Senior Engineering Manager, Video Platform

Company Description

VERSANT is a leading force in news, sports and entertainment - home to iconic and trusted brands that inspire, inform, and delight audiences. Our unique combination of content, technology and services enriches the cultural fabric, igniting passions, sparking conversations, and connecting people to what they love most.

As an independent, publicly traded company, VERSANT brings together powerhouse cable networks - including USA Network, CNBC, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Golf Channel - with dynamic digital and direct-to-consumer brands such as Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine. Together, these businesses reflect our commitment to delivering exceptional experiences across every screen and service.

VERSANT is an industry-changing media company fueled by innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. With a strong foundation and a forward-looking vision, VERSANT empowers creativity, embraces change, and drives connection in an ever-evolving world.

Job Description

We are seeking a strategic and technically adept Senior Manager to lead our Video Platform team. This team is at the heart of our streaming media experience, responsible for building and scaling the core video infrastructure that powers content delivery to millions of users globally. You will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our video technology stack, ensuring high performance, reliability, and innovation across our platform.

This role requires close collaboration with product and engineering teams across Web, Mobile, and OTT platforms to ensure our customers enjoy a seamless and high-quality video experience. You should bring strong hands-on experience with video players and playback technologies.

• Leadership & Strategy: Lead and mentor a team of engineers and technical leads focused on video encoding, packaging, playback, and delivery
• Define and execute the roadmap for the video platform in alignment with product and business goals
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Operations, Content, and platform engineering teams (Web, Mobile, OTT) to deliver seamless video experiences across all surfaces
• Technical Oversight: Oversee the design, development, and optimization of video workflows, including both live and on-demand streaming
• Ensure scalability, low latency, and high availability of the video platform
• Stay ahead of industry trends in video codecs, streaming protocols (HLS, DASH), DRM, and CDN technologies
• Provide leadership on client-side and server-side ad delivery implementations (CSAI, SSAI, DAI)
• Drive player integration strategies and collaborate with platform teams on customization, feature rollout, and performance optimization across devices
• Operational Excellence: Continuously improve video quality, startup time, buffering, and playback reliability across platforms
• Establish KPIs and implement monitoring tools to measure platform performance and user experience
• Manage vendor relationships and assess third-party tools and services
• Problem Solving & Innovation: Identify and resolve complex playback, performance, and integration issues across the video stack
• Promote experimentation and data-driven iteration to improve quality of service (QoS) metrics

Qualifications

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in video engineering or streaming media, with at least 5 years in a leadership role
• Strong understanding of video encoding/transcoding, adaptive bitrate streaming, and content protection
• Hands-on experience with video players (e.g., JWPlayer, VideoJS, Shaka, ExoPlayer, AVPlayer), analytics tools (Adobe, Comscore) and QoS (Conviva)
• Experience with cloud-based video workflows, including AWS Media Services and GCP
• Demonstrated success managing high-performing technical teams and driving cross-functional execution
• Strong collaboration and communication skills with experience working across platform teams (Web, Mobile, OTT)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with live streaming at scale Knowledge of machine learning applications in video quality optimization
• Contributions to open-source video projects or participation in standards organizations

What We Offer

At CNBC Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, you’ll have access to great perks and amenities:

• Sweat it out – Free onsite fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment, plus daily group classes
• Eat up – Gourmet cafeteria with daily specials plus soup and salad bars
• Commute-friendly – Free shuttle transportation to and from multiple locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hoboken, and Jersey City
• Hybrid: This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of three days per we