Media Software Engineer, Speech (Senior-Staff Levels)

As a Media Software Engineer at Cantina Labs, you'll improve the real-time speech and media systems powering live conversations between people and AI characters. The Media Team builds the infrastructure that enables fast, natural, and truly conversational interaction across iOS, Android, and web. You'll work on low-level media processing pipelines, speech recognition and synthesis integration, and globally distributed WebRTC-based infrastructure supporting real-time voice and video interactions.

What you'll do

• Improve the real-time speech and media systems powering live AI conversations
• Reduce latency and optimize responsiveness across audio streaming and speech pipelines
• Build tools to enable the creation of AI models to support speech processing
• Develop new voice and video capabilities that enable more immersive interactions between users and AI bots
• Improve and extend the custom WebRTC infrastructure across iOS, Android, and web

What you bring

• A BS or MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Excellent communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and drive projects from requirements to completion
• Professional experience with C or C++
• Grounding in computer science fundamentals, including memory management, high-performance data structures, and concurrent or multithreaded systems
• Exposure to system programming concepts, including network protocol design, asynchronous I/O, and distributed system architectures
• Object-oriented development and design skills
• Interest in solving subtle and challenging engineering problems

Nice to have

• Previous experience with WebRTC, streaming protocols, or other media-adjacent technologies
• Familiarity with media processing techniques
• Experience creating backend server infrastructure
• Experience developing software for iOS or Android
• Familiarity with building services using Node.js or Go
• Familiarity with artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, particularly in relation to speech recognition and synthesis

What we offer

• Annual base salary of $180,000-$270,000
• Generous company equity
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with 99.99% of premiums covered by Cantina
• 42 days of paid time off: 15 PTO days, 10 sick days, 15 company holidays, and 2 floating holidays
• Generous parental leave and fertility support
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Lifestyle spending account of $500 per month
• Complimentary lunch and snacks for in-office employees
• One Medical membership

About Cantina Labs

Cantina Labs is a social AI company developing advanced real-time models that power conversational AI characters. The company's flagship platform, Cantina, enables people to tell stories, connect, and create through interaction with diverse and creative AI characters.