Embedded Software Engineer - Streaming | Verkada

As an Embedded Engineer (Video Streaming) on the Streaming team, you will design, implement, and own the full-stack embedded video infrastructure powering more than 1.4 million deployed Verkada security cameras. Working closely with firmware, backend, and native client engineering teams, you will develop high-performance live and historical video capture pipelines. In this role, you will tune hardware-accelerated video codecs, extend real-time multimedia frameworks, and optimize low-latency streaming transport protocols to ensure every video frame—whether live or historical—is delivered securely, instantly, and reliably.

Key Responsibilities

Embedded Video Pipelines & Codec Optimization

• Embedded Pipeline Architecture: Design, develop, and optimize embedded video encoding, capture, and streaming pipelines for Verkada's current and next-generation cameras and security hardware.
• Hardware-Accelerated Codecs: Implement and tune hardware-accelerated video codecs (H.264, H.265/HEVC, AV1) for optimal visual quality, high throughput performance, and low device power consumption.
• Multimedia Framework Extension: Build and extend multimedia processing frameworks (GStreamer, FFmpeg, or custom pipelines) to support real-time video capture, processing, and transport.

Streaming Protocols & Performance Profiling

• Real-Time Transport Protocols: Integrate and tune low-latency streaming transport protocols (RTSP, RTP, RTMP, HLS, DASH, WebRTC) to guarantee reliable, secure video delivery at global scale.
• QoE & Latency Optimization: Profile and optimize critical video Quality of Experience (QoE) metrics—including Time-To-First-Frame (TTFF), glass-to-glass latency, rebuffering rates, and stream stability.
• Low-Level System Debugging: Diagnose and resolve complex performance bottlenecks across encoding pipelines, transport networks, and constrained device hardware resources (CPU, GPU, ISP).

Requirements

Technical Depth & Embedded Foundations

• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related technical field.
• Experience Track: 5+ years of professional software engineering experience in embedded systems development, with a specific focus on video streaming applications.
• Embedded C/C++ Mastery: Deep technical proficiency writing clean, performant C and C++ code within embedded Linux operating environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on expertise building and tuning hardware-accelerated encoding/decoding pipelines using H.264, H.265/HEVC, and AV1 codecs.
• Deep familiarity with multimedia frameworks such as GStreamer, FFmpeg, or proprietary low-latency video pipelines.
• Solid understanding of adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR) and real-time streaming protocols (RTSP, RTP, RTMP, HLS, DASH, WebRTC).
• Demonstrated experience optimizing startup time (TTFF) and glass-to-glass latency under constrained embedded compute resources.

Total Rewards & Benefits

• Compensation & Equity: Estimated annual pay range ($130,000 – $260,000 USD) + Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) + sales incentives/bonuses where applicable.
• Health & Wellness: Nationwide medical, vision, and dental insurance (100% employer-covered premiums for employees and 80% for family under select plans), HSA with employer contributions, and expanded mental health support.
• Parental & Family Care: Paid parental leave policy alongside comprehensive fertility benefits.
• Onsite Perks & Travel: Healthy lunches provided daily in office, commuter benefits, and professional development stipends.
• Time Off: Flexible PTO, personal sick time, paid company holidays, and firmwide extended holidays.