Philo · 1 month ago
Backend Software Engineering Manager (Video & Ads Engineering)
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Director/Executive
$245K/yr - $285K/yr
8+ years expPhilo is a technology company focused on building the future of television through innovative video streaming solutions. The Backend Software Engineering Manager will lead the Video and Ads Engineering teams, emphasizing people management, project delivery, and the professional growth of team members.
Digital MediaInformation TechnologyTV
Responsibilities
Provide strong people management for the Video and Ads Engineering teams, including regular 1:1 meetings, career development guidance, and general check-ins to support individual growth and team morale
Collaborate with technical engineering leads to gather feedback on project delivery, execution, and timelines to ensure efficient and on-time releases for our video ingest, transcode, delivery pipeline, and advertising platform
Work closely with engineering leads to gather insights on code quality and areas for improvement, supporting continuous improvements in reliability, performance, video quality, and user experience
Drive the professional development of direct reports, helping them grow their technical and leadership skills, and offering guidance on career progression
Support team members with feedback on their performance, offering coaching and mentorship tailored to each individual's goals
Facilitate cross-functional collaboration with product, ad operations, data science, and client engineering teams to ensure smooth and coordinated feature delivery
Monitor the health of the backend teams by managing workloads, identifying bottlenecks, and maintaining a strong, transparent communication flow
Advocate for team needs, including addressing tech debt and making decisions about project prioritization and resource allocation in collaboration with technical leads
Manage the hiring and growth of the teams as needed, working with recruiting to identify and onboard top backend engineering talent
Manage day-to-day partnership operations with content providers, CDN partners, and ad tech ecosystem partners to ensure optimal video delivery and ad performance
Serve as a technical leader and advocate for the video streaming and advertising infrastructure, staying informed of industry trends and emerging technologies
Qualification
Required
8+ years of backend software development experience, with significant focus on scalable backend application development, video streaming, OTT delivery, or ad tech infrastructure
4+ years of software engineering management experience, overseeing backend engineering teams
Strong people management skills with experience providing coaching, performance feedback, and career development guidance to direct reports
Deep experience building or leading teams that developed highly scalable, distributed backend systems using languages like Golang, Java, C++, or similar
Experience operating in cloud computing environments using modern software deployment technologies (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes)
Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate across teams and disciplines to achieve common goals
Track record of making data-driven decisions and working with large-scale systems handling significant traffic
Preferred
Familiarity with Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) and programmatic advertising technologies
Knowledge of ad tech standards (VAST, VMAP, OpenRTB) and programmatic advertising platforms
Familiarity with video streaming technologies, including experience with video codecs (H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, AV1), streaming protocols (HLS, MPEG-DASH), and OTT video delivery at scale
Experience with video quality assessment tools (VMAF, SSIM) and video encoding optimization
Experience with cloud video transcoding services (AWS Elemental, Azure Media Services) and FFmpeg
Familiarity with DRM, content protection, and video security
Experience managing partnerships with content providers, CDNs, or ad tech vendors
Benefits
Full health, dental and vision coverage for you and your family
401(k) plan with employer contributions (we match 100% of deferrals up to 3% of pay and 50% of the next 2% of pay)
Flexible working hours
Up to 20 weeks of fully paid parental leave
Unlimited paid time off for vacation and sick leave
$2,000 annual vacation bonus (we pay you to take a two week vacation)
$5,250 annually for professional development and educational assistance
$1,250 annual home office + TV stipend during first year of employment ($250 annually thereafter)
$500/month ($6,000/year) bonus for employees who commit to working at least 3 days per week in our offices, plus generous commuter benefits ($315/month towards transit, rideshare, bike rental, or parking at our HQ office in San Francisco)
Free Gympass subscription — an all-in-one corporate benefit that gives employees the largest selection of gyms, studios, classes, training and wellness apps
Dog-friendly office
And much more!
Company
Philo
Philo offers an entertainment-focused streaming service nationwide.
51-200 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Philo has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (7)
2024 (4)
2023 (1)
2022 (4)
2021 (2)
2020 (2)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$134.2MKey Investors
Republic capitalNational Education AssociationNew Enterprise Associates
2020-08-06Series D· $50M
2020-01-13Series C· $1M
2018-07-03Series C· $41.37M
Leadership Team
Andrew McCollum
CEO
Recent News
2025-12-09
Company data provided by crunchbase