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Job Title: Technical Architect (OTT & Media Streaming) Department: Product, Tech & Data Division : BritBox Work pattern: Hybrid Location: London, UK Reports to: Lead Architect Contract: 12 month FTC About Us Welcome to BritBox, the ultimate streaming destination for British TV. We bring you an unparalleled collection of thoughtfully curated entertainment, cleverly crafted and brimming with the kind of charm, wit and heart only the Brits could deliver. Born from the BBC, were on a mission to share authentically British stories with audiences across the world. Since our launch in 2017, we''ve quickly expanded to seven markets including North America, Australia, and the Nordics. We are a small but mighty streamer that punches above our weight, available on every major platform and even shining among the bright lights of Times Squareand were just getting started Now, heres where you come in: if youre passionate about entertainment, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and want to play a meaningful role in our remarkable growth story, this is your chance. Join our team and help us bring the best of British TV to fans everywhere. Job Purpose We are seeking a highly skilled Technical Architect with a strong background in AWS and in-depth knowledge of OTT (Over-The-Top) media streaming, video formats, and content delivery. This role reports to the Lead Architect, working under their guidance but also exercising autonomy in designing and implementing technical solutions. You will also collaborate closely with other Technical Architects to ensure cohesive and efficient solutions. While this role does not involve active coding, prior experience working as a developer particularly with modern stacks like .NET or Node.jsis highly desirable to enable effective collaboration with development teams and maintain a solid grasp of technical feasibility. Responsibilities: Architectural Leadership: Work with the Lead Architect to translate business objectives into high-level architectural designs for OTT and media streaming solutions. This involves drafting blueprints for system components, defining data flows, and ensuring alignment with organizational goals. Technical Feasibility: Evaluate the feasibility of proposed solutions by conducting impact analyses, considering performance constraints, and anticipating future scalability needs. Engage with the development team to confirm that architectural decisions are implementable within project timelines. Integration & Interoperability: Define standards and guidelines for integrating both third-party services (e.g., DRM providers, CDNs) and in-house tools. Ensure interoperability within a broader microservices or service-oriented ecosystem. Vendor & Technology Evaluation: Stay informed on emerging technologies and tools in the streaming and cloud domains. Conduct proof-of-concept evaluations, comparing solutions on parameters like cost, reliability, performance, and ease of integration. Vendor Collaboration & Oversight: Work closely with external vendors to evaluate and assess proposed technical solutions. Critically review vendor estimations, ensuring they meet technical requirements and are cost-effective. Provide regular feedback and instructions to maintain alignment with internal architectural standards, and own the ongoing technical relationship with all vendors. Autonomy & Collaboration: While receiving high-level directives from the Lead Architect, take ownership of solution design details. Regularly liaise with other Technical Architects to align on shared objectives and maintain a unified architectural vision. Governance & Compliance: Incorporate security, compliance, and governance considerations into every architectural decisionespecially important in OTT environments handling user data and copyrighted materials. Documentation & Knowledge Sharing: Write and maintain comprehensive documentation of technical solutions, including architectural diagrams, design rationales, and implementation guidelines. Ensure these materials are accessible and understandable to both technical and non-technical Knowledge and Experience AWS Cloud Expertise AWS Services: In-depth understanding of AWS core services such as EC2, S3, CloudFront, and AWS Media Services (MediaPackage, MediaConvert, etc.). Infrastructure Design: Ability to architect solutions for high availability, disaster recovery, and cost-effectiveness. IaC (Infrastructure as Code): Familiarity with Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or equivalent tools for provisioning and managing cloud resources. AWS Best Practices: Knowledge of AWS Well-Architected Framework, including operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization. OTT & Media Streaming Streaming Protocols: Proficiency in HLS, MPEG-DASH, CMAF, Smooth Streaming, and other adaptive bitrate protocols. Video Codecs & Formats: Understanding of codecs like H.264, H.265, AV1, and container formats such as MP4, MKV, CMAF. Content Protection: Experience implementing DRM (e.g., Widevine, PlayReady, FairPlay), watermarking, and other content protection measures. End-to-End Workflow: Familiarity with the full media pipelinefrom ingestion and transcoding topackaging and distribution. Performance & Scalability Load Handling: Expertise in designing systems that can handle high volumes of concurrent streaming requests with minimal buffering or downtime. Caching & CDNs: Strategic use of CloudFront or other CDNs to reduce latency and optimize user experience. Monitoring & Optimization: Implementing performance monitoring using tools like AWS CloudWatch, Datadog, or New Relic to proactively address bottlenecks. Security & Compliance Secure Architecture: Understanding of IAM, VPCs, and network segmentation to minimize vulnerabilities. Regulatory Knowledge: Familiarity with GDPR, PCI-DSS, and other relevant regulations impacting OTT sevices. Encryption & DRM: Competence in encryption at rest and in transit, as well as robust access control policies to safeguard content and user data. Cross-Functional Collaboration Stakeholder Communication: Ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non technical stakeholders, including product managers and executives. Team Guidance & Mentorship: Provide advice on coding standards and frameworks (e.g., .NET, Node.js) to development teamsthough direct coding is not the primary responsibility. Project Coordination: Collaborate with QA, DevOps, and other architects to plan releases, manage dependencies, and ensure timely delivery of high-quality solutions. Research & Innovation Emerging Trends: Keep abreast of new streaming protocols, compression algorithms, and AWS service enhancements. Proof-of-Concepts: Lead or participate in POCs to test and validate cutting-edge technologies. Continuous Improvement: Suggest architectural and workflow improvements to enhance performance, resilience, or reduce costs. Our BritBox Global Values not only represent our culture but also ensure that we have principles that shape everything we do. Defined by our employees, they are not just words on a page, but the foundation of how we work together, every day. People first Ready for anything Big on brilliance Creative & curious We open up Our values have been cascaded into specific behaviours, which are embedded into all of our people processes, including hiring, onboarding, performance evaluation and feedback. We are proud of our values and seek to hire people who resonate with them. This job spec is not exhaustive and may change from time to time in line with the evolving nature of a dynamic and growing business.