Senior Software Engineer - Streaming Backend

EchoStar is reimagining the future of connectivity. Our business reach spans satellite television service, live-streaming and on-demand programming, smart home installation services, mobile plans and products.

Today, our brands include Boost Mobile, DISH TV, Gen Mobile, Hughes and Sling TV.

Our DISH Technology team challenges the status quo and reimagines capabilities across industries. Whether through research and development, technology innovation or solution engineering, our team members play vital roles in connecting consumers with the products and platforms of tomorrow.

The dyna streaming backend team is tasked with solving complex scale, latency, and reliability challenges associated with delivering high-quality video content to millions of active Sling TV customers. This role addresses critical engineering bottlenecks by designing resilient services that package, encrypt, and dynamically generate manifests for adaptive bitrate streams. Engineers in this position focus on mitigating piracy risks through robust digital rights management while simultaneously optimizing ad insertion workflows to maximize monetization without compromising the quality of experience. Ultimately, the position bridges the gap between sophisticated cloud infrastructure and seamless playback across a highly diverse client device ecosystem.

What Success Looks Like (In this job, you will)

• Design, build, and maintain robust backend services for dynamic video packaging and manifest generation using HLS and MPEG-DASH protocols to support millions of concurrent viewers

• Implement and operate secure, end-to-end DRM workflows using Widevine, FairPlay, or PlayReady to protect premium content throughout its delivery lifecycle

• Maintain high platform uptime by actively resolving production incidents, leading root cause analyses, and scaling observability tools to identify streaming anomalies before they impact viewers

• Design and deploy high-performance server-side and client-side ad insertion (SSAI) systems that align with department monetization and streaming quality key results (OKRs)

• Leverage AI-driven diagnostic tools and code assistant models to accelerate service refactoring, automate regression test generation, and proactively predict backend performance degradation

Core Skills and Competencies (What you’ll bring)

• Strong programming expertise in backend systems languages such as Go, Python, Rust, or C++ to write performant, concurrent, and dry code
• A deep understanding of adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming concepts, manifest files, video codecs (H.264, HEVC, AV1), and container formats (MP4, TS)
• Critical experience designing, developing, and deploying distributed, fault-tolerant media systems and DRM integrations within large-scale production environments
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and decision-making skills to coordinate complex integrations with advertising technology and observability teams
• Strong AI literacy and application skills, demonstrating the capability to integrate generative AI tools into development, debugging, and system analysis workflows to boost delivery velocity
• Functional knowledge of modern observability frameworks to interpret metrics, traces, and logs from tools like Grafana, Dynatrace, or NewRelic

Additional Qualifications

• Familiarity with cloud-based media services (such as AWS Elemental Media Services) and public cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP)

Minimum Requirements

• Minimum Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience

• Minimum Experience: 5+ years of experience in backend software development or systems engineering

• Required Technical Skills: Must have at least 5 years of experience with:

  • Go, Python, Rust, or C++ backend programming

  • Widevine, FairPlay, or PlayReady DRM technology integration

  • HLS or MPEG-DASH streaming protocols and manifest files

We offer versatile health perks, including flexible spending accounts, HSA, a 401(k) Plan with company match, ESPP, career opportunities, and a flexible time away plan; all benefits can be viewed here: EchoStar Benefits.

The base pay range shown is a guideline. Individual total compensation will vary based on factors such as qualifications, skill level, and competencies; compensation is based on the role's location and is subject to change based on work location. 

Candidates need to successfully complete a pre-employment screen, which may include a drug test and DMV check. Our company is committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace where every individual has the opportunity to succeed. We are dedicated to providing individuals with criminal or arrest records a fair chance of employment in accordance with local, state, and federal laws.

The posting will be active for a minimum of 3 days. The active posting will continue to extend by 3 days until the position is filled.

We pride ourselves on developing and promoting talent as an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status. EchoStar will accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs of employees if such accommodations are not undue hardships and are otherwise within the bounds of applicable law. All qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with local, state, and federal law. You may redact any information that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of school/graduation from your application documents before submission and throughout our application process.

EchoStar will provide reasonable accommodation to otherwise qualified job applicants and employees with known physical or mental disabilities, unless doing so poses an undue hardship on the Company, poses a direct threat of substantial harm to others, or is otherwise not required by law. EchoStar has a more detailed Accommodation Policy that applies to employees. EchoStar endeavors to make echostar.com and jobs.echostar.com accessible to users. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to discuss the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process. This contact information is for accommodation requests only; do not use this contact information to inquire about the status of applications.

Click the links to access the following statements: EEO Policy Statement, Pay Transparency, EEOC Know Your Rights (English/Spanish)