What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior iOS Video Player Engineer position at Kake?
About the Role
We’re looking for a Senior iOS Video Player Engineer with deep, production-level experience in live video streaming to work on high-quality playback experiences across iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.
This is not a general iOS role. The focus is squarely on media and streaming, with hands-on ownership of live HLS playback, AVPlayer behavior, performance tuning, and playback reliability at scale. You’ll be working on challenges like fast startup times, buffering behavior, live edge management, latency, and real-world playback stability.
You’ll collaborate closely with backend and video pipeline teams, as well as product and design, in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment. This role is designed for someone who can join and contribute quickly in a mature streaming ecosystem.
This position is fundamentally about live video streaming on Apple platforms.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain live video playback functionality for iOS and tvOS applications (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV).
- 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.
- Work closely with backend and video pipeline teams to align player behavior with streaming infrastructure.
- Collaborate with product and design partners to deliver smooth, consistent playback experiences across Apple devices.
- Use video analytics and QoE metrics to diagnose issues and improve real-world playback performance.
Core Requirements
- 7 years of iOS development experience with deep expertise in Swift and Objective-C.
- Proven experience building and maintaining video players or live playback components for iOS/tvOS.
- Strong hands-on experience with HLS and AVPlayer, including tuning and troubleshooting playback behavior, especially 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.
- Strong understanding of iOS app architectures (MVVM, Clean Architecture) and CI/CD pipelines.
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills across engineering, design, and product teams.
Nice to Have
- Background working in sports large-scale streaming environments.
- Experience with ad tech, especially in live streaming scenarios.
Why Join Kake
Kake is a remote-first company with a global community — built on the belief that it’s not where your table is, but what you bring to the table that matters. We provide top-tier engineering talent to power some of the world’s most innovative companies, and we’ve built a culture where great people stay, grow, and thrive.
The icing on the Kake:
🏡 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.