Senior Video Playback Engineer (Web)

What you'll be doing

• Building, maintaining and extending our web video player using Shaka Player, hls.js and/or dash.js
• Implementing and troubleshooting HLS and MPEG-DASH playback, including CMAF and low-latency streaming (LL-HLS, LL-DASH)
• Working with Media Source Extensions (MSE) and Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) to deliver smooth, secure playback
• Integrating multi-DRM (Widevine, PlayReady, FairPlay) with licence servers and key systems
• Tuning ABR logic, buffer management and startup behaviour to improve QoE metrics like time-to-first-frame, rebuffer ratio and playback failures
• Supporting ad insertion (SSAI and/or CSAI, e.g. Google IMA, VAST/VMAP) without breaking the viewing experience
• Handling captions and subtitles (WebVTT, TTML/IMSC, CEA-608/708), multiple audio tracks and accessibility needs
• Instrumenting the player for analytics and QoE monitoring (e.g. Mux, Conviva, NPAW/Youbora or in-house)
• Debugging playback issues across browsers and devices, working with encoding, packaging and CDN teams to find root cause
• Contributing to player architecture, code reviews and engineering standards

What we're looking for

• [3–5+] years of software engineering, with a solid chunk spent on web video playback
• Strong JavaScript/TypeScript skills and a good understanding of how browsers handle media
• Hands-on experience with at least one of Shaka Player, hls.js, dash.js or Video.js, ideally at source level, not just config
• Deep working knowledge of HLS and DASH: manifests, segments, bitrate ladders, discontinuities and live vs VOD behaviour
• Practical experience with MSE/EME and DRM integration
• Comfortable debugging with browser dev tools, network inspection and stream analysis tools
• Understanding of CDNs, caching and how delivery affects playback

Nice to have

• Contributions to open-source players (Shaka, hls.js, dash.js)
• Experience with Smart TV / connected TV web platforms (Tizen, webOS, Vizio, Xbox) or Chromecast receivers
• Exposure to native players (AVPlayer, ExoPlayer/Media3) or React Native video
• Knowledge of encoding and packaging (FFmpeg, Shaka Packager, Bento4, AWS Elemental)
• Low-latency live, sports or FAST channel experience

5V Video are acting as an Employment Business for the purpose of this position. We offer a reward scheme if you can recommend someone for this role - $250 for you and $250 to a charity of your choice.