Sr. Software Engineer

Company Description

VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant’s sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass.

Job Description

Versant’s Software Engineering team provides core services to our business, underpinning our strategy and execution of linear & digital distribution of content, platforms, and data. As a leader of our engineering team, you will have a direct role in defining our roadmap towards our future vision in the video landscape. 

The Senior Software Engineer (Video Platform) role is a technology subject matter expert responsible for the implementation of service architecture, delivery, and operation of VERSANT’s video platform ecosystem across digital, OTT, and authenticated experiences. 

This role will be hands on in the creation of Versant’s end-to-end video delivery stack, including client integrations and playback experiences, TV Everywhere (TVE) and direct-to-consumer (DTC) authentication and user flows, live and on-demand video pipelines, and observability across playback and streaming systems. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Video Platform & Client Playback Engineering 

• Lead development of video player frameworks and SDKs across multiple platforms (web, iOS, Android, CTV). 

• Ensure seamless integration of playback experiences with authentication, personalization, and analytics systems. 

• Optimize startup time, buffering, bitrate adaptation, and overall QoE across device types and network conditions. 

• Ensure systems support real-time and near-real-time workflows for live sports, news, and event-based programming. 

• Implement solutions for advertising through DAI and core ad tech integrations across our platform landscape. 

• Ensure secure, scalable integration with MVPDs, identity providers, and subscription platforms. 

• Integrate with personalization services and data platforms to provide user-specific context and optimizations. 

• Engineering Leadership & Delivery 

• Drive execution across multiple concurrent initiatives, ensuring predictable delivery, high quality, and alignment with business priorities. 

• Participate in code reviews, pair programming, and knowledge-sharing sessions to elevate team quality. 

• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to a culture of continuous learning and improvement. 

• Ensure security, performance, and maintainability are core to all solutions. 

• Cross-Functional Partnership 

• Partner closely with Product, Distribution, Ad Tech, Data, and Editorial teams to deliver integrated video experiences. 

• Align with infrastructure, cloud, and DevOps teams to ensure scalable, reliable platform operations. 

• Work closely with product and architecture teams to align on technical direction and business priorities. 

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in video engineering or streaming platforms supporting media, broadcast, or OTT environments. 

• Experience with HLS/DASH, DRM, CDNs, encoding/transcoding, and player frameworks. 

• Skilled in modern JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML/CSS, and frameworks like React, Vue or Angular. 

• Experience developing and integrating backend services in languages like Node, Python, or Go. 

• Familiarity with ad-supported video (AVOD) and monetization workflows. 

• Strong understanding of Identity, Personalization, Authentication and Subscription systems. 

• Expertise with analytics, observability, and performance monitoring. 

• Experience and familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) and CI/CD methodologies. 

• Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset. 

Additional Information 

Location: New York City, NY or Englewood Cliffs, NJ - (Hybrid – 3 days onsite) 

Employees based in our Englewood Cliffs office have access to a variety of convenient on-site services and amenities, including free employee parking, complimentary electric vehicl