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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Video Technology Engineer

💰 $110,000 - $185,000

EngineeringTechnologyMediaVideo Streaming

🎯 Role Definition

A Video Technology Engineer is the architect and custodian of the digital video journey. This role is fundamentally about ensuring that video content—whether it's a live global sports event or an on-demand blockbuster movie—is captured, processed, protected, and delivered to millions of users with the highest possible quality and reliability. They are the technical experts who build and maintain the complex, large-scale systems that power modern streaming platforms. This involves everything from a deep understanding of video codecs and streaming protocols to mastering cloud infrastructure and writing custom code to automate and optimize every step of the video pipeline. Ultimately, their work is what makes a seamless, buffer-free, and high-definition viewing experience a reality for the end-user.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Software Engineer (with a media focus)
  • Broadcast Engineer (transitioning to digital/IP)
  • Network Engineer or Systems Administrator (in a media company)

Advancement To:

  • Senior or Principal Video Technology Engineer
  • Engineering Manager (Video Platform / Media Systems)
  • Solutions Architect (Media & Entertainment)

Lateral Moves:

  • DevOps Engineer (Media Infrastructure)
  • Player/Playback Engineer
  • R&D Engineer (Video Codecs/Protocols)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Architect, build, and maintain robust, scalable, and resilient video processing pipelines for both live streaming and video-on-demand (VOD) workflows.
  • Spearhead the evaluation, integration, and optimization of video encoding technologies and codecs (e.g., H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, AV1, VP9) to balance quality, bitrate, and computational cost.
  • Develop and manage systems for dynamic ad insertion (DAI), server-side ad insertion (SSAI), and client-side ad insertion (CSAI) to support monetization strategies.
  • Implement and maintain content protection schemes using DRM technologies like Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay, and Microsoft PlayReady across various platforms.
  • Design and operate monitoring and alerting systems to ensure high availability and performance of video services, tracking key metrics like stream availability, rebuffering rates, and start-up times.
  • Troubleshoot and resolve complex, time-sensitive issues within the entire video delivery chain, from signal acquisition and ingest to encoding, packaging, CDN delivery, and playback.
  • Collaborate with Content Delivery Network (CDN) partners to configure, optimize, and troubleshoot content delivery, including cache strategies, traffic shaping, and multi-CDN logic.
  • Author and maintain custom software and scripting (typically using Python, Go, or similar languages) to automate video workflows, quality control checks, and operational tasks.
  • Conduct research and development on emerging video technologies, standards (like LL-HLS, CMAF), and industry best practices to drive innovation and maintain a competitive edge.
  • Define and implement comprehensive Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS) metrics and dashboards for real-time and historical performance analysis.
  • Manage the lifecycle of video assets, including ingest, transcoding, metadata management, and archival, ensuring data integrity and accessibility.
  • Work closely with client-side player development teams to ensure compatibility and optimal performance of video streams across a wide range of devices (web, mobile, smart TVs, set-top boxes).
  • Develop and execute load and stress testing plans for video infrastructure to identify bottlenecks and ensure scalability for major live events and peak traffic.
  • Create and maintain detailed technical documentation, including system architecture diagrams, operational runbooks, and API specifications for internal teams.
  • Integrate and manage cloud-based media services (e.g., AWS Elemental MediaLive, MediaConvert, MediaPackage) to build flexible and cost-effective video solutions.
  • Analyze and debug low-level video stream issues using tools like FFprobe, MediaInfo, and transport stream analyzers to identify and resolve subtle corruption or sync problems.
  • Champion best practices for video and audio quality assessment, utilizing both objective metrics (e.g., PSNR, VMAF, SSIM) and subjective viewing tests.
  • Participate in the design and implementation of low-latency streaming solutions using technologies like WebRTC, Low-Latency HLS, or DASH for interactive and time-critical applications.
  • Manage vendor relationships with technology providers for encoders, packagers, monitoring tools, and other critical components of the video ecosystem.
  • Ensure all video services comply with regional broadcast standards, accessibility requirements (e.g., closed captions, subtitles, descriptive audio), and regulatory obligations.
  • Develop robust caption and subtitle workflows, including ingestion of formats like SCC, VTT, and SRT, ensuring precise time-synchronization and embedding into video streams.
  • Optimize video ingest protocols (e.g., RTMP, SRT, Zixi) for maximum reliability and quality from a variety of live sources and contribution encoders.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis related to video performance.
  • Contribute to the organization's broader technology strategy and roadmap, representing media engineering needs.
  • Collaborate with business units and product managers to translate feature needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies within the engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Video Streaming Protocols: Deep understanding and hands-on experience with adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming protocols, including HLS and MPEG-DASH, their manifest structures, and delivery mechanisms.
  • Video & Audio Codecs: In-depth knowledge of video and audio compression standards such as H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, AV1, VP9, and AAC, including their profiles, levels, and encoding parameters.
  • Media Processing Frameworks: Proficiency with core video processing tools and libraries like FFmpeg and GStreamer for scripting complex manipulation, analysis, and transcoding of media files.
  • Cloud Media Services: Practical experience deploying and managing video workflows using cloud provider services, particularly AWS Elemental Media Services (MediaLive, MediaConvert, MediaPackage, IVS) or equivalent GCP/Azure offerings.
  • Scripting & Automation: Strong programming skills in a language like Python or Go for automating media workflows, building internal tools, and integrating with third-party APIs.
  • DRM & Content Protection: A solid working knowledge of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems (Widevine, FairPlay, PlayReady) and content encryption standards like Common Encryption (CENC).
  • Networking & CDN: Solid understanding of networking principles (TCP/IP, UDP, DNS) and Content Delivery Network (CDN) architecture, configuration, and caching strategies.
  • Video Quality Analysis: Experience with objective video quality metrics (VMAF, PSNR, SSIM) and the tools used to measure them, as well as an eye for subjective quality assessment.
  • Live Ingest Protocols: Knowledge of common live stream contribution protocols, including RTMP, SRT (Secure Reliable Transport), RIST, and Zixi, and their respective use cases.
  • Container & Packaging Formats: Expertise in media container formats like MP4 (fMP4, CMAF) and Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) and their role in modern streaming workflows.
  • Monitoring & Observability: Experience with setting up and using monitoring platforms like Datadog, New Relic, Grafana, or Prometheus to track the health and performance of distributed video services.

Soft Skills

  • Systemic Problem-Solving: An innate ability to methodically troubleshoot complex, multi-layered systems under pressure, moving from high-level symptoms to root-cause identification.
  • Attention to Detail: Meticulous and precise in a domain where a single incorrect parameter can impact millions of viewers.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Excellent communication skills to work effectively with product managers, client-side engineers, network operations, and external vendors.
  • Curiosity & Continuous Learning: A strong desire to stay on the cutting edge of video technology, constantly exploring new standards, techniques, and tools.
  • Ownership & Accountability: A proactive mindset, taking full ownership of the services you build and operate, and a drive to see issues through to resolution.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • A Bachelor's Degree in a relevant technical field or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Education:

  • A Master's Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a discipline with a focus on signal processing or media technology.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Broadcast Technology
  • Telecommunications

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3-7 years of direct experience in video engineering, broadcast engineering, or a software engineering role with a heavy focus on media.

Preferred:

  • Proven experience working on large-scale, consumer-facing video streaming platforms that support live and on-demand content.
  • A portfolio of projects or a public record of contributions (e.g., GitHub, technical blog) demonstrating expertise in the video technology space.
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