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.

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.