Lead Software Engineer - Roku

Lead Software Engineer - RokuLocation: On-Site - New York / Los Angeles / San Francisco / Ft. LauderdaleAbout The RoleYou'll own the technical direction of the Paramount+ Roku application — the platform, the patterns, the architecture. This is a hands-on leadership role where you write and review code and set the standard for a team of engineers shipping features to millions of viewers. Roku's constraints — tight memory budgets, a single-threaded render loop, hardware spanning five years of device generations — are the environment you thrive in, not just tolerate. You know these constraints well enough to teach them, and you'll lead a team through them.What You'll DoSet technical direction for the Paramount+ Roku application — choose the patterns, own the architecture, defend the decisionsBuild and maintain core framework components and features — this is a hands-on role where you ship codeLead a team of Roku engineers through code reviews, pair programming, and feedback that helps people growArchitect around Roku's constraints: memory limits, render-thread/task-thread boundaries, device performance tiers, and certification requirementsShip real-time personalization features — personalized recommendations, dynamic artwork, and ad engagement experiences — within Roku's memory and threading constraintsDrive adoption of RSG 1.3 data transfer APIs, BrightScript Memory Monitor, and Perfetto tracing across the teamScope projects, identify risks before they become blockers, and keep the team shippingCoordinate with Product, Design, Backend Engineering, and DevOps/SRE to translate requirements into plans your team can executeWrite architecture docs, RFCs, and component guides so decisions are visible and durableMaintain and improve CI/CD pipelines, testing infrastructure, and build toolingDesign and run A/B tests, then act on the resultsUse AI development tools to move faster, and help the team adopt themWhat Good Looks LikeYour team ships on time because you scoped the work correctly — not because anyone worked weekendsEngineers on your team grow quarter over quarter. They take on harder problems this quarter than last. You can name what changedYou open a 200-file BrightScript repo you've never seen and start making changes the same day — and you've given your team the docs and context to do the sameYou notice a memory spike on a Roku Express before QA files a ticket. You fix it, write up what happened, and turn it into a pattern the team followsYou write architecture decisions down. Six months later, a new engineer reads one and understands why you chose what you choseYou push back when a plan has gaps and suggest a better one — without making people feel smallYou treat the build pipeline, test coverage, and error monitoring like product featuresYou make the people around you better at their jobs. They'd say so if askedRequired Qualifications8+ years writing software4+ years building Roku applications2+ years leading a team or serving as a technical leadBS in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent work experienceStrong foundation in OOP, data structures, and algorithms — able to design systems and evaluate others' designsBrightScript and SceneGraph SDK, including RSG 1.3 — you can explain the tradeoffs between MoveIntoField, PostMessage, and CopyMessage without looking them upDeep command of the Roku threading model and where performance falls apart on low-end devicesRoku frameworks and services: RAF, RMF, RokuPayUnit and integration testing on Roku — you've built test infrastructure, not just written testsRESTful API design, caching behavior, and CDN interactionGit and GitHubStrong technical writing — architecture docs and plans that people actually read and act onActive use of AI development tools (Copilot, Claude, Cursor, or similar) with concrete examples of how they've changed how you workDesired QualificationsBrighterScript and Roku community tooling (ropm, bslint, roku-debug)Other OTT platforms: Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV, LG webOSObservability tools: Conviva, New Relic, Datadog, SentryMicroservices and backend-for-frontend patternsExperience integrating personalization or recommendation systems into connected-device applicationsExperience with real-time or event-driven architectures on client platformsE2E testing for connected-device applicationsDocker and CI/CD tooling (Jenkins or similar)GraphQLTrack record of introducing AI tools to a team — actual adoption, not just a demoYou care about UX enough to push back on Product and Design when something isn't rightYou've worked across time zones without waiting for meetings to unblock yourselfParamount is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Paramount Global