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Playback Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Oracle

Principal Playback QoE Engineer

Seattle, WA · On-site

We are seeking a Senior Principal Playback QoE Engineer to define and build the real-time quality intelligence layer for OVE. This role will connect viewer-side playback telemetry with OVE ...

Oracle

Principal Playback QoE Engineer

Seattle, WA

We are seeking a Senior Principal Playback QoE Engineer to define and build the real-time quality intelligence layer for OVE. This role will connect viewer-side playback telemetry with OVE ...

Oracle

Principal Playback QoE Engineer

Seattle, WA · On-site

We are seeking a Senior Principal Playback QoE Engineer to define and build the real-time quality intelligence layer for OVE. This role will connect viewer-side playback telemetry with OVE ...

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How much do playback jobs pay per hour?

As of Jul 23, 2026, the average hourly pay for playback in the United States is $19.31, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $16.59 and $21.88 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Playback Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Playback Engineer, you need a solid understanding of audio engineering, digital audio workstations (DAWs), and live sound principles, often supported by relevant audio production education or experience. Familiarity with playback systems like Ableton Live, Pro Tools, and hardware such as audio interfaces and MIDI controllers is typically required. Strong problem-solving abilities, attention to detail, and excellent communication skills help ensure smooth coordination with artists and crew during live performances. These skills are crucial for delivering reliable and high-quality audio playback, minimizing technical issues, and supporting seamless shows.

What professions make 200,000 a year without a degree?

In the playback or related media industries, high-paying roles such as audio engineers, sound designers, or video editors can reach or exceed $200,000 annually with extensive experience and specialized skills. Many of these roles prioritize technical expertise, certifications, and a strong portfolio over formal degrees, especially in freelance or senior positions within production environments.

What does a Playback operator do?

A Playback operator is responsible for managing and controlling the video, audio, and graphics content that is played back during live events, broadcasts, or film productions. They ensure that pre-recorded media is cued and displayed at the right moments, working closely with directors and production teams to maintain smooth transitions. This role requires technical knowledge of playback systems and quick problem-solving skills to handle any issues that may arise during live performances.

What is the difference between Playback vs Sound Engineer?

AspectPlaybackSound Engineer
CredentialsTypically requires technical training or certification in audio/visual technologyRequires audio engineering certifications or degrees in sound design or related fields
Work EnvironmentLive events, theaters, concerts, and broadcast settingsRecording studios, live events, film sets, and broadcast stations
Industry UsageUsed in live performances to manage audio playbackInvolved in recording, mixing, and sound design for various media

While both Playback and Sound Engineer roles involve audio technology, Playback primarily focuses on managing pre-recorded audio during live events, whereas Sound Engineers handle recording, mixing, and sound design across different media. Understanding these differences helps clarify career paths and job expectations in the audio industry.

What are some common challenges faced by Playback Operators during live productions, and how can these be managed?

Playback Operators in live production environments often face challenges such as last-minute content changes, technical glitches with media servers, and the pressure of synchronizing playback cues with other departments. Successful operators stay organized by preparing backup files, conducting thorough technical checks before events, and maintaining clear communication with directors and technical teams. Being adaptable and having a strong understanding of the playback system are essential for managing these challenges smoothly.

How do you become a Playback Operator?

To become a Playback Operator, individuals typically need experience with video playback equipment, such as video servers and playback software, and often require a high school diploma or equivalent. Training is usually provided on the job, and strong attention to detail, technical skills, and the ability to work in fast-paced environments are important for success in this role.

What is a video playback job?

A video playback job involves operating and managing video playback equipment during live events, concerts, or broadcasts to ensure smooth video presentation. Workers in this role typically use specialized hardware and software, such as video switchers and monitors, and may need technical skills and experience with audiovisual systems. The job often requires attention to detail and the ability to troubleshoot technical issues quickly.

What is the average salary for Playback jobs?

The average salary for playback operators or technicians typically ranges from $40,000 to $70,000 per year, depending on experience, location, and the industry sector. These roles often require technical skills with audio-visual equipment and may involve working in live event environments or broadcast settings.
More about Playback jobs
What cities are hiring for Playback jobs? Cities with the most Playback job openings:
What states have the most Playback jobs? States with the most job openings for Playback jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Playback jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Playback jobs are:
Playback jobs near you
Infographic showing various Playback job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 50% Full Time, and 50% Part Time. Highlights an 75% In-person, and 25% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $40,158 per year, or $19.3 per hour.
Principal Playback QoE Engineer

Principal Playback QoE Engineer

Oracle

Seattle, WA • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 4 days ago

Oracle rating

8.7

Company rating: 8.7 out of 10

Based on 148 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

46th of 215 rated software companies

Job description


We are seeking a Senior Principal Playback QoE Engineer to define and build the real-time quality intelligence layer for OVE. This role will connect viewer-side playback telemetry with OVE infrastructure behavior, enabling real-time live-event operations, customer-facing quality reporting, and data-driven optimization of the delivery platform.
Why OCI
  • Build core technology for next-generation live streaming infrastructure
  • Work on high-scale data systems tied directly to viewer experience
  • Shape the QoE foundation for a greenfield media delivery platform
  • Solve problems across playback, telemetry, networking, edge delivery, and analytics
  • Influence how OVE proves quality, reliability, and customer value during major live events

