# Horia Jurcut

I’m a software engineer in Singapore. My work spans distributed systems, developer tools, hardware products and AI.

I’ve worked at Spotify and Electronic Arts, helped build Encore, and led engineering teams. Minimum Effort is where I share what I’m building and what I’m learning along the way.

## Looking for my next role in AI

Open to opportunities · Singapore

I’m exploring technical leadership roles in Singapore.

At Spotify, I’ve spent eight years working across engineering and leadership, including large-scale systems, AI and Car Thing. I’ll be wrapping up there on 3 December.

If your team is hiring, or you know someone I should meet, I’d appreciate an introduction. I’d also love to hear what you’re building.

- [Connect on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/horiajurcut/)
- [Read the LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7508793397273464833/)

## What I’m exploring

I’m building [Sprowt](https://www.sprowt.finance/) and [Sprowt Harness](https://minimumeffort.dev/blog/sprowt-harness-workers-and-review), and studying AI from the inside out: coding agents, inference, tokens, and the math and hardware underneath.

- [Sprowt Harness build notes](https://minimumeffort.dev/blog/sprowt-harness-workers-and-review)
- [Sprowt Harness on GitHub](https://github.com/minimumeffort-dev/sprowt.harness)

## Some of the work

### Spotify

I’ve spent eight years at Spotify across engineering and management. I was one of the first people to join the Car Thing team and one of its engineering managers. I also worked on company-wide system design and set AI strategy for User Growth Optimization. Earlier work included voice services, subscriptions and the Partner API behind bundles such as Spotify + Hulu.

- [Car Thing’s launch · Spotify](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-04-13/spotify-launches-our-newest-exploration-a-limited-release-of-car-thing-a-smart-player-for-your-car/)
- [The Spotify + Hulu partnership · Spotify](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2018-04-11/spotify-and-hulu-expand-partnership/)

#### Selected patents and applications

I’m named as an inventor on patents and patent applications related to media streaming, playback and predictive caching.

- [Personal media streaming appliance ecosystem · US20190332347A1](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20190332347A1/en)
- [Methods and systems for provisioning settings of a media playback device · US10367687B1](https://patents.google.com/patent/US10367687B1/en)
- [Cloud-based preset for media content playback · US11128686B2](https://patents.google.com/patent/US11128686B2/en)
- [Predictive caching · EP3565261B1](https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3565261B1/en)
- [Automatic preset setup for media content playback · US20210368226A1](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210368226A1/en)

[See all publications](https://patents.google.com/?q=(Jurcut)&inventor=Horia&oq=inventor:Horia+Jurcut)

### Encore

As a founding engineer, I helped shape the architecture of an early-stage platform for building backend software.

- [The story behind Encore v1.0 · Encore](https://encore.dev/blog/fun-back-into-software-development)

### Lola Tech

I led the machine learning engineering team, working on model development, production integration and the infrastructure for experimentation.

- [Lola Tech’s acquisition by DataArt · Howes Percival](https://www.howespercival.com/insights/howes-percival-acts-in-tech-company-sale/)

### DICE / Electronic Arts

I built Scala-based distributed services for in-game experiences across Battlefield and Battlefront.

- [Battlefield, Battlefront and DICE’s games · DICE](https://www.dice.se/our-games)

## Beyond the day job

I founded SOURCECODE, a community of software engineers focused on engineering, design and creative problem-solving.

I studied computer science at [Politehnica University of Timișoara](https://www.upt.ro/en). My work has moved between hands-on engineering, architecture and leading teams, often within the same project.

## Elsewhere

- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/horiajurcut/)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/minimumeffort-dev)
- [X](https://x.com/horiajurcut)
- [Blog](https://minimumeffort.dev/blog)