hi, i'm josh!

I build creative tools and intelligent systems, always focusing on developing the right 🔍 lens to understand and address user needs.
My core expertise lies in machine learning, with seven years of experience at Spotify. There, I led the development of several impactful recommendation models, including:
- The agentic technology powering AI Playlists.
- Natural language understanding models for music search.
- Podcast content analysis for personalized homepage recommendations.
- Recommendation algorithms for features like Enhance and Smart Shuffle.
My work is driven by a fascination with how we make sense of the world. This extends beyond technology to a deep interest in how stories, music, and photography serve as our own 🔍 lens on experience. My creative pursuits include landscape photography, documentary film, audiovisual art, and music.
I'm also a strong believer in the power of personal knowledge management. This led me to create Enzyme, a project born from my Obsidian plugin and user feedback, designed to help individuals synthesize and build upon their own knowledge.
Posts
from my Substack:
Photography
I'm an avid landscape photographer. Here is some of my select work, and you can find more on Flickr and on Instagram at @jphamjournal











