Senior iOS Video Player Engineer

Kake; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Kake is seeking a Senior iOS Video Player Engineer in Austin, Texas, to enhance high-quality playback experiences for live video streaming across iOS devices. Ideal candidates should have over 7 years of iOS development expertise, particularly with Swift, Objective-C, and AVPlayer, including experience with HLS. This role offers the opportunity to work on intricate playback challenges like startup times and real-world stability, making it perfect for those passionate about video technology and performance tuning.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of iOS development experience with deep expertise in Swift and Objective‑C.
• Proven experience building and maintaining video players or live playback components for iOS/tvOS.
• Strong hands‑on experience with HLS and AVPlayer, including tuning and troubleshooting playback behavior.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain live video playback functionality for iOS and tvOS applications.
• Optimize HLS playback with AVPlayer, focusing on startup time and playback stability.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex playback issues in live streaming environments.

Skills

iOS development

Swift

Objective-C

HLS

AVPlayer

video streaming protocols

debugging playback performance

video analytics

Education

BS/MS degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

Xcode

Git

Docker

Agile methodologies

Job description

About The Role

We’re looking for a Senior iOS Video Player Engineer with deep, production-level experience in live video streaming to work on high-quality playback experiences across iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. The focus is squarely on media and streaming, with hands‑on ownership of live HLS playback, AVPlayer behavior, performance tuning, and playback reliability at scale. You’ll be working on challenges like fast startup times, buffering behavior, live edge management, latency, and real‑world playback stability.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain live video playback functionality for iOS and tvOS applications.
• Optimize HLS playback with AVPlayer, focusing on startup time, buffering behavior, latency, and playback stability.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex playback issues in live streaming environments, including errors, stalls, and drift from the live edge.
• Fine‑tune playback performance at scale to ensure reliable, high‑quality viewing experiences.
• Use video analytics and QoE metrics to diagnose issues and improve real‑world playback performance.

Core Requirements

• 7+ years of iOS development experience with deep expertise in Swift and Objective‑C.
• Proven experience building and maintaining video players or live playback components for iOS/tvOS.
• Strong hands‑on experience with HLS and AVPlayer, including tuning and troubleshooting playback behavior for live streaming.
• Demonstrated ability to debug and optimize playback performance, including rebuffering, startup time, and playback stability.
• Familiarity with video streaming protocols, live playback concepts (latency, live edge, drift), ABR logic, and DRM integration.
• Experience using video analytics or QoE metrics (e.g., Mux, Conviva) to diagnose and improve real‑world playback performance.
• BS/MS degree in Computer Science or equivalent.
• Experience with Xcode, RESTful APIs, unit testing, end‑to‑end testing, Git, SVN, Jenkins, Docker, and Agile methodologies.

Nice to Have

• Background working in sports large‑scale streaming environments.
• Experience with ad tech, especially in live streaming scenarios.
• Experience with video streaming technologies (HLS), QoE metrics, ABR algorithms, and video player frameworks.
• Familiarity with analytics platforms such as Conviva or Mux.

Other Traits

• Problem‑solving and innovation: ability to troubleshoot complex video playback issues and develop scalable solutions.
• Collaboration and communication: strong interpersonal skills to work effectively with cross‑functional teams and communicate technical concepts to stakeholders.
• Ownership and leadership: comfortable leading mobile teams, driving projects, and ensuring best practices in iOS video player engineering.
• Contract duration: open‑ended long term.