Distinguished Software Engineer

Innovative Signal Analysis, Inc.; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 194,000 - 259,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free SimpliSafe system

Professional monitoring

ERGs

Total rewards package

Job summary

SimpliSafe, a Boston-based home security company, is seeking a Distinguished Software Engineer for the Video team. You will design, build, and own backend services that enable customers to interact with their cameras from anywhere, addressing large-scale video streaming and recording challenges with Go, C#, TypeScript, AWS, Kubernetes, SQS, and SNS.

The role emphasizes reliability, simplicity, and performance, with duties including mentoring engineers, code reviews, long-term maintenance, and

Qualifications

• 10+ years of industry experience and ownership of production backend architecture.
• 4+ years designing or operating a real-time video streaming service (HLS/DASH).
• Experience architecting cloud video storage with tiering and retention strategies at scale.
• Experience designing metadata/indexing for video across large datasets.
• Deep expertise in HLS/DASH, fmp4, H.264, and AAC.
• Familiarity with video standards (ABR packaging) and codecs (HEVC/AV1).
• Experience with WebRTC, GStreamer, ffmpeg, or libav.
• Proven mentoring and technical decision-making abilities.
• Extensive experience with AWS, GCP or Azure.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to simplify complexity.
• Experience with IoT or smart home video streaming is a plus.
• Familiarity with Agile Scrum processes.

Responsibilities

• Build and improve SimpliSafe’s video services with deep domain knowledge.
• Partner with stakeholders to design simple, reliable, flexible solutions.
• Mentor engineers and lead code reviews and design decisions.
• Perform long-term maintenance, performance optimization, and bug fixes.
• Document systems to enable future developers to maintain them.
• Serve as on-call first responder for team-owned software.

Skills

Video streaming

Backend architecture

Cloud storage design

HLS/DASH

ffmpeg

WebRTC

AWS

GCP/Azure

Mentoring

Agile Scrum

IoT / smart home

Tools

Go

C#

TypeScript

ffmpeg

GStreamer

libav

WebRTC

SQS

SNS

Job description

We’re a high-tech home security company that’s passionate about protecting the life you’ve built and our mission of keeping Every Home Secure. And we’ve created a culture here that cares just as deeply about the career you’re building. Ours is a no ego culture of collaboration and innovation where those seeking their next challenge can find big opportunities and make a huge impact on the lives of all those who we protect. We don’t just want you to work here. We want you to grow and thrive here.

We’re embracing a hybrid work model that enables our teams to split their time between office and home. Hybrid for us means we expect our teams to come together in our state-of-the-art office on two core days, typically Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday – working together in person and choosing where they work for the remainder of the week. We all benefit from flexibility and get to use the best of both worlds to get our work done.

Why are we hiring?

Well, we’re growing and thriving. So, we need smart, talented, and humble people who share our values to join us as we disrupt the home security space and relentlessly pursue our mission of keeping Every Home Secure.

What You'll Do

As an engineer on SimpliSafe's Video team you will build and maintain the cloud-based systems that empower customers to interact with their home security cameras from anywhere in the world.

We're looking for a motivated, experienced Distinguished Software Engineer to design, develop, maintain and own software solutions. We're a backend team solving large-scale video streaming and recording problems to ensure customers have real-time control and visibility into their cameras. You'll be working with our stack of Go, C#, TypeScript, AWS, Kubernetes, SQS, SNS, ffmpeg, WebRTC.

The safety of our customers is important, and as such our key pillars are reliability, simplicity, and performance.

Primary Responsibilities Include:

• Bring your wealth of video knowledge to build and improve SimpliSafe’s video services.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to understand requirements and design simple, reliable, flexible solutions.
• Drive the implementation of those solutions, both by writing code yourself and supporting other engineers with code reviews and mentoring.
• Long-term support & maintenance work, such as performance optimization, bug fixes, feature additions, design and usability improvements, and automation.
• Document the systems you are building to ensure they can be maintained by the next generation of developers.
• Serve as an on-call first responder for software owned by your team.

What You'll Bring

• 10+ years of industry experience, including having owned the architecture of a production backend system end-to-end, from design through long-term operational ownership.
• 4+ years designing, building, or operating a real-time or low-latency video streaming service, e.g. HLS/DASH delivery
• Experience architecting cloud video storage systems at scale such as designing cost-efficient storage tiers, lifecycle and archival policies, and retention strategies that hold up across millions of recording devices.
• Experience designing metadata and indexing systems for video - enabling fast retrieval and scrubbing of recorded clips by camera, timestamp, or event across large-scale datasets.
• Deep expertise in the implementation of HLS/DASH, fragmented MP4 (fmp4), H.264, and AAC.
• Familiarity with video streaming standards such as adaptive bitrate packaging, video codecs (HEVC, AV1), and transport protocols (SRT, RTMP, WHIP, MoQ).
• Experience with technologies such as WebRTC, GStreamer, ffmpeg, or libav.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers and drive technical decision-making within a team.
• Passion, curiosity and a desire to continuously learn and grow.
• Extensive experience with AWS, GCP or Azure.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills and proven track record to break down complexity.
• Experience with IoT or smart home video streaming applications is a plus.
• Familiarity with the Agile Scrum process.

What Values You’ll Share

• Customer Obsessed - Building deep empathy for our customers, putting them at the core of our work, and developing strong, long‑term relationships with them.
• Aim High - Always challenging ourselves and others to raise the bar.
• No Ego - Maintaining a “no job too small” attitude, and an open, inclusive and humble style.
• One Team - Taking a highly collaborative approach to achieving success.
• Lift As We Climb - Investing in developing others and helping others around us succeed.
• Lean & Nimble - Working with agility and efficiency to experiment in an often ambiguous environment.

What We Offer

• A mission- and values-driven culture and a safe, inclusive environment where you can build, grow and thrive
• A comprehensive total rewards package that supports your wellness and provides security for SimpliSafers and their families (For more information on our total rewards please click here)
• Free SimpliSafe system and professional monitoring for your home.
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that bring people together, give opportunities to network, mentor and develop, and advocate for change.

The target annual base pay range for this role is $193,900 to $258,500

This target annual base pay range represents our good‑faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this role. We use a market‑based compensation approach to set our target annual base pay ranges and make adjustments annually. We carefully tailor individual compensation packages, including base pay, taking into consideration employees’ job‑related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and other relevant business factors.

Beyond base pay, we offer a Total Rewards package that may include participation in our annual bonus program, equity, and other forms of compensation, in addition to a full range of medical, retirement, and lifestyle benefits. More details can be found here .

We’re committed to fair and equitable pay practices, as well as pay transparency. We regularly review our programs to ensure they remain competitive and aligned with our values.

We wholeheartedly embrace and actively seek applications from all individuals, no matter how they identify. We are committed to cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we believe our work is enriched when we incorporate a multitude of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. We want everyone who works here to thrive and contribute to not only our mission of keeping every home secure, but also to making our workplace safe and supportive for others. If a reasonable accommodation may be needed to fully participate in the job application or interview process, to perform the essential functions of a position, or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [e-mail] .