Staff Software Engineer - Multimedia (Video Pipeline)

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies • Palo Alto, CA

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the architecture and advancement of its in-vehicle video pipeline. The role owns the end-to-end video path from camera sensors and ISP through capture, encoding, streaming, recording, and display, and sets technical direction for acquiring, processing, and delivering video across the platform. It focuses primarily on embedded systems development for high-performance applications and includes technical leadership across multiple teams. The position is hybrid and based in Palo Alto, California.

Requirements

• Expert proficiency in modern C++ (C++17 or later) on Linux or embedded systems, with strong multithreading and real-time systems skills.
• Extensive hands-on experience building production video pipelines, including camera capture with V4L2/libcamera, ISP tuning integration, hardware codecs (H.264/H.265/AV1), and streaming protocols (RTSP/RTP/WebRTC).
• Deep experience with GStreamer, including custom plugin or element development, and/or FFmpeg, as well as Linux graphics and memory primitives such as DMA-BUF, DRM/KMS, Wayland, and EGL.
• Demonstrated experience implementing and optimizing media workloads on embedded heterogeneous hardware (CPU, GPU, VPU, ISP, DSP), including zero-copy data paths and power- and thermal-aware design.
• Experience leading architecture for complex multimedia systems, mentoring engineers, and influencing roadmaps across teams.
• Strong understanding of algorithms, data structures, software architecture, and video fundamentals, including color spaces, chroma subsampling, rate control, GOP structure, timestamps, and synchronization.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• 10 or more years of relevant experience.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with automotive camera systems, including GMSL/FPD-Link, surround view, digital mirrors, and dashcam/sentry recording.
• Experience with functional-safety or security requirements for video.
• Computer vision/AI integration experience, including OpenCV and on-device inference.
• Experience with visual computing or parallel programming frameworks such as OpenCL, OpenGL ES, or Vulkan.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the camera-to-display video pipeline architecture, including capture, ISP integration, color conversion, scaling, encoding and decoding, streaming, recording, and rendering, with minimal latency and high power efficiency.
• Design, develop, implement, and integrate hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding for H.264, H.265, and AV1, as well as streaming and recording features using RTSP, RTP, WebRTC, and MP4/MKV containers.
• Analyze and optimize real-time video pipeline performance and glass-to-glass latency across CPU, GPU, VPU/hardware codecs, ISP, and DSP, using zero-copy buffer sharing and efficient memory management.
• Build and maintain the multimedia stack using GStreamer, V4L2, libcamera, FFmpeg, and vendor SDKs, integrating it with the operating system, display server, and downstream consumers such as CV/AI, HMI, and telematics.
• Set technical standards, review designs and code, mentor engineers, and align teams on video interfaces, buffer formats, and quality and latency targets.
• Collaborate with product, hardware, camera/ISP, perception, and platform teams to bring camera and video features into the final product.
• Establish video quality metrics, latency measurement, and telemetry and tracing to detect and resolve frame drops, tearing, audio/video synchronization, and production stability issues.
• Prototype and iterate on pipeline designs and codec configurations to address latency, bandwidth, and image-quality challenges.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary.
• Eligibility for the annual company performance bonus program for full-time positions; payments are discretionary and not guaranteed.
• Eligibility for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units, subject to board approval and applicable plan terms and vesting requirements.
• Comprehensive benefits package for full-time employees, including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs; offerings vary by country.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior