Software Development Engineer 4

This is a 5 month engagement that could extend up to 18 months. This will be an onsite position 5 days a week in Redmond, WA.

Aquent is partnering with a global technology leader renowned for pushing the boundaries of innovation across various platforms and services. This company is dedicated to creating seamless and high-performance experiences that touch millions of users worldwide, constantly evolving to meet the demands of an ever-changing digital landscape. Join a team that values groundbreaking work and collaborative problem-solving, contributing to foundational technologies that empower the next generation of digital interaction.

Are you a seasoned engineer passionate about media technology, validation, and system reliability? We are seeking a highly skilled and impactful individual to join a pivotal team, where you will directly influence the stability, performance, and quality of critical media processing pipelines. In this role, you won't just be maintaining systems; you'll be instrumental in shaping the future of media experiences, driving improvements that ensure robust and efficient delivery across diverse hardware and software environments. Your expertise will be vital in identifying and resolving complex issues, setting new standards for quality, and collaborating with industry partners to achieve excellence.

What You'll Do

As a key contributor, you will spearhead initiatives to enhance the observability and validation of media processing systems. Your work will directly lead to more reliable and higher-performing media experiences for users globally. You will be at the forefront of improving detection capabilities for subtle issues and ensuring that new features meet rigorous quality standards before release.

• Design and implement enhanced telemetry events, schemas, and probes across media processing pipelines.
• Expand telemetry granularity for advanced profiles and configuration variations, capturing detailed insights into system behavior.
• Build or augment dashboards that reveal regression patterns, reliability issues, and performance characteristics, providing actionable data.
• Author and extend certification tests for media encoder validation, ensuring comprehensive coverage.
• Integrate hardware validation scenarios into certification workflows to improve partner pass rates and reduce friction.
• Analyze telemetry and test-fail data to identify media processing reliability gaps and pinpoint root causes.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, certification teams, and hardware partners to close coverage gaps and improve driver readiness.
• Define reliability metrics, performance indicators, and failure signals across encode/decode paths.
• Improve detection of rare or profile-specific issues that previously went unnoticed.

Must-Have Qualifications:

• 4-6 years of Codec & Media Pipeline Expertise: Deep understanding of media encoding and decoding behavior, media pipelines, color formats, and profile variations.
• 3-5 years of Video Feature Test Development on Real Hardware:Hardware Validation & Certification Experience: Hands-on experience with hardware validation and driver certification workflows, including authoring tests.
• 4+ years of Telemetry / Observability Engineering: Strong experience in designing event schemas, metrics, instrumentation, and dashboards, coupled with proven ability to analyze large telemetry datasets.
• Analytical Problem-Solving: Exceptional ability to identify patterns in telemetry and validation results, isolate root causes, and propose effective instrumentation or test improvements.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to work effectively with engineering, certification teams, graphics/media groups, and hardware partners.

About Aquent Talent

Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world's biggest brands. Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. More information on our awesome benefits! Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We're about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.