About this Senior Java Engineer role at Wowza Media Systems
Description
We’re seeking a Senior Java Video Streaming Engineer with deep expertise in transcoding, packaging, and delivery workflows to join our engineering team. In this role, you will architect, implement, and optimize live and on-demand streaming pipelines in Wowza Streaming Engine. We are looking for someone with deep expertise in streaming video standards and a low level understanding of the key components in video processing.
What You’ll Do
• Design and develop core features within Wowza Streaming Engine designed for testability and scale.
• Design and implement advanced transcoder workflows for new codecs and accelerators.
• Design and implement highly scalable packaging workflows.
• Debug and resolve customer reported issues, bugs and performance issues.
• Participate in cross-functional projects from conception through deployment.
• Be a resource to other team members as a streaming subject matter expert.
Nice to Have
• Experience with C/C++ development and ability to read, debug, and contribute to native codebases that interface with Java via JNI.
• Contributions to open-source video projects such FFmpeg or gStreamer.
• Experience with Wowza Streaming Engine.
• Understanding of build (CI/CD) and test automation frameworks for large scale software.
• Experience creating and documenting public APIs and creating publicly available SDKs.
Requirements
Technical Requirements
Java Expertise (Core Requirement)
• 8+ years of hands-on Java development in performance-critical, large-scale systems.
• Deep understanding of Java concurrency and multithreading — thread pools, locks, synchronization, concurrent data structures, and designing thread-safe components for high-throughput workloads.
• Strong knowledge of JVM internals including garbage collection tuning (G1, ZGC, Shenandoah), heap/off-heap memory management, and GC pause optimization for latency-sensitive applications.
• Proven ability to optimize Java applications for memory, CPU, and GPU utilization using standard Java profiling and diagnostic tools.
• Experience with JNI (Java Native Interface) for integrating Java with native C/C++ libraries and managing cross-boundary memory and threading safely.
• Experience with Unit testing, performance testing/tuning (heap dump analysis, thread dump analysis), and debugging complex multithreaded Java applications.
Video Streaming & Domain Knowledge
• 5+ years’ experience in transcoding and packaging workflows (Wowza or similar).
• Deep knowledge of video codecs: H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, VP8/VP9, AV1.
• Hands-on experience with GPU or VPU accelerated transcoding pipelines.
• Extensive experience with one or more of the common streaming protocols – RTMP, RTSP, HLS, MPEG-DASH, CMAF, WebRTC.
• Knowledge of content encryption and DRM.
• Familiarity with video quality metrics (PSNR, SSIM, VMAF).
Benefits
Benefits & Perks
Salary Range: $175,000 - 200,000
- Generous Paid Time Off
- Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance (effective Day 1)
- 401(k) with strong company match
- Dependent Care FSA
- Employer-paid Life Insurance and AD&D
- Voluntary Life Insurance (Employee/Spouse/Child)
- Paid Parental Leave
- Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
- Training & Development opportunities
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Who We Are
Wowza Media Systems is a Colorado-based global leader in video streaming software. Our technology powers live and on-demand video delivery for education, healthcare, enterprise, gaming, government, and more—reaching customers in over 100 countries. Backed by Clearhaven Partners, we continue to grow by pushing innovation in scalable, low-latency video streaming.
Why Join Wowza?
At Wowza, you’ll be part of a fast-paced, mission-driven team working on solutions that power critical real-world applications—from live-streaming graduations to helping parents monitor NICU care. We encourage ownership, collaboration, and innovation while providing a supportive, global team environment.
