Senior Audio/Video Engineer

Knightscope, Inc; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 155,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Job summary

Knightscope, Inc in Sunnyvale, CA is hiring two Senior Audio/Video Engineers to own the real-time A/V stack across the ICM and Signals platforms. You will manage WebRTC ingest, low-latency audio and multi-stream rendering for up to 10 concurrent robot video feeds.

The role requires 7–10 years in production A/V, deep WebRTC/codec knowledge, and strong C/C++ with Python tooling. On-site employment with a competitive salary and full benefits is offered.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of real-time audio/video systems in production environments.
• Deep WebRTC expertise: signaling, ICE/STUN/TURN, DTLS-SRTP.
• Proficient in GStreamer with complex multi-branch pipelines.
• C/C++ (C++11/14/17) for performance-critical code; Python tooling.
• SIP/VoIP stacks (pjsip, Asterisk) and low-latency audio.
• Familiar with H.264/H.265, VP9, AAC, Opus codecs; RTSP/RTMP/HLS.
• AWS media services and cloud-based pipelines.
• BS in CS/EE or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Design end-to-end real-time video pipeline across platforms.
• Architect GStreamer multi-branch pipelines; optimize latency.
• Own audio subsystem with SIP/VoIP integration and <200ms latency.
• Implement WebRTC signaling, ICE, DTLS-SRTP, media servers.
• Profile and tune pipeline under multi-robot load.
• Build Make-a-Clip to extract/annotate video segments.
• Define and maintain A/V API contracts; document/runbooks.
• Mentor junior engineers; contribute to architecture.

Skills

Real-time A/V systems

WebRTC

C/C++

Python tooling

SIP/VoIP

Low-latency networking

Mentoring

Education

BS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Tools

GStreamer

Janus/mediasoup

pjsip/Asterisk

AWS (S3/Kinesis/Polly)

NVIDIA NVENC/NVDEC

Job description

About Knightscope

Knightscope (NASDAQ: KSCP) is a security technology company building the nation's first Autonomous Security Force — autonomous machines, AI-driven software, and elite security professionals operating as one integrated managed service. The Company is on a mission to make the United States of America the safest country in the world. One Team. One Force.

About the Role

Knightscope is seeking two Senior Audio/Video Engineers to own the real-time audio and video infrastructure across the ICM and Signals platforms. These engineers will be responsible for the full A/V stack — from WebRTC ingest and GStreamer pipeline architecture to low-latency audio processing and multi-stream rendering. Given the thin talent pool for combined WebRTC and low-latency audio expertise, both positions will be recruited simultaneously.

Location Requirement: Full-time, on-site at Sunnyvale HQ (No relocation provided)

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain the end-to-end real-time video pipeline: WebRTC/RTSP/RTMP ingest, hardware-accelerated transcoding, and simultaneous multi-stream rendering for up to 10 concurrent robot video feeds.
• Architect and optimize GStreamer-based multi-branch pipelines for video capture, processing, recording, and cloud upload (S3) — including codec selection, pad/cap negotiation, and plugin development.
• Own the full audio subsystem: real-time two-way audio, SIP/VoIP integration (pjsip/Asterisk), text-to-speech (AWS Polly), and talk-down functionality with a sub-200ms end-to-end round-trip latency target.
• Implement and optimize WebRTC signaling, ICE, DTLS-SRTP, and media server components for reliable low-latency communication across distributed robot deployments.
• Profile, debug, and tune A/V pipeline performance for low latency, high throughput, and resilience under concurrent multi-robot load and variable network conditions.
• Build Make-a-Clip functionality enabling operators to extract, annotate, and store video segments from live and recorded feeds.
• Define and maintain A/V API contracts in collaboration with ICM and Signals platform engineers; contribute to code reviews, technical documentation, and on-call runbooks.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to architectural decisions across the A/V stack.

Required Qualifications

• 7–10 years of software engineering experience specializing in real-time audio and video systems in production environments.
• Deep expertise in WebRTC — including signaling protocols, ICE/STUN/TURN, DTLS-SRTP, RTP/RTCP, and media server architecture (Janus, mediasoup, or equivalent).
• Strong hands‑on proficiency with GStreamer at the developer level: building and debugging complex multi-branch media pipelines, working with elements, pads, caps, and custom plugins.
• Proficiency in C/C++ (C++11/14/17) for performance‑critical media and networking code; Python for tooling and automation.
• Solid experience with SIP/VoIP protocols and stacks (pjsip, Asterisk, or equivalent) and low‑latency audio processing.
• Strong understanding of audio/video codecs (H.264/H.265, VP9, AAC, Opus) and streaming protocols (RTSP, RTMP, HLS, RTP).
• Experience with AWS media services (S3, Kinesis Video Streams, Polly, or equivalent) and cloud-based media pipeline architectures.
• Familiarity with hardware‑accelerated video processing (NVIDIA NVENC/NVDEC, V4L2, or equivalent) is a strong plus.
• BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: $155,000 – $210,000 each (DOE)
• Equity: Stock options
• Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off
• Location Requirement: Full-time, on-site at Sunnyvale HQ