Responsibilities
  • Define OVE's canonical playback QoE metric model
  • Design and build real-time QoE telemetry pipelines using Kafka, Flink, or equivalent streaming systems
  • Process large-scale playback events across sessions, devices, geographies, ISPs, app versions, protocols, and delivery paths
  • Build real-time aggregations, anomaly detection, alerting, and live-event dashboards
  • Correlate playback telemetry with OVE relay, control plane, routing, and fallback behavior
  • Partner with player, infrastructure, observability, and product teams to improve end-to-end video quality
  • Support customer-facing QoE reporting, post-event analysis, and operational reviews
  • Identify playback regressions by device, region, ISP, app version, or delivery path
  • Help define QoE-driven feedback loops for routing, failover, capacity planning, and event readiness
  • Drive engineering standards for telemetry schemas, event quality, data correctness, and operational reliability

Responsibilities
Qualifications
  • 10+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, distributed systems, media platforms, or observability systems
  • Strong understanding of video playback QoE metrics and streaming media behavior
  • Hands-on experience with Kafka, Flink, Spark Streaming, Beam, Pulsar, or comparable large-scale streaming data systems
  • Experience designing real-time pipelines using event-time processing, windowing, stateful aggregation, stream joins, and schema evolution
  • Experience operating high-scale telemetry or observability systems with high-cardinality dimensions
  • Strong systems debugging skills across client, edge, backend, and data processing layers
  • Familiarity with HLS, DASH, low-latency streaming, CDN behavior, edge delivery, or player telemetry
  • Experience supporting live-event streaming, large customer launches, or high-traffic operational events is a plus
  • Experience with QoE analytics, anomaly detection, SLOs, customer dashboards, or incident response is a plus
  • Strong programming skills in Java, Scala, Python, Go, or similar production engineering languages

Preferred Qualifications
  • Experience with live sports, major broadcast events, or large-scale linear streaming
  • Experience building command-center dashboards for real-time event operations
  • Experience with Conviva, Mux Data, Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana, ClickHouse, Druid, Pinot, OpenSearch, or similar analytics and observability systems
  • Experience correlating playback telemetry with CDN, edge, origin, or network data
  • Experience defining customer-facing quality metrics, SLAs, SLOs, or post-event reporting
  • Familiarity with MoQ, QUIC, WebRTC, low-latency HLS, or emerging streaming protocols

Qualifications
Disclaimer:
Certain U.S. based or U.S. customer or client-facing roles may be required to comply with applicable requirements, such as immunization/occupational health mandates, and/or drug testing requirements.
Range and benefit information provided in this posting are specific to the stated locations only
US: Hiring Range in USD from: $114,600 to $234,600 per annum. May be eligible for bonus, equity, and compensation deferral.
Oracle maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions and locations, as well as reflect Oracle's differing products, industries and lines of business.
Candidates are typically placed into the range based on the preceding factors as well as internal peer equity.
Oracle US offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes the following:
1. Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including expert medical opinion
2. Short term disability and long term disability
3. Life insurance and AD&D
4. Supplemental life insurance (Employee/Spouse/Child)
5. Health care and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts
6. Pre-tax commuter and parking benefits
7. 401(k) Savings and Investment Plan with company match
8. Paid time off: Flexible Vacation is provided to all eligible employees assigned to a salaried (non-overtime eligible) position. Accrued Vacation is provided to all other employees eligible for vacation benefits. For employees working at least 35 hours per week, the vacation accrual rate is 13 days annually for the first three years of employment and 18 days annually for subsequent years of employment. Vacation accrual is prorated for employees working between 20 and 34 hours per week. Employees working fewer than 20 hours per week are not eligible for vacation.
9. 11 paid holidays
10. Paid sick leave: 72 hours of paid sick leave upon date of hire. Refreshes each calendar year. Unused balance will carry over each year up to a maximum cap of 112 hours.
11. Paid parental leave
12. Adoption assistance
13. Employee Stock Purchase Plan
14. Financial planning and group legal
15. Voluntary benefits including auto, homeowner and pet insurance
The role will generally accept applications for at least three calendar days from the posting date or as long as the job remains posted.
Career Level - IC4
About Us
Only Oracle brings together the data, infrastructure, applications, and expertise to power everything from industry innovations to life-saving care. And with AI embedded across our products and services, we help customers turn that promise into a better future for all. Discover your potential at a company leading the way in AI and cloud solutions that impact billions of lives.
True innovation starts when everyone is empowered to contribute. That's why we're committed to growing a workforce that promotes opportunities for all with competitive benefits that support our people with flexible medical, life insurance, and retirement options. We also encourage employees to give back to their communities through our volunteer programs.
We're committed to including people with disabilities at all stages of the employment process. If you require accessibility assistance or accommodation for a disability at any point, let us know by emailing accommodation-request_mb@oracle.com or by calling 1-888-404-2494 in the United States.
Oracle is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans' status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Oracle will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.

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About Oracle

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An Oracle career can span industries, roles, Countries and cultures, giving you the opportunity to flourish in new roles and innovate, while blending work life in. Oracle has thrived through 40+ years of change by innovating and operating with integrity while delivering for the top companies in almost every industry. In order to nurture the talent that makes this happen, we are committed to an inclusive culture that celebrates and values diverse insights and perspectives, a workforce that inspires thought leadership and innovation. Oracle offers a highly competitive suite of Employee Benefits designed on the principles of parity, consistency, and affordability. The overall package includes certain core elements such as Medical, Life Insurance, access to Retirement Planning, and much more. We also encourage our employees to engage in the culture of giving back to the communities where we live and do business. At Oracle, we believe that innovation starts with diversity and inclusion and to create the future we need talent from various backgrounds, perspectives, and abilities. We ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to successfully participate in the job application, interview process, and in potential roles. to perform crucial job functions. That's why we're committed to creating a workforce where all individuals can do their best work. It's when everyone's voice is heard and valued that we're inspired to go beyond what's been done before.

Industry

It services

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Redwood City, CA, US

Year founded

1977

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