Video Infrastructure Engineer

Local Now | Remote (United States) | Reports to: VP, Technology & Operations

About Local Now

Local Now is a free, ad-supported streaming service delivering local news, weather, sports, and lifestyle programming to viewers across virtually every connected device. As part of Allen Media Group, we operate at meaningful scale across mobile, smart TVs, streaming sticks, set-top boxes, and the web. We are now investing in a ground-up rebuild of our streaming platform with a privacy-first architecture, modern shared-code strategy, and the engineering rigor needed to grow sustainably.

We build for audiences who expect frictionless playback on any device, and for advertisers who depend on us to deliver reliable, high-quality monetization. The work is tangible: every improvement we make is felt by millions of viewers.

The Role

We are hiring a Video Infrastructure Engineer to take full ownership of our end-to-end video streaming architecture. In this role, you will be the core technical resource responsible for designing, optimizing, and scaling our IP video delivery pipeline, including video encoding, packaging, origin configurations, and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).

Beyond hands-on engineering, you will serve as our primary technical liaison managing relationships with critical technology vendors and downstream distribution partners (such as vMVPDs, FAST platforms, syndication networks, and smart TV apps). You will ensure maximum uptime, optimal bandwidth efficiency, and a flawless Quality of Experience (QoE) for our viewers.

What You Will Do

• Design, build, operate, and maintain cloud and hybrid video workflows for live and video-on-demand (VOD) streaming, including ingest, processing, transcoding, packaging, and distribution.

• Design and optimize our CDN strategy, managing configuration, traffic routing, edge tokenization, and caching rules to achieve low latency, high availability, and global scalability.

• Act as the primary technical point of contact for downstream distribution partners, overseeing the technical integration, delivery feeds, metadata alignment, and handoffs to platforms.

• Evaluate, onboard, and manage relationships with key technology vendors (e.g., cloud media services, software encoders, player developers, and DRM providers), ensuring vendors meet strict SLA requirements and align with our architectural roadmap.

• Fine-tune video encoding profiles using modern codecs (H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, AV1) and adaptive bitrate (ABR) packaging protocols (HLS, MPEG-DASH) to maximize visual quality while managing delivery costs.

• Instrument the platform for observability and operational analytics, implementing and analyzing video-specific telemetry (e.g., Conviva, Mux, Datadog) to proactively identify and resolve stream degradations or delivery failures.

• Maintain and implement Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies (Widevine, FairPlay, PlayReady), secure token-based authentication, and geo-blocking restrictions where required.

What We Are Looking For

• 5+ years of dedicated experience in video infrastructure, media engineering, or digital video delivery networks.

• Advanced knowledge of digital video/audio compression concepts, container formats (MP4, CMAF, TS), and ABR streaming technologies (HLS, DASH).

• Strong understanding of live streaming ingest and transport protocols, including SRT, RTMP, Zixi, and WebRTC, alongside core networking protocols (TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP/S).

• Proven experience configuring and tuning major CDNs (e.g., Akamai, Fastly, Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront).

• Hands-on experience with media processing tools and cloud-based video workflows (e.g., FFmpeg, AWS Elemental MediaServices, Harmonic, Bitmovin).

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills with a track record of driving technical deliverables simultaneously with external vendors, backend teams, and downstream partners.

• Proficient with video debugging and analysis tools (e.g., Wireshark, Charles Proxy, manifest parsers) to diagnose streaming playback and transport issues.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Telecommunications, Information Technology, or equivalent practical industry experience.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with ad-insertion architectures, including server-side ad insertion (SSAI) with tools like AWS MediaTailor, and client-side ad insertion (CSAI) protocols (SCTE-35, VAST, VMAP).

• Proficiency in a scripting or programming language (e.g., Python, Bash, Go) to automate infrastructure tasks and video workflows.

• Experience with configuration management and Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform, Ansible) in a secure-by-default environment.

• Track record of using modern AI tools (such as Cursor or Claude Code) effectively in a production engineering workflow to accelerate output without sacrificing quality.

Allen Media Group is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to these characteristics. We are dedicated to providing a workplace free from harassment and discrimination.