Staff Software Engineer, AI/ML

Staff Software Engineer

COMPANY DESCRIPTION: VERSANT, Comcast Corporation's planned spin-off, will be a leading independent publicly traded media company comprised of most of NBCUniversal's cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine. The well-capitalized company will have significant scale as a pure-play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content. The spin-off is expected to be completed during 2025, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions.

BUSINESS OVERVIEW: At VERSANT Media's Sports & Entertainment Digital Products division, we're driven by a shared mission: to innovate, create unforgettable experiences, and connect with fans through the power of technology. Our diverse portfolio brings together industry-leading platforms that serve millions of users across the sports and entertainment landscape. In sports, we empower over 30 million players, coaches, administrators, and fans in 40 countries through more than 25 digital products. These include SportsEngine, the largest youth sports club, league, and team management platform; SportsEngine Play, the first-ever streaming service dedicated to youth and amateur sports; GolfNow, the top online tee time marketplace and golf course operations technology provider; and GolfPass, the ultimate golf membership that delivers exclusive content, tee time benefits, expert instruction, and more. In entertainment, we reach over 50 million movie and TV fans through our trusted digital brands. Our platforms support every stage of the fan journey – from discovering content to enjoying it on the big screen or at home. Our portfolio includes Fandango, the nation's leading online movie ticketing service, partnering with more than 31,000 U.S. movie screens; Rotten Tomatoes, the iconic destination for movie and TV reviews; and Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu), our on-demand streaming service offering more than 250,000 titles, including new releases, next-day TV, and the largest selection of 4K UHD content in the industry. Together, we're shaping the future of how people experience the sports they play and the stories they love.

About The Role

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to serve as the technical anchor of our internal innovation team. This role combines deep technical expertise with leadership across architecture, product thinking, and stakeholder engagement. You'll guide a cross-disciplinary team, mentor engineers across levels, and partner closely with Engineering Leadership and business stakeholders to turn high-level opportunities into working platforms. The role is hands-on but also highly influential: you'll ensure technical excellence while balancing speed with rigor—shipping solutions quickly while laying down patterns that can scale if adopted long-term. You'll also help define how projects are structured, built, and transitioned for production support, ensuring solutions deliver both immediate impact and lasting value.

What You'll Do

As a Staff Software Engineer on our team, you will:

• Catalyst for Innovation – Lead the design and development of platforms that solve high-impact problems where no off-the-shelf solution exists.
• Architect & Builder – Translate ambiguous business needs into clear technical direction, delivering production-grade systems from prototype to platform.
• Scale with Confidence – Design systems that can evolve rapidly while maintaining reliability, scalability, and long-term maintainability.
• Mentor & Elevate – Guide engineers across levels, setting standards for engineering excellence and fostering a culture of technical depth.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration – Partner with product, design, AI/ML, and business stakeholders to define scope, clarify tradeoffs, and ensure success.
• From Zero to Platform – Rapid prototyping and driving projects from concept to delivery, ensuring ongoing ownership of the platforms.
• Operational Excellence – Embed best practices in CI/CD, observability, and security from the start, ensuring production-readiness and support.

What We're Looking For

We are looking for someone with:

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with 2–3 years at Staff/Principal level or equivalent.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, APIs, or full-stack platform development.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native environments (containers, serverless, CI/CD pipelines).
• Familiarity with AI/ML systems (LLMs, RAG, applied ML).
• Ability to lead technical direction while remaining hands-on.
• Strong communicator, able to explain tradeoffs to executives and mentor engineers.
• Comfortable working in ambiguous, high-autonomy environments.
• Track record of delivering complex solutions that align technical strategy with business needs.

Bonus points for:

• Experience with other large entertainment focused platforms, centered around being consumer-facing at a large scale.
• Familiarity and hands-on exposure with MCP Servers and highly accessible and available API platforms.
• Knowledge of microservices and event-driven architectures at enterprise scale.
• Cloud-native, global scaling experience (AWS and their various tool offerings).
• Understanding of the mindset of "Fail Fast, Learn Fast" and continuous improvement.

Fully Remote: This role has been designated as fully remote, meaning it is expected to be performed from a non-Versant worksite, typically an employee's residence. Occasional travel is required and can range from within the country (typical, various times of the year) to global (not typical but still possible).

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access nbcunicareers.com as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by emailing AccessibilitySupport@nbcuni.com. Although you'll be hired as an NBCU employee, your employment and the responsibilities associated with this job likely will transition to Versant in the future. For LA County and City Residents Only: NBCUniversal will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, or arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with relevant legal requirements, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative For Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, where applicable.