TV Maintenance Engineer

Location: On-site - San Francisco

Hourly Rate: $42.18 - $74.64

About the role

The TV Maintenance Engineer role is responsible for the administration and maintenance of KQED’s television infrastructure as well as KQED Event AV technology, server applications, hardware, and software. Duties include service support responsibilities and operations in the TV Engineering department, providing end-user, software, and remote support for KQED staff across multiple departments.

KQED envisions a public media organization with a culture that centers on human dignity, equity, and belonging. This will enable us to better serve and reflect the Bay Area through diverse and inclusive storytelling. We value the contributions of marginalized people in society — including Black, Indigenous, and all people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people — and we believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do. We strongly encourage members of these communities to apply.

This role will work on-site in KQED's newly renovated headquarters. The successful candidate will be required to join National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) Local 51.

Responsibilities

• Maintenance and support of KQED's television transmission, microwave, and program delivery infrastructure, ensuring reliable broadcast service and regulatory compliance.
• Supports KQED TV Operations and Events AV end-user technology.
• Maintains software and hardware inventory and works with support vendors to ensure regular maintenance.
• Primary support responder to technical issues in support of TV Production and TV Post-Production (2110-based systems).
• Primary support responder to technical issues related to KQED Events AV technology (traditional baseband systems) in primary and/or secondary events spaces.
• Uses a complete documentation suite that includes Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, Google Sheets and Google Docs documents, Visio drawings, and AutoCAD drawings.
• Executes support access procedures (phone call vs. email vs. trouble ticket, etc.) for KQED TV Engineering major equipment vendors with a sense of urgency.
• Works closely with IT Support to determine connectivity in and out of the TV Engineering network to the internet and to the main IT network.
• Uses Zoom, Teamviewer, MS Teams, Slack, or other remote tools to observe remote computers, help end-users at KQED, and host support vendors.
• Supports ticketing, tracking, and inventory tools, including Jira Atlassian trouble tickets and Solarwinds Network monitoring.
• Troubleshoots problems with tools including off-air loggers, Streamscope ATSC analyzer, TSReader Pro, and Wireshark.
• Uses Putty, PowerShell, and other command-line tools to access equipment, including network switches.
• Carries out network checks and minor configuration changes independently of the IT department.
• Updates the technical ‘how to’ articles in KQED’s “Confluence” Knowledge-base and any future collaborative or informative staff resources.
• Communicates at an end-user level regarding graphics, camera robotics, virtual sets, studio cameras, NRCS (iNews), ingest, and playout servers for production.
• Works with the TV Production and Digital Post-Production PAM/MAM systems to understand the end-user workflows, as well as interfaces to MOS gateways, video transcode engines, NAS/SAN storage arrays, etc.

Requirements

• 5+ years in a TV Engineering or IT Technical Support role.
• Proven administration knowledge in Windows operating systems.
• Familiarity with the basics of command-line in Linux operating systems, using “Putty” or similar terminal software.
• Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
• Basic networking troubleshooting skills.
• Detail-oriented, thorough, and organized. Understands importance of controlling connections to the internet from Engineering computers.
• Very strong technical aptitude to learn technology quickly and apply learned principles to other situations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and solid analytical skills.
• Ability to interact within groups and capable of leading minor group activities.
• Service-oriented and motivated to provide an exceptional customer experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on knowledge of AES67 audio and SMPTE-2110 video.
• Working knowledge of Avid iNews.
• Working knowledge of MAM, PAM, and other workflow orchestration tools.
• Working knowledge of Cisco and/or Arista switches and routers.
• Working knowledge of OpenDrive, Synology, Avid Nexis, and other high-performance storage platforms.
• Experience with Cisco IOS and the ability to work with VLAN and other settings.
• Ability to create technical workflows in Telestream Vantage as well as other workflow orchestration platforms and appliances.
• Experience with Adobe software applications - particularly Adobe Premiere, Acrobat Reader, and Acrobat DC.
• Proven administration knowledge of Mac OS operating systems.
• An awareness and willingness to follow security guidelines for administrator-level access to servers.

“Events AV” involves four high-end Audio-Visual rooms at KQED, including a theater with Crestron automation, lighting, video switcher, audio mixing, and live streaming.