Software Engineer, Broadcast & Video Formats

Maximized Media Potential Vidispine; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Maximized Media Potential Vidispine is seeking an engineer with deep broadcast and video knowledge to build reliable software for our MAM platform. You will own video formats, codecs, and media handling within Kubernetes-based, GitOps-delivered services.

You will work with senior architects and contribute to CI/CD pipelines while ensuring media metadata compliance and high code quality. Fluent English is required; German is a plus.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience in broadcast/post-production or MAM environments.
• Solid knowledge of codecs and containers listed in the Must-have section.
• Experience with FFmpeg and media analysis tools.
• Programming experience in Java/.Net/C# and REST APIs.
• Working knowledge of Kubernetes and Helm, plus Git-based workflows.

Responsibilities

• Implement and maintain media-handling features: ingest, analysis, transcoding, proxy generation, and delivery in broadcast-grade formats.
• Analyze and resolve format-related issues (non-conformant files, interlace/frame-rate problems, audio channel mapping, timecode and metadata errors).
• Integrate and tune transcoders and media tools (e.g. FFmpeg, MediaInfo, commercial transcoding engines) in containerized workflows.
• Map and validate technical and descriptive metadata against broadcast standards and customer specifications.
• Support customer projects and escalations with media-domain expertise.
• Contribute to code quality and security (SonarQube, Mend) and to CI/CD pipelines.
• Document format and workflow knowledge so it spreads across the team.

Skills

Broadcast experience

Post-production

MAM environments

Video formats

Codecs knowledge

MXF/MP4 expertise

FFmpeg experience

REST API experience

Kubernetes

Helm

GitOps

Java/C#/C++

English fluency

German preferred

Tools

FFmpeg

MediaInfo

SonarQube

Mend

Kubernetes

Helm

OpenTelemetry

Grafana

Job description

Purpose of the role

We are looking for an engineer who knows the broadcast and video world in depth and can turn that knowledge into reliable software. You will be our go-to person for video formats, codecs, and broadcast-specific media handling within our MAM platform. You will work in a team on Kubernetes-based, GitOps-delivered services, with architectural guidance from our senior architects.

Responsibilities

• Implement and maintain media-handling features: ingest, analysis, transcoding, proxy generation, and delivery in broadcast-grade formats.
• Analyze and resolve format-related issues (non-conformant files, interlace/frame-rate problems, audio channel mapping, timecode and metadata errors).
• Integrate and tune transcoders and media tools (e.g. FFmpeg, MediaInfo, commercial transcoding engines) in containerized workflows.
• Map and validate technical and descriptive metadata against broadcast standards and customer specifications.
• Support customer projects and escalations with media-domain expertise.
• Contribute to code quality and security (SonarQube, Mend) and to CI/CD pipelines.
• Document format and workflow knowledge so it spreads across the team.

Must-have

• Hands-on experience in broadcast, post-production, or MAM environments.
• Solid knowledge of the video formatsin everyday use:
  • Codecs: H.264/AVC, HEVC, MPEG-2, ProRes, DNxHD/DNxHR, XDCAM HD/IMX, AVC-Intra, JPEG 2000
  • Containers: MXF (OP1a, OPAtom), MP4/MOV, MPEG-TS, ideally IMF
  • Video fundamentals: interlaced vs. progressive, frame rates (incl. 29.97/59.94 and drop-frame timecode), aspect ratios, color spaces (BT.601/709/2020), basics of HDR (PQ/HLG)
  • Audio: channel layouts and mapping, sample rates, loudness (EBU R128)
• Experience with media metadata and subtitle/caption formats (e.g. EBU Core, SMPTE, BWF, EBU-TT/STL, TTML, CEA-608/708).
• Practical experience with FFmpeg and media analysis tooling.
• Programming experience in [Java / .Net / C#] and comfort working with REST APIs.
• Working knowledge of Kubernetes and Helm, plus Git-based workflows.
• Structured, quality-conscious way of working; fluent English, German is a plus.

Tooling and stack

• Platform: Kubernetes, Helm, GitOps (Flux or Argo CD)
• Cloud: AWS (working knowledge: S3, EKS, IAM basics)
• CI/CD: Azure DevOps, GitHub
• Quality & security: SonarQube, Mend (day-to-day use, fixing findings)
• Media tooling: FFmpeg, MediaInfo, MXF analysis tools
• Nice to know: OpenTelemetry/Grafana for debugging media pipelines

Nice-to-have

• Experience with Vidispine or similar MAM platforms (Avid, Dalet, Telestream, etc.)
• Delivery specs such as AS-11 (UK DPP), IMF, or broadcaster-specific specifications (e.g. ARD/ZDF)
• Knowledge of live and IP workflows (SMPTE ST 2110, SRT)
• Experience with AI/ML-based media enrichment (speech-to-text, face/object detection)
• Familiarity with AWS media services (MediaConvert, etc.)

Soft skills

• Curious and detail-oriented, enjoys getting to the root cause of a broken file
• Explains media topics clearly to engineers who are not broadcast experts
• Reliable team player who takes ownership of their area and asks early when blocked