About The Company
WinZO, launched in 2018, is India's largest interactive entertainment platform, serving over 250 million users across India, the United States, and Brazil. The platform offers more than 100 social and esports games, along with short-form microdramas and audio stories through ZO Play, available in 15 languages. WinZO empowers a community of over 75,000 creators from Tier II-V towns, pioneering the global export of Made in India content. Backed by prominent investors such as Griffin Gaming Partners, Courtside Ventures, and Makers Fund, WinZO has successfully raised USD 100 million to fuel its growth and innovation. The company also champions Gaming for Good initiatives, including Play to Prevent Cancer in partnership with Tata Memorial Hospital.WinZO is at the forefront of pioneering transmedia storytelling in India. Transmedia refers to the practice of telling a single story across multiple media platforms, such as comics, movies, television, books, and video games, creating an interconnected universe. Inspired by successful models like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, WinZO aims to build a similar experience tailored for India's diverse and culturally rich audience. Through its innovative use of games and microdramas, the company is working to popularize transmedia narratives in India, making entertainment more engaging, accessible, and culturally relevant.The core values of WinZO include integrity, excellence, perseverance, fine judgment, and agility. These principles guide the company's mission to deliver high-quality entertainment experiences while fostering a vibrant, inclusive community.
About The Role
As a key member of the Android Development team at WinZO, you will take ownership of the video playback experience within our Android application. Your primary responsibility will be to ensure that video playback is instant, smooth, and reliable across all devices and network conditions. Working directly with Jetpack Media3 (formerly ExoPlayer), you will build, customize, and optimize a high-performance video player capable of handling the demands of a fast-paced, short-video feed environment.This role requires proactive initiative, ownership of multiple projects, and effective collaboration with stakeholders. You will be instrumental in delivering a seamless viewing experience that keeps users engaged and satisfied, contributing significantly to the platform's overall user experience and retention.In this dynamic environment, your innovative approach and technical expertise will help shape the future of video streaming within WinZO's ecosystem, making a tangible impact on millions of users worldwide.
Qualifications
- Minimum of 4+ years of professional Android development experience, with Kotlin as a primary language.
- Deep, hands-on expertise with Media3 / ExoPlayer, including architecture, customization, and performance tuning.
- Proven experience in developing or optimizing video streaming applications such as OTT, short-form videos, or video-on-demand platforms.
- Strong understanding of video streaming protocols including HLS and DASH.
- Experience with media caching strategies and related libraries.
- Solid knowledge of Android's component lifecycle, concurrency, and performance profiling tools such as Android Profiler.
- Experience building complex, feed-based UIs using RecyclerView or Jetpack Compose.
- Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to debug complex issues across app, network, and media layers.
- Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain the core video playback experience using Jetpack Media3, ensuring high performance and reliability.
- Optimize playback speed by minimizing startup latency and eliminating buffering issues through advanced preloading, pre-fetching, and caching strategies.
- Implement adaptive streaming techniques (HLS/DASH) to deliver the best quality based on network conditions such as 4G, 5G, or public Wi-Fi.
- Create and customize reusable PlayerView components or Jetpack Compose equivalents that integrate seamlessly with the app's UI, handling gestures, autoplay, and UI transitions.
- Develop comprehensive error handling and retry mechanisms to recover gracefully from playback failures.
- Integrate analytics to monitor key metrics like buffering rates, startup times, error codes, and user engagement to inform ongoing improvements.
- Ensure proper lifecycle management of the media player to prevent memory leaks, manage audio focus, and optimize battery and data consumption.
- Collaborate closely with backend and media pipeline teams to define video encoding profiles, compression standards, and CDN strategies.
- Take ownership of projects from conception to deployment, managing multiple priorities effectively in a fast-paced environment.
Benefits
- Work in a transparent, flat organizational culture that fosters high learning and growth opportunities.
- Enjoy a vibrant and informal workspace that promotes creativity and collaboration.
- Engage in solving challenging problems with ample scope for innovation and impactful contributions.
- Gain complete ownership of products, with opportunities to conceptualize and implement your ideas.
- Collaborate with talented peers across departments and be part of a revolutionary tech-driven company.
- Early career opportunities to make a significant impact in the entertainment and technology space.
- Access to continuous learning and development programs to enhance your skills.
- Competitive compensation packages and benefits aligned with industry standards.
Equal Opportunity
WinZO is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion
