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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Video Technology Director

💰 $200,000 - $350,000+

Technology LeadershipMedia & EntertainmentEngineeringVideo StreamingBroadcast Technology

🎯 Role Definition

The Video Technology Director is the strategic owner and technical authority for an organization's entire video ecosystem. This individual serves as the architect and steward of the media pipeline, responsible for everything from the point of content ingest ("glass") to the final playback on a viewer's screen ("glass"). This senior leadership role blends deep technical expertise with strong business acumen and inspirational team management, ensuring the delivery of a high-quality, scalable, and reliable video experience that drives user engagement and achieves business objectives. They are the key decision-maker for video architecture, vendor partnerships, operational excellence, and future innovation in the media delivery space.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Manager, Video Engineering
  • Principal Video Architect
  • Head of Streaming Operations

Advancement To:

  • Vice President (VP) of Engineering
  • Head of Media Platforms
  • Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Director of Platform Engineering
  • Director of Product, Video
  • Head of Broadcast Engineering

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Define and execute the long-term strategic vision and technology roadmap for all video processing and delivery systems, ensuring tight alignment with overarching business goals and product initiatives.
  • Provide architectural leadership for the end-to-end video pipeline, from live and VOD ingest and encoding to packaging, multi-DRM implementation, CDN delivery, and player-side performance optimization.
  • Lead, mentor, and expand a world-class team of video engineers, architects, and operations specialists, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
  • Oversee the design, development, and maintenance of a scalable, resilient, and cost-effective video infrastructure, primarily leveraging cloud-based services (e.g., AWS MediaServices, GCP, Azure).
  • Manage departmental budgets, capital expenditures, financial forecasting, and resource allocation, ensuring an optimal return on investment for all technology and operational spending.
  • Drive the evaluation, selection, and management of third-party vendors and technology partners, including CDN providers, encoding solutions, QoS/QoE monitoring platforms, and DRM services.
  • Establish and enforce rigorous standards for video Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE), implementing comprehensive monitoring, alerting, and analytics to guarantee a superior viewing experience.
  • Champion research and development efforts to stay ahead of industry trends, evaluating emerging technologies like new codecs (AV1, VVC), low-latency streaming protocols (LL-HLS, HESP), and AI/ML applications in video processing.
  • Collaborate closely with Product, Content, and Marketing leadership to translate complex business requirements into tangible technical specifications and deliver innovative video features and products to market.
  • Own the operational excellence and 24/7 availability of the video platform, leading incident response, root cause analysis, and post-mortem processes to minimize service disruptions.
  • Develop and maintain robust disaster recovery and business continuity plans for all critical video systems to ensure maximum uptime and service availability during unforeseen events.
  • Steer the organization's strategy for content protection and digital rights management (DRM), implementing and managing robust solutions (FairPlay, Widevine, PlayReady) to secure premium content.
  • Ensure all video technology practices and systems comply with relevant industry standards (SCTE-35, SMPTE), accessibility guidelines (WCAG, FCC), and data privacy regulations.
  • Act as the primary technical stakeholder and subject matter expert for all video-related initiatives, effectively communicating complex technical concepts to non-technical executive leadership and board members.
  • Drive data-driven decision-making by overseeing the collection and analysis of performance metrics, using insights to continuously optimize the entire video delivery chain from encoder to player.
  • Manage the complete lifecycle of both broadcast and OTT video workflows, including large-scale live event streaming, 24/7 linear channel playout, and high-throughput VOD asset preparation.
  • Architect and oversee solutions for dynamic ad insertion (DAI/SSAI), ensuring seamless integration with ad-tech platforms and optimizing monetization opportunities.
  • Lead complex contract negotiations and maintain strong, strategic relationships with key technology vendors, holding them accountable to SLAs and performance commitments.
  • Standardize and document video engineering processes, architectural patterns, and operational best practices to improve team efficiency, scalability, and knowledge sharing.
  • Partner with application and client development teams to optimize video player performance and integrate new features across web, mobile, and connected TV (CTV) devices.

Secondary Functions

  • Represent the organization as a thought leader at industry conferences, standards bodies (like the Streaming Video Alliance), and technical forums.
  • Advise executive leadership on the technology M&A landscape and conduct technical due diligence on potential acquisitions or strategic partnerships.
  • Collaborate with the data science team to explore and implement machine learning models for video quality prediction, content-aware encoding, and viewer personalization.
  • Partner with the corporate security and legal teams to develop and enforce robust anti-piracy strategies and content security protocols.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep expertise in modern video codecs (H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, VP9, AV1) and audio codecs (AAC, AC-3, E-AC-3).
  • Mastery of adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming protocols, including HLS and MPEG-DASH, and their underlying principles.
  • Extensive, hands-on experience with cloud-based media services on platforms like AWS (MediaLive, MediaConvert, Elemental), GCP, or Azure.
  • Profound understanding of Content Delivery Network (CDN) architecture, multi-CDN strategies, caching logic, and traffic management for large-scale video delivery.
  • In-depth knowledge of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies and multi-DRM workflows (Apple FairPlay, Google Widevine, Microsoft PlayReady).
  • Proven experience with video quality monitoring and analytics platforms (e.g., Conviva, Datazoom, Mux) to measure and improve QoS/QoE.
  • Familiarity with broadcast and live streaming standards and protocols, including SDI, SMPTE 2110, RTMP, SRT, and Zixi.
  • Strong command of server-side ad insertion (SSAI/DAI) technologies and standards like VAST, VMAP, and SCTE-35 for monetization.
  • Expertise in scripting and automation (e.g., Python, Go, Bash) for infrastructure management, workflow orchestration, and CI/CD pipelines.
  • Knowledge of video player frameworks (e.g., Video.js, Shaka Player, ExoPlayer, AVPlayer) and their integration on client platforms.

Soft Skills

  • Strategic Vision & Business Acumen: Ability to link technology decisions to business outcomes and develop a forward-looking strategy.
  • Inspirational Leadership: Proven ability to build, mentor, and motivate high-performing engineering teams.
  • Executive-level Communication: Can articulate complex technical strategies and trade-offs to C-suite executives, partners, and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Vendor & Financial Management: Skilled in negotiating multi-million dollar contracts, managing large budgets, and holding partners accountable.
  • Decisive Problem-Solving: Capable of making critical decisions under pressure, particularly during live events or service outages.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Adept at building strong relationships and influencing outcomes with peers in Product, Marketing, and Operations.
  • Calm Under Pressure: Maintains composure and provides clear direction during high-stakes situations and critical incidents.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Education:

  • Master's Degree or equivalent advanced studies

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Broadcast Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Information Technology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 10-15+ years in media technology, with at least 5-7 years in a direct leadership or management capacity overseeing video engineering or operations teams.

Preferred:

  • A demonstrated track record of designing, building, and scaling video platforms for a major OTT streaming service, broadcaster, social media company, or MVPD. Experience managing technology for high-concurrency live events is a significant plus.
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