Staff Software Engineer - Multimedia (Video Pipeline)

The posting, as Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies wrote it

ABOUT US

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world.

The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.

ROLE SUMMARY

We are seeking a highly skilled Staff Software Engineer to join our team, focusing exclusively on the architecture and advancement of our in-vehicle video pipeline. You will own the end-to-end path from camera sensors and ISP through capture, encoding, streaming, recording, and display, setting the technical direction for how video is acquired, processed, and delivered across the platform. The ideal candidate has deep expertise in C++ and a proven track record of designing and optimizing low-latency, high-throughput multimedia systems on embedded heterogeneous hardware. This role primarily focuses on embedded systems development for high-performance applications and carries technical leadership responsibility across multiple teams. This is a hybrid role based out of our Palo, Alto, CA office.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Video Pipeline Architecture: Define and own the architecture of the camera-to-display video pipeline, including capture, ISP integration, color conversion, scaling, encoding/decoding, streaming, recording, and rendering, with minimal latency and high power efficiency.
• Codec & Streaming Development: Design, develop, implement and integrate hardware-accelerated video encode/decode (H.264/H.265/AV1) and streaming/recording features (RTSP, RTP, WebRTC, MP4/MKV containers), ensuring robustness and scalability.
• Performance Optimization: Analyze and optimize video pipelines for real-time performance and glass-to-glass latency across CPU, GPU, VPU/hardware codecs, ISP, and DSP, using zero-copy buffer sharing (DMA-BUF, GBM) and efficient memory management.
• Framework & Platform Integration: Build and maintain the multimedia stack on frameworks such as GStreamer, V4L2, libcamera, FFmpeg, and vendor SDKs, and integrate it with the OS, display server, and downstream consumers (CV/AI, HMI, telematics).
• Technical Leadership: Set standards, review designs and code, mentor engineers, and drive cross-team alignment on video interfaces, buffer formats, and quality/latency targets.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product, hardware, camera/ISP, perception, and platform teams to bring new camera and video features into the final product.
• Quality & Diagnostics: Establish video quality metrics (PSNR/SSIM/VMAF), latency measurement, and telemetry/tracing to detect and resolve

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Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies affiliates; and (iii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies’ service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.

If you provide a mobile telephone number as part of your application or during the recruitment process, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use that number to contact you via SMS text message for recruitment-related purposes, including scheduling, logistics, and status updates. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any text message you receive from us. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of applying for or being considered for employment.

Please see our Candidate Data Privacy Notice (English) https://assets.ctfassets.net/2md5qhoeajym/53otRWdzXPzSdWPgiel5T/07c61b0eed2d91f2f403f788fd20d315/RVTech_Candidate_Data_Privacy_Notice_-_Nov_2024.pdf and Candidate Data Privacy Notice (Serbian) https://assets.ctfassets.net/2md5qhoeajym/40xUZMehbGToclkLqWXW0E/eb5b553bd8af7c607066253fbb227bda/RVTech_Candidate_Data_Privacy_Notice_-_Nov_2024_Serbian.pdf for more information.

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Please note this job posting represents an open, active vacancy. Additionally, we are not currently accepting applications from third party application services.