Senior Video Compression Development Engineer, AWS Elemental, Elemental Video Engine

Amazon is hiring a Senior Video Compression Development Engineer, AWS Elemental, Elemental Video Engine in Portland, United States. It pays $193k-$262k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this role Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
The posting mentions Python, C and video compression among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a senior role.
Amazon has 20,000+ other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

Design and incorporate machine learning and generative AI components into home-grown video encoders to improve video compression quality and performance.

PythonC

video-compressionmachine-learninggenerative-aivvcav1hevc

AWS Infrastructure Services owns the design, planning, delivery, and operation of all AWS global infrastructure. In other words, we’re the people who keep the cloud running. We support all AWS data centers and all of the servers, storage, networking, power, and cooling equipment that ensure our customers have continual access to the innovation they rely on. We work on the most challenging problems, with thousands of variables impacting the supply chain — and we’re looking for talented people who want to help.

You’ll join a diverse team of software, hardware, and network engineers, supply chain specialists, security experts, operations managers, and other vital roles. You’ll collaborate with people across AWS to help us deliver the highest standards for safety and security while providing seemingly infinite capacity at the lowest possible cost for our customers. And you’ll experience an inclusive culture that welcomes bold ideas and empowers you to own them to completion.

AWS Elemental is an Amazon Web Services company that combines deep video expertise with the power and scale of the cloud. We are looking for a Senior Software Development Engineer focused on video compression to build advanced video processing functions.

As a Senior Video Compression Development Engineer, you will write great code to process our customers’ video and metadata. You’ll work on video technologies like VVC, AV1, HEVC, AVC, high dynamic range video, and enhancement filters. You will solve new problem for our customers by utilizing ML and Generative AI. You will work on a focused team with clear leadership and a direct ability to solve our customers’ problems and enable their success. Your work will have a broad reach. Your code will process thousands of video streams around the world, and the final output will be enjoyed by millions of viewers. The full resources of Amazon Web Services are available to us and the only limit is our imagination.

Key job responsibilities
- Improving the quality per bit in our home-grown video encoders.
- Design and incorporate ML components to improve video quality and enable new use cases for our customers.
- Design and implement improved video filters, whether this be a scaler, deinterlacer, or a brand new perceptual filter
- Improve compute performance of our video processing

About the team
We are an experienced team, currently distributed between Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, British Columbia; and San Jose, California. We are doers: we focus on solving customer problems, with all team members coming up with new ideas and implementing production code.

Basic qualifications

- 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
- 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team

Preferred qualifications

- 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
- 5+ years of video/image processing/compression experience
- - Experience with SSE/AVX2/NEON is a plus

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, CA, Santa Clara - 193,300.00 - 261,500.00 USD annually
USA, OR, Portland - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually

How we rate this

Senior Video Compression Development Engineer, AWS Elemental, Elemental Video Engine at Amazon rates 70 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Senior Video Compression Development Engineer, AWS Elemental, Elemental Video Engine is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is $193k-$262k a year.
The role is based in US, OR, Portland.
The job was posted on August 25, 2026.
Seniority: senior.
Applications are handled by Amazon. Apply on Amazon

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Video CompressionMachine learningGenerative AIVvcAv1HevcPythonC

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where video compression was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where generative ai was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where vvc was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where av1 was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Video Compression, Machine learning, Generative AI, Vvc, and Av1. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.

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