Job Description

Versant Media is seeking a highly accomplished Principal Video Engineer to serve as the chief technical authority and operational leader for our entire video delivery pipeline. This role is a critical leadership position focused on architecting, implementing, and maintaining the highly scalable, resilient, and performant video infrastructure that powers our premium News, Sports, and Entertainment programming. The Principal Engineer will be directly responsible for defining the technical standards and operational rigor required to ensure flawless, high-availability delivery of our most high-profile live events and on-demand content across all platforms.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Architectural Leadership & Strategy

• Define Video Architecture & Strategy: Lead the strategic development and implementation of a scalable, resilient end-to-end video pipeline for both live and VOD content, with an emphasis on low-latency, high-quality, and high-availability delivery across all DTC platforms (web, mobile, OTT).
• Establish a Center of Excellence: Act as the subject matter expert, setting the technical standards, best practices, and playbooks for all video delivery engineering teams across Versant Media.
• Future-Proofing & Innovation: Work in tandem with our development teams to write post-event technical reports and evaluations, driving continuous improvement and future-proofing our systems against emerging technologies and new delivery challenges.

Live Operations & Reliability Engineering

• High-Stakes Live Event Operations: Define and stress-test the operational framework to ensure 100% live event success for major events, including sports playoffs, news breaking coverage, and high-volume, concurrent viewership.
• Operational Readiness: Design and lead "war room" procedures and technical communication protocols for high-risk live events, effectively managing clients, vendors, and internal stakeholders on show day.
• CDN & Player Management: Lead the strategy for large object global content delivery network (CDN) utilization, player engineering, configuration, and failover mechanisms to maximize reliability and performance.

Broadcast Integration & Media Supply Chain

• Broadcast/IP Handoff: Partner closely with the Production Engineering and Broadcast teams to architect and manage the seamless, high-quality handoff of live feeds from the broadcast facility to the IP streaming domain.
• Signal Acquisition and Processing: Set the standards for and provide deep technical guidance on managing varied acquisition methods (e.g., RF/satellite, MPEG/IP, Zixi, Fiber) and processing in the machine room, including decoding, routing, up/down/cross conversion, and encoding.
• Media Asset Management (MAM) Integration: Own the technical architecture and integration points for the company's Media Asset Management (MAM) system. Define the workflows for ingest, metadata enrichment, archive, and seamless retrieval of all digital media assets to ensure efficient operations for both editorial and distribution teams.

Encoding & Distribution Expertise

• Multi-Format Encoding & Delivery: Lead the configuration and optimization of encode settings and outputs for multi-layer delivery across various formats (e.g., HLS, RTMP, DASH) to ensure an optimal viewing experience on every device.

Additional Requirements:

• Fully Remote: This position has been designated as fully remote, meaning that the position is expected to contribute from a non-Versant worksite, most commonly an employee’s residence.

This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks. Learn more about the benefits offered by NBCUniversal by visiting the Benefits page of the Careers website. Salary range: $170,000 - $200,000 (bonus eligible)

We are accepting applications for this position on an ongoing basis.

Qualifications

The Person

The ideal candidate possesses deep, proven experience architecting and operating video systems under conditions of extreme scale and high visibility.

• A demonstrated history of leading high-volume, large-scale video streaming engineering and architecture, with a significant focus on live event playback and operations.
• Deep hands-on experience managing the complexities of end-to-end live event streaming, including acquisition, processing, encoding, packaging, and distribution.
• Familiarity with Media Asset Management (MAM) systems and their role in the modern media supply chain, including integration with transcoding and distribution platforms.
• Expert-level knowledge of video compression standards, streaming protocols (HLS, DASH, RTMP), and multi-CDN environments (e.g., Akamai, Fastly, Cloudfront).
• Proven ability to lead technical teams by example, define operational processes, and maintain schedule flexibility/agility to support major live events in global time zones.
• Strong technical background in managing video infrastructure, including decoders, SDI routing, conversion gear, and encoder configurations.
• A track record of success in high-risk environments, where the primary objective is maintaining 100% event reliability for tentpole programming.

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to AccessibilitySupport@nbcuni.com.

Although you'll be hired as an NBCU employee, your employment and the responsibilities associated with this job likely will transition to Versant in the future. By joining at this pivotal time, you'll be a part of this exciting company as it takes shape.