Android developer job description template (2026)
A complete Android developer job description you can copy, covering Jetpack Compose, Play releases, device fragmentation, seniority levels and hiring tips.
By the Ryz Labs team · Updated October 2026
An Android developer job description should spell out the platform realities of your app: whether the UI is Jetpack Compose, XML views or both, your minSdk and targetSdk, which devices and form factors you support and who owns Play Console releases. Android work is shaped by fragmentation, background execution limits and OEM quirks, and strong candidates look for signs that you understand that. The template below is written for a senior Android developer who owns features and releases in a production app. Copy it, swap in your details and cut what does not apply.
Android developer job description template
Job title
Senior Android Developer (Kotlin and Jetpack Compose)
Employment type: full-time or contract. Location: remote, with at least four hours of overlap with US Eastern time.
About the role
We are looking for a senior Android developer to build and ship [app name], used by [audience] on phones and [tablets / foldables / Wear OS]. You will own features from design handoff to Play Store rollout, work closely with designers, backend engineers and product managers, and help shape how our app grows as we move remaining screens to Compose. Our app supports minSdk [version] and targets the latest API level. You will join a mobile team of [number] engineers and report to [title].
Responsibilities
- Build screens in Jetpack Compose with Material 3, and maintain or migrate existing XML layouts and Fragments where it pays off.
- Design feature architecture with ViewModels, unidirectional data flow, Hilt or Koin for dependency injection, and multi-module Gradle builds.
- Integrate APIs with Retrofit or Ktor client and kotlinx.serialization, with Room for offline storage and sync.
- Schedule background work correctly with WorkManager and foreground services, within Doze, App Standby and Android 14 and 15 restrictions.
- Own Play Console releases: app bundles, signing, internal and closed testing tracks, staged rollouts and halting a bad rollout.
- Track crashes and ANRs in Android vitals and Crashlytics, and fix the issues with the widest device impact first.
- Profile startup, jank, memory and battery use with Android Studio profilers, Macrobenchmark and Baseline Profiles.
- Test across the device matrix: different screen sizes, OEM skins, API levels, low-memory devices and foldables.
- Write unit tests with JUnit and Turbine, and UI tests with Compose testing APIs or Espresso, running in CI.
- Keep the app compliant with Play policy changes, runtime permissions, target API deadlines and the Data safety form.
- Review pull requests and help the team make sound choices on Compose performance, coroutines and state.
Requirements
- 5+ years of professional software development, with at least 3 years shipping native Android apps to Google Play.
- Strong Kotlin skills, including coroutines, Flow and StateFlow for UI state.
- Production experience with Jetpack Compose, including recomposition, stability and state hoisting, plus working knowledge of the View system.
- Solid grasp of the Android lifecycle, process death, configuration changes and saved state.
- Experience with Jetpack libraries: Navigation, Room, WorkManager, DataStore and Paging.
- Hands-on experience releasing through Play Console, including staged rollouts and responding to policy or review issues.
- Experience diagnosing ANRs, memory leaks and jank using profilers, LeakCanary and Android vitals.
- Comfort with Gradle (Kotlin DSL), version catalogs and a CI system such as GitHub Actions, Bitrise or CircleCI.
- Clear written English for design docs, pull request descriptions and release notes.
Nice to have
- Experience with Kotlin Multiplatform for sharing business logic with iOS.
- Large-screen and foldable layouts using window size classes.
- Google Play Billing for subscriptions and in-app purchases.
- Build performance work: Gradle configuration cache, modularization or remote build caching.
- Wear OS, Android Auto or Android TV experience.
- Published apps or open source Android libraries you can show.
Tech stack
Kotlin 2.x, Jetpack Compose, Material 3, Coroutines and Flow, Hilt, Retrofit or Ktor client, Room, WorkManager, Gradle with version catalogs, JUnit, Turbine, Compose UI tests, Firebase Crashlytics, GitHub Actions, Google Play Console. Replace this list with your real stack, including your minSdk.
What success looks like in 6 months
- You have shipped several features to production and own one area of the app as its primary maintainer.
- You can run a Play Store release on your own, including a staged rollout and a rollback decision.
- You have measurably improved one known problem, such as cold start time, a top ANR or jank on a key screen.
- You have written a design doc the team used, for example a plan for the next Compose migration step or module split.
How to apply and interview process
Send your resume or LinkedIn profile, plus a link to an app you worked on and a short note about your part in it. Our process has four steps: a 30-minute intro call, a technical conversation about an app you have built, a practical exercise or pairing session on a realistic Android problem, and a final conversation with the team you would join. We aim to give feedback within a few days of each step.
Junior vs mid vs senior Android developer
On Android, seniority shows in how someone handles the messy parts: process death, background limits, OEM bugs and releases that go wrong on one manufacturer's devices.
| Level | Scope | Typical experience | Key skills |
|---|
| Junior | Individual screens and bug fixes in an existing app, with close review | 0-2 years | Kotlin basics, Compose layouts, ViewModel, calling APIs, Android Studio debugging |
| Mid-level | Complete features, including networking, Room, background work and tests | 2-5 years | Coroutines and Flow, lifecycle and process death, WorkManager, Play testing tracks |
| Senior | App architecture, release process, performance and mentoring | 5+ years | Modularization, Compose performance, ANR and crash triage, device matrix strategy, Play policy and release management |
Tips for writing an Android developer job description that attracts senior talent
- State your Compose adoption. "New screens in Compose, about half the app still on Fragments" is honest and appealing. Senior Android developers will ask in the first call anyway.
- Give minSdk and your device reality. Supporting API 24 on low-end devices in emerging markets is a different job from supporting recent flagships only. Say which one it is.
- Name the background work. Location tracking, sync, media playback or Bluetooth all collide with background execution limits. Mentioning them signals real engineering problems, not just screens.
- Say who owns Play Console. Candidates want to know whether they will manage releases, staged rollouts and policy deadlines or hand builds to someone else.
- Do not require Java-only experience. Kotlin has been the default for Android for years. Ask for Java only if you have a large legacy Java module someone must maintain, and say so.
- Mention your quality bar. If you track crash-free sessions or ANR rate against Android vitals thresholds, say so. It tells candidates stability matters.
- Link the Play Store listing. It lets candidates judge ratings, update cadence and product quality before applying.
Skip the job post: hire a vetted senior Android developer
Writing a good job description is the first step of a hiring cycle that can run for months. If you need senior Android capacity sooner, Ryz Labs can match you with senior Android developers from Latin America who join your team, your repos and your standups and work within an hour of US time zones. Only the top 1% of the engineers we interview make it through our vetting, which covers Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, the Android lifecycle and shipping production apps.
Our staff augmentation model lets you add one Android developer or a full mobile squad working on your team without rewriting your process. Ryz engineers work on your team and report to your leads. Talk to us to scope the team you need. If you are still running your own hiring loop, our Android interview questions cover the topics we test for and what strong answers sound like.
FAQ
What should an Android developer job description include?
A job title with seniority, a description of the app and its users, your Compose and View mix, minSdk and device support, specific responsibilities including who owns Play releases, realistic requirements, your real tech stack, what success looks like after a few months and the interview steps.
Should I require Jetpack Compose experience?
For new Android hires in 2026, yes. Compose is the recommended UI toolkit and most active codebases use it for new screens. If your app is still mostly XML views, require Compose plus solid View system knowledge, because the person will work in both during a migration.
What is the difference between an Android developer and a Kotlin developer?
An Android developer owns the platform job: UI, lifecycle, background work, device fragmentation and Play Store releases. A Kotlin developer role centers on the language and can mean backend services in Ktor or Spring, or shared Kotlin Multiplatform code. Hire an Android developer when the product is an Android app.
Questions we didn't answer? Email info@ryzlabs.com.