Senior iOS Video Player Engineer - Remote
Key Skills
Job Description
Senior iOS Video Player Engineer - Remote Kake is a remote-first company and a people-first global community of senior engineers. Kake engineers are behind some of the world’s most innovative products (Brands you’ve heard!), from Fortune 500 to fast-growing companies. We believe it’s not where your table is, but what you bring to the table that matters. Our community spans 45,000+ engineers across 55+ countries; join a culture where great people stay, grow, and thrive (and love eating kake!). We’re looking for Senior iOS Video Player Engineers with deep, production-level experience in live video streaming, skilled in delivering high-quality playback experiences across iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. It's a great fit for people who enjoy owning playback reliability end-to-end and thrive in a mature, high-scale streaming ecosystem. What you’ll build and own Design, build, and maintain live video playback functionality for iOS and tvOS applications. Optimize HLS playback using AVPlayer, with a strong focus on startup time, buffering behavior, latency, and playback stability. Troubleshoot and resolve complex playback issues in live streaming environments, including errors, stalls, and drift from the live edge. Tune playback performance at scale to ensure reliable, high-quality viewing experiences. Use video analytics and QoE metrics to diagnose issues and improve real-world playback performance. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure playback quality and reliability across devices. Contribute to best practices and continuous improvement initiatives across streaming projects. Core Requirements 6+ years of iOS development experience with deep expertise in Swift and Objective-C. Proven experience building and maintaining video players and live playback components for iOS/tvOS. Strong hands-on experience with HLS and AVPlayer, including tuning and troubleshooting playback behavior for live streaming. Demonstrated ability to debug and optimize playback performance, including rebuffering, startup time, and playback stability. Familiarity with video streaming protocols, live playback concepts (latency, live edge, drift), ABR logic, and DRM integration. Experience using video analytics or QoE metrics (e.g., Mux, Conviva) to diagnose and improve real-world playback performance. Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. Ability to work independently in a remote, fast-paced environment. Nice-to-Have Background working in large-scale sports live streaming environments. Experience with ad tech, especially in live streaming scenarios. Comfortable working flexible hours to overlap with distributed teams across different time zones. Additional US Timezone Overlap: 6h–7h daily PST Why Join Kake? The icing on the Kake: 💰 Competitive Pay in USD: Work globally, get paid globally. 🌎 Fully Remote: Simply put, we trust you. 💜 Better Me Fund: We invest in your personal growth and passions. 🎂 Compassion is Badass: Join a community that invests in social good. Ready for your piece of the Kake? Apply now! Quick note: Due to the high volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Core Responsibilities
Design, build, and maintain live video playback functionality for iOS and tvOS applications. Optimize HLS playback performance, including startup time, buffering, and latency, while troubleshooting complex playback issues.
Requirements
Requires 6+ years of iOS development experience with deep expertise in Swift and Objective-C. Proven experience in building video players, HLS, AVPlayer, and using video analytics to improve playback performance is essential.
Benefits
- Competitive pay in USD
- Fully remote
- Better me fund
- Compassion is badass
About Kake
Industry: IT Services and IT Consulting
Company size: 201-500 employees
Life is Better with Kake! Kake offers premier teams of AI-specialized digital builders to support some of the world's most prominent and innovative brands. Whatever layer of digital support you need, we’ve got you covered. Kake’s approach: Our Team is Your Team. Kake team members are ready to integrate seamlessly into yours and accelerate any project. We are 100% dedicated and committed to our partners’ long-term success and ready to support their needs to quickly scale in a broad spectrum of backgrounds and skill sets. Kake is a remote-first company with a community spanning the globe, fully believing that - it’s not where your table is but what you bring to the table that matters. Our approach and feedback have proven that we are not simply a stop along the way in an engineer’s career but the destination. We are proud to have fostered an environment that supports and retains high-caliber team members through our defined culture, initiatives, and investment in each individual. We truly believe that sharing our core values of growth, collaboration, and social impact is just as important as technical ability and acumen. Through initiatives like Compassion is Badass (supporting boots-on-the-ground social impact causes in our local communities) and our Better Me fund (an annual stipend to use to better oneself both personally and professionally), Kake aspires to inspire. Kake is ideally positioned to actively shape how companies can foster their business growth in the digital age and provide valuable support to ensure they do so effectively with the right team.