Senior Audio/Video Engineer

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

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Job summary

Knightscope, Inc. in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking two Senior Audio/Video Engineers to own the real-time A/V stack across the ICM and Signals platforms. You will handle WebRTC ingest, GStreamer pipelines, and low-latency audio processing for distributed robot video feeds.

Responsibilities include designing end-to-end video pipelines, SIP/VoIP integration, and making architectural decisions while mentoring junior engineers. On-site role with strong emphasis on performance and reliability.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of software engineering experience specializing in real-time audio and video systems in production environments.
• Deep expertise in WebRTC — signaling, ICE/STUN/TURN, DTLS-SRTP, RTP/RTCP, and media server architecture (Janus, mediasoup, or equivalent).
• GStreamer development and debugging of multi-branch media pipelines; plugins and elements.
• C/C++ (C++11/14/17) for performance-critical media code; Python for tooling.
• SIP/VoIP protocols and stacks (pjsip, Asterisk, or equivalent) and low-latency audio processing.
• Video codecs (H.264/H.265, VP9, AAC, Opus) and streaming protocols (RTSP, RTMP, HLS, RTP).
• Experience with AWS media services (S3, Kinesis, Polly) and cloud-based media architectures.
• Familiarity with hardware-accelerated video processing (NVIDIA NVENC/NVDEC, V4L2).
• BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain the end-to-end real-time video pipeline: WebRTC/RTSP/RTMP ingest, transcoding, multi-stream rendering for up to 10 feeds.
• Architect and optimize GStreamer-based pipelines for capture, processing, recording, and cloud upload (S3).
• Own the full audio subsystem: real-time two-way audio, SIP/VoIP integration, text-to-speech, and sub-200ms latency target.
• Implement and optimize WebRTC signaling, ICE, DTLS-SRTP, and media server components for distributed deployments.
• Profile, debug, and tune A/V pipeline performance under multi-robot load and variable networks.
• Build Make-a-Clip functionality to extract, annotate, and store video segments.
• Define and maintain A/V API contracts; participate in code reviews and docs.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to architectural decisions across the A/V stack.

Skills

Real-time audio/video systems

WebRTC

GStreamer

C/C++

Python

SIP/VoIP

Video codecs

Streaming protocols

AWS media services

NVENC/NVDEC

Education

BS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Tools

Janus

mediasoup

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