Senior Software Engineer, Media Backend

Ovii's Interpretation of the Role

Senior Software Engineer (Media Backend) at LiveKit, building and scaling the media pipeline that powers real‑time voice AI applications. Own end‑to‑end design, implementation, and operation of distributed media services, shaping formats, codecs, and performance trade‑offs.

Role Snapshot

• Senior backend engineer
• Media pipeline ownership
• Distributed systems design
• Production‑grade media services
• Go (Golang) development
• Real‑time communications
• Open‑source contribution

Must-Have Requirements

• Golang
• Media pipeline development
• Distributed systems
• GStreamer
• FFmpeg / libavcodec
• WebRTC
• RTMP / WHIP / HLS
• H264 / VP9 / AV1 codecs
• ISO/MP4 / CMAF formats
• VMAF quality metric
• production media processing services at scale
• distributed systems

Nice-to-Have Signals

• Experience with media pipelines, systems, and algorithms

Work Setup

• Location: United States
• Work mode: REMOTE
• Remote scope: COUNTRY_RESTRICTED
• Remote countries: United States
• Employment type: Full-Time

Not Specified in JD

• Visa sponsorship
• Salary range
• Relocation

What You'll Likely Work On

• Design and optimize LiveKit’s media pipeline and related services.
• Build distributed ingestion and export systems for heterogeneous media sources.
• Define media feature strategy, selecting formats, codecs, and algorithms.
• Balance performance, reliability, and quality through algorithmic choices.
• Provide guidance and support to other teams using media services.
• Ensure operational excellence and reliability of media infrastructure.

Good Fit If You Have

• Comfortable navigating ambiguous, evolving requirements.
• Strong communication skills and ability to produce clear designs.
• Passion for shipping production‑ready systems that scale.
• Experience contributing to open‑source projects is a plus.