Senior Software Development Engineer, Streaming Media

San Jose, California, US Until 8/21/2026 H-1B sponsor history First posted April 22, 2026 Last posted April 22, 2026
Job description

Description

About the Team:
The Media Network team is building an industry-leading real-time media distributed system that plays a critical role in TikTok’s live streaming and RTC scenarios. Serving billions of users worldwide, our network is among the largest real-time media networks globally. Join the Media Network team to work on large-scale distributed systems and help deliver an exceptional real-time media experience to TikTok users.

Responsibilities:
- Design and implement high-performance, latency-sensitive media servers.
- Optimize network efficiency for media delivery, balancing cost and quality.
- Design, implement, and optimize media protocols, while staying current with industry trends.
- Leverage AI technologies to enhance streaming media scenarios and improve the flexibility and performance of the Media Network.
- Design and build resilient, decoupled systems to minimize single points of failure and improve overall reliability.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
- Hands-on experience with streaming transport protocols such as RTP/RTCP, RTMP, DASH, and CMAF.
- Familiarity with audio and video codec standards, including OPUS, AAC, and H.264.
- Solid understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, NAT, IPv4/IPv6, routing protocols, and packet processing (e.g., iptables, deep packet inspection).
- Proficiency in at least one programming language: C, C++, Java, Python, Rust, or Go.

Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with CDN, multimedia systems, live streaming, or WebRTC.
- Experience building or operating large-scale distributed systems.
- Experience applying AI/ML techniques to improve efficiency or performance in streaming media systems.

About this role

Summary

Design and optimize real-time media servers and protocols for TikTok's streaming platform

Job title

Senior Software Development Engineer, Streaming Media

Experience level

senior level

Industry

software

Location requirements

San Jose, California; on-site, no remote work

Salary

Not specified

Visa sponsorship

H-1B sponsor history

Management role

No

Skills & keywords

Required skills

CC++RTMPDASHCMAFOPUSAACH.264TCP/IPNATIPv4IPv6routing protocolspacket processingprogramming

Preferred skills

cdnmultimedia systemslive streamingwebrtcdistributed systemsai ml

Specializations

distributed systemsmedia streamingnetwork protocolsAI/ML
Locations

Structured locations inferred from the posting.

San Jose, CA, USA

On-site City