Staff Backend Engineer, Video and Streaming
At a glance
Senior Backend Engineering role at knightscope. Sunnyvale · full-time · $210,000–$250,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Take charge of Signals’ video backend, bringing the service from vendor operation into the company
- Transfer video pipeline architecture and operating knowledge from the vendor to the internal team
- Coordinate with frontend and ML/CV teams on streaming delivery and model serving for ICM 2.0
- Set video pipeline reliability targets, on-call coverage and cost controls
What you bring
- At least ten years in backend engineering, including architectural ownership at staff level
- Deep hands-on knowledge of streaming systems such as WebRTC, HLS or RTMP
- Experience owning media pipelines in production and building high-throughput real-time systems at scale
- Strong grounding in distributed systems
Who this fits
This suits a senior backend engineer ready to own a high-traffic video service and its technical direction. The role is full-time and on-site in Sunnyvale.
From the employer
About Knightscope
Knightscope (NASDAQ: KSCP) is a security technology company building the nation's first Autonomous Security Force: autonomous machines, AI-driven software, and elite security professionals operating as one integrated managed service. The Company is on a mission to make the United States of America the safest country in the world. One Team. One Force.
Job Summary
You will own the video and streaming backend that powers Signals, taking it from a third-party vendor into internal ownership. This is the highest-traffic backend in the Signals platform, and the technical decisions you make here will shape Signals for years.
Location: ONSITE - Sunnyvale, CA
About the Role
You will own the video and streaming backend that powers Signals, taking it from a third-party vendor into internal ownership. This is the highest-traffic backend in the Signals platform, and the technical decisions you make here will shape Signals for years.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the video and streaming backend for Signals end to end.
- Lead vendor knowledge transfer on video pipeline architecture and operations.
- Partner with the Video UI frontend team on end-to-end streaming experience.
- Partner with the ML/CV team on model serving for ICM 2.0.
- Establish SLOs, on-call rotation, and cost optimization for the video pipeline.
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years in backend engineering, including staff-level architectural ownership.
- Deep experience with video streaming systems (WebRTC, HLS, RTMP, or similar).
- High-throughput real-time systems at scale.
- Strong distributed systems fundamentals.
- Production ownership of media pipelines.
Nice to Have
- Security or surveillance video pipeline experience.
- Edge-to-cloud video ingest and processing architectures.
- Prior insourcing of a media backend from a third party.
Compensation and Benefits
Base Salary: $210,000 to $250,000 (DOE)
Equity: Stock options
Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off
Location Requirement: Full-time, on-site at Sunnyvale HQ
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