Forward Deployed Engineer

Location: Remote, United States (East Coast or Denver preferred)
Tech Stack: C++/Java, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Azure
Team Size: 10 Engineers (EU-based)
Travel: up to 25%

Bitmovin is a global Series-C SaaS scale-up that provides award-winning video streaming technology to world-renowned brands and managed service providers. Our solution suite consists of Live and VOD Encoding, a Multi-Platform Player, and Analytics platform; enabling content owners to redefine the viewer experience through API-based workflow optimization, fast turnaround, and scalability. 

We have seen great success and created great momentum in the market. This is down to our products, ecosystem, but ultimately our people who love video streaming.

“We are constantly seeking out forward thinking individuals who want to shape the future of video… come and work with us!”

Stefan Lederer, CEO

At Bitmovin we value cognitive diversity and the huge part this plays in not only creating a global culture second to none, but in how this underpins our ability to create truly representative, Emmy award winning products. Diversity in all its forms is encouraged and celebrated at Bitmovin; everyone has a role to play in helping us shape the future of video.

At Bitmovin, we’re redefining how the world streams video. Our Emmy award-winning technology powers video for household names like Red Bull Media House, RTL, and Technicolor — and we’re just getting started.

This is the first Forward Deployed Engineer at Bitmovin — a greenfield role where you'll define the playbook, not inherit one.

You'll sit inside our Encoding engineering team, shipping production code in its sprints, while being the technical face of Bitmovin for our marquee US media and streaming customers. When Europe is offline, you're the one keeping US enterprise accounts moving: triaging encoding issues, driving incidents to resolution or a clean handover, and turning what you learn in the field into better product.

It's real engineering plus real customer ownership. The kind of hybrid profile that's hard to find and builds toward Staff Engineer, Solutions Architecture leadership, or founding-engineer-style roles.

• Contribute production code (Java/Kotlin, C++ encoding stack) as an embedded member of the Encoding team's sprints
• Own our US enterprise accounts technically: cover the timezone gap, triage and troubleshoot encoding issues during EU off-hours, and drive incidents to resolution or a safe handover
• Travel to customer sites to support integrations, run workshops, and handle escalations in person
• Feed field learnings back into sprint planning and the product roadmap
• Make sound escalate-vs-resolve calls autonomously, and keep the EU team looped in through clear async communication

What success looks like (6–12 months): 

• You've become the trusted US technical point of contact for our marquee media and streaming accounts. Those customers escalate to you by name and response times during EU off-hours have visibly improved.
• You're shipping production code in the Encoding team's sprints, not just triaging. You've closed real issues in the core encoding stack (Java/Kotlin, C++), not just filed them.
• You've defined the Forward Deployed playbook from scratch: how issues get triaged, when to resolve vs. escalate, how handovers to the EU team happen cleanly. It's written down and repeatable, not living in your head.
• You've run at least one on-site customer integration or workshop end to end, and the customer came away more self-sufficient.
• Field learnings from your accounts have shaped sprint planning or the roadmap at least once, with a concrete example the team can point to.
• Churn risk on your accounts is down and measurably so, with faster resolution and fewer issues aging overnight.
• The EU team trusts you to own US hours solo. Your async updates are clear enough that Europe picks up where you left off without friction.
• You've built a clear picture of how customers actually use our product day to day, and turned it into documentation the product and engineering teams actually rely on.

Must-Have Experience:

• 5+ years of software engineering experience at a senior level, strong in Java or C++, able to contribute production code in the encoding team's sprints
• 2+ years in a customer-facing technical role (solutions architecture, professional services, forward deployed, or named-account support)
• Cloud experience (AWS and/or GCP), Docker, and hands-on experience running and debugging scalable distributed services
• Strong troubleshooting on live customer systems: log analysis, error diagnosis, network traces, reproducing issues from limited information
• Open to AI-assisted development workflows and comfortable using AI tools like Claude Code
• Excellent written and verbal English, with a track record of communicating credibly with enterprise engineering teams
• High autonomy: comfortable owning issues end-to-end during US hours while the EU team is offline, with sound judgment on when to escalate vs. resolve
• Experience being responsible for maintaining production systems, preferably experienced with on-call, incident management, or 24/7 operations
• Based on the US East Coast or in Denver, and willing to travel to customer sites regularly
• You must already have the right to work in the United States. 

Nice-to-Have:

• Video streaming domain knowledge: codecs (H.264/HEVC, ideally AV1), container formats, HLS/DASH, OTT encoding workflows
• Prior forward-deployed, solutions architect, or professional services experience at a SaaS or media-tech vendor
• Experience with Bitmovin or competing encoding platforms (AWS MediaConvert/Elemental, Harmonic, MediaKind)

You don’t have experience with all the points above? Don’t worry, we will support you with learning, training, and coaching on the job.

There is a lot on offer here:

• View the benefits on our Careers Page
• Get to know our outstanding culture showcased on LinkedIn
• Check the employee reviews on Glassdoor

Apply for the role, and let’s get talking!