Summer 2026
Software Development Intern
Software Development
Posted on 5/9/2026
Starz
1,001-5,000 employees
Premium streaming service for original content
Compensation Overview
$27/hr
Remote in USA
Remote
 Software Engineering (1) |
|---|
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Experience with at least one backend language such as C#, Java, C++, or similar. We work in C#.
- Understanding of APIs, services, server-side application development.
- Experience with JavaScript or TypeScript.
- Familiarity with a modern frontend framework such as React, Next.js, or similar.
- Basic experience with relational (ie. Sql) and/or NoSQL (ie. DynamoDB, MongoDB, Cassandra, etc.).
- Understanding of data modeling and basic querying concepts.
- Collaborate with stakeholders and engineers to gather requirements.
- Contribute to solution design and architecture discussions.
- Implement backend and frontend components of the solution.
- Write test automation to validate the functionality and prevent regressions.
- Deploy and monitor the solution.
- Learn modern engineering practices like code reviews, CI/CD, observability, etc.
Starz is a premium streaming service that offers a large library of original series, movies, and exclusive content. It provides on-demand access through subscriptions, with a promotional rate of $4.99 per month for the first three months to attract new users. The platform streams a diverse mix of genres, including comedy, drama, action, horror, family adventures, and documentaries, to a broad audience. Content can be watched anytime via the Starz app or supported devices, and new titles are added regularly to keep the catalog fresh. Starz differentiates itself by offering exclusive series and movies that you can’t find on other platforms, along with bold storytelling across its library. Its goal is to grow and retain subscribers by delivering premium entertainment and a steady flow of exclusive and high-quality content in a competitive streaming market.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
Acquired
Total Funding
$4.4B
Headquarters
Santa Monica, California
Founded
1991
Your Connections
People at Starz who can refer or advise you
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Wolf King acquisition expands original content library with a viral BookTok hit to attract new subscribers.
- Starz reported $80.7M unlevered free cash flow and accelerated margin targets, showing improved financial efficiency.
- Programming deals with Universal, Disney, Sony, and Warner ensure consistent content flow for 17.63M US subscribers.
What critics are saying
- Byron Allen's hostile 10.7% stake acquisition risks forced privatization within 12–18 months despite poison pill defense.
- Bankruptcy risk is critical due to Altman Z-Score of 0.37 amid $165M Q1 loss and $9.83/share EPS deficit.
- Operational losses of $152.8M and rising interest expenses threaten debt covenant breach, enabling forced liquidation or merger.
What makes Starz unique
- Starz leverages Tanya Saracho's return to develop Wolf King, building on its Outlander fantasy romance success.
- The series adapts a BookTok romantasy sensation, targeting young adult and fantasy audiences with high-profile original content.
- Starz secured strategic leadership from a top Disney legal executive to drive growth post-Lionsgate separation.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Vision Insurance
Dental Insurance
401(k) Company Match
Tuition Reimbursement
Performance Bonus
Paid Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
Paid Holidays
Wellness Program
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 1%2 year growth
↑ 3%Starz is developing The Wolf King, the Surrey author's BookTok romantasy sensation. News Posted by By Paul M June 27, 2026 Starz has acquired rights to Lauren Palphreyman's romantasy trilogy The Wolf King and is bringing back Tanya Saracho to develop it as a drama series. Saracho, best known as creator and showrunner of Vida, which ran on Starz for three seasons from 2018 to 2020, will executive produce and run the show. Palphreyman, a Surrey-based British author who built her following through serial fiction on Wattpad before crossing over to traditional publishing, will also executive produce. Starz has optioned all three books in the series: The Wolf King, The Night Prince, and The Wolf Queen, the latter of which publishes in November 2026. TV Shows & Programs The books follow Princess Aurora, kidnapped by a werewolf alpha and thrown into a war between humans and wolves, where she ends up entangled in a love triangle. It's a fairly standard set of romantasy coordinates, but Palphreyman has executed them well enough to land on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, accumulate over 70 million reads on Wattpad across her fiction, and get named among BookTok's favourite romantasy reads on Amazon. Her earlier series Cupid's Match was developed as a pilot for The CW but didn't proceed to series. Saracho told the trade press she'd been championing the book since finding it as an indie release and called returning to Starz "a full-circle moment." Starz has been building in this space, with Outlander as its most obvious long-running precedent in Scottish-flavoured fantasy romance. The Wolf King is still in active development, with no series order, cast or premiere date yet confirmed. Discover more TV Shows & Programs DVD & Video Rentals TV & Video
Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch received $6.75 million in compensation for 2025, the transitional year when the company separated from Lionsgate Studios. His package included a base salary of $1.16 million, $2.53 million in stock awards and $2.95 million in incentive plan compensation, according to a proxy statement filed with the SEC. No year-earlier comparison figures are available as Starz and Lionsgate Studios only separated in May 2025. The board highlighted Hirsch's leadership during the separation, delivery on financial goals and advancing growth strategy by rebuilding the content library and greenlighting Starz-owned original series. Starz laid off approximately 7% of its workforce in March and will hold its first annual shareholder meeting as a standalone public company on 7 May.
Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch received $6.7 million in total compensation for fiscal 2025, according to a securities filing ahead of the company's first shareholder meeting as an independent entity. Hirsch, who became CEO in 2019, has a contract running through December 2028. President Alison Hoffman received $2.7 million whilst CFO Scott Macdonald saw pay total $2 million. The company also disclosed a consulting agreement with former Lionsgate executive Michael Burns worth $50,000 monthly plus a one-time $3 million stock option grant. Starz cut 7 percent of its workforce in March, reducing headcount by fewer than 40 employees to 517 staff. The company reported 17.63 million US subscribers as of December and maintains programming output deals with Universal, Disney, Sony and Warner Bros.
Starz has laid off 7% of its staff, 10 months after separating from Lionsgate. The cuts, which are believed to involve a reorganisation, are part of the company's cost-reduction strategy as it works towards profitability. The streaming service, led by President and CEO Jeff Hirsch, reported 17.6 million total US subscribers in Q4 2025, with a net loss of $20.7 million—narrowing its losses post-separation. The company has projected 2026 as a "positive financial inflection point" driven by subscriber growth and increased content ownership. This marks Starz's second major round of layoffs in recent years, following a 10% staff reduction in 2023 ahead of the Lionsgate separation.
Byron Allen has acquired a 10.7% stake in Starz for $25 million through his private investment firm Allen Family Capital. The acquisition comes as Starz operates independently following its separation from Lionsgate last May. Allen's Media Group owns 28 television stations affiliated with ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox across 21 US markets. Over the past six years, the company has invested over $1 billion acquiring stations to become the largest independent television operator in the United States. The investment follows Allen's announcement earlier in 2025 that his Allen Media Group would sell local television stations to address debt, with Moelis & Co. managing the sale. Starz has transitioned from competing with traditional networks like HBO to focusing on streaming services.