Staff Software Engineer - Multimedia

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Staff Software Engineer - Multimedia in USA new

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies
Full time
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USA
10/13/2026
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Palo Alto, CA

Responsibilities

Own the architecture of the camera-to-display video pipeline, including capture, ISP integration, color conversion, scaling, encoding/decoding, streaming, recording, and rendering.
Design and integrate hardware-accelerated H.264, H.265, and AV1 encoding/decoding with RTSP, RTP, WebRTC, MP4, and MKV streaming or recording features.
Optimize real-time performance, latency, memory use, power, and thermal behavior across CPU, GPU, VPU, ISP, and DSP components using zero-copy data paths.
Build and maintain multimedia integrations using GStreamer, FFmpeg, V4L2, libcamera, vendor SDKs, Linux graphics primitives, the OS, display server, and downstream CV/AI, HMI, and telematics consumers.
Set technical standards, review designs and code, mentor engineers, and align multiple teams on video interfaces, buffer formats, and quality or latency targets.
Collaborate with product, hardware, camera/ISP, perception, and platform teams to deliver camera and video features.
Establish video quality metrics, latency measurement, telemetry, and tracing to diagnose frame drops, tearing, A/V synchronization, and production stability issues.
Prototype pipeline designs and codec configurations to solve latency, bandwidth, and image-quality challenges.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
10+ years of relevant experience.
Expert proficiency in modern C++ (C++17 or later) on Linux and embedded systems, with strong multithreading and real-time systems skills.
Extensive hands-on experience building production video pipelines involving camera capture, ISP tuning integration, hardware codecs, and streaming protocols.
Deep experience with GStreamer, including custom plugin or element development, and/or FFmpeg, plus Linux graphics and memory primitives.
Experience optimizing media workloads on embedded heterogeneous hardware with zero-copy data paths and power- or thermal-aware design.
Experience leading architecture for complex multimedia systems, mentoring engineers, and influencing roadmaps across teams.
Strong knowledge of algorithms, data structures, software architecture, and video fundamentals such as color spaces, chroma subsampling, rate control, GOP structure, timestamps, and synchronization.
Preferred experience with automotive camera systems such as GMSL/FPD-Link, surround view, digital mirrors, and dashcam or sentry recording.
Preferred experience with functional-safety or security requirements for video, computer vision or AI integration, OpenCV, on-device inference, OpenCL, OpenGL ES, and Vulkan.

Benefits

Competitive base salary, annual company performance bonus eligibility, and equity in the form of RSUs, subject to applicable plan terms.
Comprehensive benefits for full-time employees, including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs.
Hybrid work arrangement based out of the Palo Alto, California office.

Salary: $186k - $256k/yr

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies unite to pioneer sustainable mobility solutions, blending cutting‑edge electric vehicle engineering with advanced autonomous driving capabilities. Together, they develop next‑generation platforms that prioritize performance, safety, and environmental stewa...

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