Sr Director, Video Encoding Engineering

Job Description

We are seeking a strategic and technically proficient Senior Director of Video Engineering to lead the Video Encoding and Delivery organization—responsible for encoding, packaging, and delivering premium video experiences across VOD, AVOD, and Live workflows. This leader will oversee a high-impact, multi-disciplinary team of engineers and managers focused on scaling the core infrastructure that transforms, optimizes, and delivers media content across all client platforms.

This role is ideal for a leader who brings deep expertise in media systems and distributed infrastructure, thrives in complex and ambiguous environments, and enjoys building cohesive teams to solve technically demanding challenges at scale.

As the senior-most authority in this vertical, you will not only architect and optimize media systems, but also build the organizational structure, talent strategy, and long-term vision to future-proof our video technology platform.

Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the multi-year vision for video encoding and delivery pipelines, including UHD, HDR, and next-gen codec support.
• Partner with Product, Content Ops, and Platform teams to align on roadmaps that improve video quality, reduce latency, and optimize storage/delivery costs.
• Guide architecture decisions for scalable, observable, and fault-tolerant video processing services.
• Lead and mentor Directors, Senior Managers, and Principal Engineers across encoding and video delivery.
• Identify and address skillset gaps, eliminate silos, and evolve the team to meet current and future technical challenges.
• Establish hiring strategies to bring in top-tier talent in compression, transcoding, packaging, and delivery optimization.
• Drive continuous improvements in encoding throughput, output quality, cost efficiency, and release velocity.
• Own and report on key KPIs such as encoding SLA adherence, content readiness latency, packaging success rates, and client playback error rates.
• Collaborate with QA and Client Apps to improve E2E test coverage and reduce regressions during rollout of new codecs or packaging formats.
• Serve as the principal engineering voice in cross-org initiatives involving video lifecycle, CDN strategies, DRM enforcement, and client playback enhancements.
• Foster a strong collaboration with the Platform Engineering & Playback team to evaluate and implement emerging technologies in video compression and streaming.
• Lead proof-of-concept efforts and evaluate build-vs-buy decisions related to encoding toolchains, AI-based quality assessment, and server-side ad insertion compatibility.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering leadership in video delivery, encoding, or adjacent domains.
• Demonstrated success managing and scaling multi-layered engineering orgs (50+ engineers).
• Deep understanding of codecs (AV1, HEVC, H.264), streaming protocols (HLS, DASH), and DRM (Widevine, FairPlay).
• Strong familiarity with video packaging, manifest manipulation, and multi-bitrate ladder generation.
• Experience partnering with Product, Operations, and Client Engineering to drive the delivery of highly reliable video experiences.
• Proven track record of technical innovation and strategic thinking.

Preferred

• Familiarity with DRM systems (Widevine, PlayReady, FairPlay).
• Background in OTT, DTC, or broadcast-grade video delivery.
• Experience with perceptual quality measurement (VMAF, SSIM, PSNR) and automated QC.
• Contributions to open-source video projects or active engagement in the media tech community.

Fully Remote: This position has been designated as fully remote, meaning that the position is expected to contribute from a non-NBCUniversal worksite, most commonly an employee’s residence.

Salary Range: $255-265,000 (bonus eligible)

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [email protected].

Although you'll be hired as an NBCU employee, your employment and the responsibilities associated with this job likely will transition to Versant in the future. By joining at this pivotal time, you'll be a part of this exciting company as it takes shape.