Software Engineer 5 - Streaming Algorithms

Netflix is one of the world's leading entertainment services, with over 300 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can play, pause and resume watching as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, and can change their plans at any time.

Interested in working with the team that builds Netflix’s record-breaking live streaming technologies? Read on to learn more! 

Over 108 million people tuned in for the fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, and over 65 million people watched the NFL games live on Christmas Day. A big portion of our Live shows is watched on mobile devices, and we want their playback experience to be stunning. To achieve these goals, we are looking for a new member to join us and help optimize the mobile playback experience at Netflix. 

The streaming algorithms team designs adaptive streaming algorithms across Live and VoD and is responsible for the quality of Netflix playback. This team influences ⅓ of the Internet traffic, shapes the Netflix playback experience, and brings studio-quality audio to Stranger Things. Our focus now is to improve the live playback experience and make our offerings more interactive. For this particular role, we are looking for someone who has experience in improving the mobile playback experience to join our adventure. 

Who We Are

We obsess over great playback experiences. We want playback to start immediately, at great quality, and we never want playback to stop unexpectedly. 

To provide the best possible streaming experience, we design algorithms that adapt audio and video qualities to ever-changing network conditions, encoding profiles, UI features, and device capabilities. Our team comes from diverse backgrounds, has an equal gender ratio, and has a wide range of expertise in computer networking, video streaming, data analysis, embedded systems, and software engineering. 

Beyond the subscription-based video-on-demand service, we help Netflix expand into Live Streaming and Advertisements. We work highly cross-functionally and jointly develop our algorithms with Netflix CDN, Encoding Technologies, Data Science & Engineering, Consumer Insights, and UI Engineering. 

Who You Are

We are looking for a senior engineer to help us further improve the streaming quality of experience (QoE) on mobile devices. In this role, you would be responsible for improving Netflix’s streaming experience for Live and VoD and developing tools that help innovate streaming algorithms for millions of devices. You will also help evolve the system architecture, not only on mobile devices, but also across the entire streaming path, and you will conduct controlled experiments in the field to validate improvements.

It’s an exciting time to join this team! The business is expanding, the science is new, and we’re making big progress at a rapid pace.

More about you:

• Comfortable developing software on Android and/or iOS

• Comfortable with algorithm-focused software development

• Proven ability to design tools to improve software performance

• Proven ability to communicate complex technical issues cross-functionally

• Bias to action and take strategic approaches to solve technical problems

• Experience in live streaming player or algorithm development would be a big plus

• Experience in video streaming on iOS would be a big plus

• Experience in video streaming on TV or Browsers would be a plus

Nice to have skills:

• Experience in statistics and data analysis

• Experience with audio or video

• Knowledge of streaming protocols

• Knowledge of data engineering

• Knowledge of encoding technology

• Experience with shipping software on behalf of a major brand at scale

What you will do:

• Improve Netflix Live adaptive streaming designs on Android and iOS

• Design tools and systems to facilitate adaptive streaming algorithm designs and improve the playback experience 

• Design metrics that capture the viewer’s experience as well as the system's performance

• Run controlled experiments on millions of streaming sessions to validate improvements

• Work cross-functionally with Netflix CDN, Encoding Technologies, Data Science & Engineering, Consumer Insights, and UI Engineering

To Learn More

• Read about the Netflix culture which values freedom and responsibility, enabling us to do our best work.

• Watch the video to learn how Netflix streaming works and how we design adaptive streaming algorithms.

• Read the tech blog to learn more about how Live works at Netflix.

• Watch the video to learn how we improve the experimentation methodology with Bayesian Optimization.

• Read this paper to learn how we make Netflix traffic friendlier on the Internet while improving the quality of experience. 

• Read the tech blog to learn how we launch the high-quality audio experience at Netflix.

At Netflix, we carefully consider a wide range of compensation factors to determine your personal top of market. We rely on market indicators to determine compensation and consider your specific job, skills, and experience to get it right. These considerations can cause your compensation to vary and will also be dependent on your location. 

The overall market range for roles in this area of Netflix is typically $100,000 - $720,000. 

This market range is based on total compensation (vs. only base salary), which is in line with our compensation philosophy. Netflix is a unique culture and environment. Learn more here.

Inclusion is a Netflix value and we strive to host a meaningful interview experience for all candidates. If you want an accommodation/adjustment for a disability or any other reason during the hiring process, please send a request to your recruiting partner.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and celebrate diversity, recognizing that diversity builds stronger teams. We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.