The Human Infrastructure: How Netflix Built the Operations Layer Behind Live at Scale By: Brett Axler, Casper Choffat, and Alo Lowry In the three years since our first Live show, Chris Rock …

The Netflix Tech Blog provides insights into the engineering practices, architecture, and innovations behind the Netflix streaming platform. Developers can learn about Netflix's microservices architecture, data infrastructure, and machine learning algorithms, as well as explore topics such as video encoding, content delivery, and personalization algorithms used in the Netflix service.

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Netflix's live streaming operations grew from engineers manually running one show per month in 2023 to a dedicated operations organization handling 70+ events per month by early 2026. The post details the evolution through four operational phases: an all-hands engineering era, introduction of specialized Streaming Operations Engineers (SOEs) and Broadcast Operations Engineers (BOEs), a co-pilot control room model, and finally a Transmission Operations Center (TOC) fleet model enabling up to 10 concurrent events. The Live Command Center (LCC) provides end-to-end visibility across the entire pipeline, ingesting up to 38 million telemetry events per second. A tiered event classification system (Low-Profile, High-Profile, Big Bet) and a Live Operational Level (LOL) model determine staffing and standby requirements. Key lessons include the importance of standardized runbooks, separating planning from operations roles, a vendor-operator model for elastic workforce scaling, and integrated IP-based communications between the BOC and LCC. Netflix is now expanding internationally with a London Live Operations Center and planning to merge the LCC and BOC into a single facility.