Research Scientist, Video Quality (L4)

Netflix is one of the world’s leading entertainment services with 278 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can play, pause and resume watching as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, and can change their plans at any time.

The Role

The Challenge:
At Netflix, we are passionate about delivering the best quality of experience to our members. We strive to optimize streaming playback quality when you are home watching Our Planet on the latest 4K HDR TV, or viewing an unscripted live event over a cellular network while commuting to work. Meanwhile, we have started streaming cloud games where we invest in optimizing gameplay quality of experience. We are looking for a Research Scientist in Video Quality to help us address these diverse challenges and drive leading research in the field.

As a Research Scientist in Video Quality, you will:

• Lead research on next-generation video quality metrics and collaborate with academic research groups.

• Conduct subjective experiments to understand the diverse components that impact member video quality including HDR video or the presence of film grain, among others.

• Develop algorithm prototypes for objective video quality assessment and thoroughly evaluate their performance on various benchmarks.

•  Collaborate with software engineers and other scientists in the team to help bring research innovation to the product.

• Understand the role of video quality in the Netflix streaming ecosystem and jointly work with cross-functional teams to optimize member QoE and Netflix benefit overall.
   

About You:

You are a self-driven Research Scientist who thrives in a fast-paced environment. You proactively address needs of the team and collaborate well with cross-functional teams. You have excellent research skills and a strong background in human visual perception and signal processing. You constantly strive to improve yourself and the team, and are excited about delivering impact to hundreds of millions of Netflix members worldwide.

Minimum qualifications:

• 3+ years of research experience (either in industry or academia) in perceptual video quality, with a successful track record in research (e.g. publications, standardization, or productization of algorithms).

• MS in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science or equivalent. PhD preferred.

• Shown proficiency in Python and object-oriented programming.

• Strong background in image & video processing, human visual perception, subjective testing methods and objective quality metrics, e.g., SSIM and VMAF.

• Experience conducting subjective experiments and/or developing perceptual quality metrics.
   

Bonus points:

• Knowledge of video compression principles and adaptive streaming techniques.

• Experience with multimedia frameworks such as FFmpeg.

• Experience with machine learning techniques applied to video quality assessment.

• Experience with crowdsourcing techniques and large-scale subjective testing.

To learn more about our team, check out the following articles:

Our compensation structure consists solely of an annual salary; we do not have bonuses. You choose each year how much of your compensation you want in salary versus stock options. To determine your personal top of market compensation, we rely on market indicators and consider your specific job family, background, skills, and experience to determine your compensation in the market range. The range for this role is  $170,000 - $720,000

Netflix provides comprehensive benefits including Health Plans, Mental Health support, a 401(k) Retirement Plan with employer match, Stock Option Program, Disability Programs, Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts, Family-forming benefits, and Life and Serious Injury Benefits. We also offer paid leave of absence programs.  Full-time hourly employees accrue 35 days annually for paid time off to be used for vacation, holidays, and sick paid time off. Full-time salaried employees are immediately entitled to flexible time off. See more detail about our Benefits .

Netflix is a unique culture and environment.  Learn more .

 

We are an equal-opportunity employer and celebrate diversity, recognizing that diversity of thought and background builds stronger teams. We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Job is open for no less than 7 days and will be removed when the position is filled.