, such as formats/containers, compression concepts, resolutions/bitrates, and delivery constraints.
You have some understanding of music and video creation workflows and common user scenarios (headphones, speakers, mobile, TV, etc.).
You have publications in communities such as the ICASSP, ISMIR, Interspeech, DAFx, WASPAA, AES (Conventions/Journals), ICME, ICIP, ACM Multimedia, MMSP, EUSIPCO, PCS or related venues.
You have programming experience in Python and scientific tooling.
You are a creative problem-solver who is excited about digging into complex problems and producing practical prototypes grounded in real media behavior.
Prior work in MIR/VIR, perceptual evaluation, DSP, codecs, feature engineering, or retrieval systems is a plus.
You are available from June 15th onwards for a 10 or 12 week summer internship.
You have a graduation year date of 2026 or 2027.
You currently have valid work authorization to work in the country in which this role is based that will extend from June to September 2026.

Where You'll Be

This role will require you to work out of our Stockholm office.
Our internship program has a lot to offer with in office events and networking opportunities. To allow you to be fully immersed in our program and make the most of your time with us, we ask that you come into the office 3 days a week.

Learn about life at Spotify Our paid summer internships last for approximately 10 or 12 weeks and start in mid-June 2026. The last day to apply is February 17, 2026 at 6 PM CET. Spotify is an equal opportunity employer. You are welcome at Spotify for who you are... Our platform is for everyone... At Spotify we are passionate about inclusivity... Spotify transformed music listening forever when we launched in 2008... Our global benefits:

Extensive learning opportunities through our dedicated team GreenHouse.
All The Feels employee assistance program and self-care hub.
Social events from fikas to connection time panels and talks.
Swag official merch you can’t get anywhere else.