About

How I Work

Emma Vickery

Engineering leader focused on high-scale backend systems

I’m a Senior Software Engineer and Engineering Manager at Spotify, where I work on ad-serving systems, user targeting, reliability, and the cross-team execution required to ship safely at scale.

  • Location: Denver, CO
  • Age: 26
  • Current: Spotify
  • Degree: Bachelor of Science
  • School: University of California, Berkeley
  • Email: ecvick@berkeley.edu

I’ve led initiatives spanning more than 20 engineers, shipped systems serving hundreds of millions of impressions, and built low-latency services that materially reduced both infrastructure cost and response time. I enjoy the work where architecture, product judgment, and people leadership overlap, especially when the problem is ambiguous and the path forward needs to become clear.

That leadership thread started early: I completed Berkeley’s EECS program in three years alongside an IEOR minor and SCET certificate, progressed from analyst to project manager to senior advisor at CMG Strategy Consulting, and helped lead Cal Club Golf to its first back-to-back national tournament qualifications.

High-scale delivery

Led Spotify Audience Network targeting work that enabled 238 campaigns and more than 577M impressions.

Performance & efficiency

Shipped a low-latency endpoint that cut p99 latency by 91% and reduced monthly data costs by roughly 98%.

Reliability by design

Built canary guardrails, expanded integration coverage beyond 100 tests, and strengthened configuration safety.

Technical leadership

Aligning stakeholders, mentoring engineers, and connecting teams and systems across organizational boundaries.

Engineering Stack

Languages

Java · Go · Python · TypeScript · JavaScript · SQL

Systems

Ad serving · user targeting · low-latency APIs · distributed systems

Reliability & Cloud

Canary testing · integration infrastructure · configuration validation · Google Cloud

Leadership

Technical strategy · multi-team delivery · mentorship · stakeholder alignment

Interests

Golf & Golf Carts

Hammocking

Improv Violin

Hiking with Family

Powder Days

Lacrosse

Experience

Work, Research & Leadership

Professional Experience

Education, Research & Leadership

Selected Recognition

2016 - 2019

Deloitte StartUp UC Berkeley Case Competition: 3rd place; Berkeley Early Admit; Chicago Tribune Athlete of the Year; Illinois State, Rohrabaugh, American Legion, and National AP Scholar recognition.

Portfolio

Selected Work

Screenshot of Emma Vickery's personal website project

This Website

A lightweight personal site built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Cover image for an authorization technical blog post

Authorization Writing

A technical narrative about building access control at Carta.

Volleyball highlight thumbnail

Competitive Background

Athletic background: fast reads, teamwork, and follow-through.

Aspire Education tutoring project image

Teaching & Tutoring

Making complicated ideas approachable, one explanation at a time.

Contact

Get in Touch

Social Profiles