Staff Software Engineer, Programmatic Ads

Role overview A staff-level backend engineering role on a programmatic advertising team responsible for integrating with external demand partners through OpenRTB and optimizing performance signals such as latency, conversion, fill rate, and engagement. The role carries technical leadership responsibilities, including mentoring engineers and championing AI-augmented engineering workflows. The position is hybrid, requiring in-person collaboration roughly once per month at one of several major US tech hubs.

Responsibilities - Lead one or two external partner integrations, partnering with product managers, data scientists, and external companies to translate business needs into technical designs. - Apply AI tools thoughtfully across system design, execution, and decision-making, with rigorous validation of outputs. - Own the full software development lifecycle from ideation and prototyping through release and iteration. - Drive product iterations using experimentation and A/B testing as core decision inputs. - Uphold a high bar for technical excellence, production quality, and operational reliability. - Mentor junior engineers through design review, code review, and ongoing technical coaching.

Requirements - Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field, or equivalent experience. - 7+ years of hands-on backend engineering experience on large-scale distributed systems. - Background in ad serving, ad exchange, supply-side platforms, or demand-side platforms. - Strong analytical mindset, with demonstrated ability to use data to drive decisions. - Excellent communication and stakeholder alignment skills. - Demonstrated integration of AI into engineering workflows, including metrics on cycle time, defect rate, on-call load, or incident reduction.

Nice to have - Practical experience piloting AI tooling and driving adoption across a team with measurable outcomes. - Comfort owning architectural decisions and influencing engineering culture.

Benefits and work setup - Hybrid in-office requirement: roughly one in-person collaboration day per month. - Must reside within commuting distance of Seattle, San Francisco, Palo Alto, or New York City. - Relocation assistance is not provided. - Equity participation in addition to base salary. - Anticipated US base salary range of $177,185 to $364,795, depending on location and experience. - Equal opportunity employer with accommodations available throughout the hiring process.