AdTechTalent
Engineering26 days agoRemote

Sovrn

Principal Software Engineer

javakafkaawsdatabricksdatadogonnxadtechprogrammaticopenRTBLLMAImachine learningdistributed systemsbackendsoftware engineeringauctionbid requesttraffic shapingagentic workflowsprompt engineering

Key details

Salary

Not specified

Employment type

Full-time

Seniority

Senior

Years experience

10+

Location

Boulder, Colorado, United States; New York City, New York, United States; Remote, United States

Full job description

Sovrn is seeking a Principal Software Engineer with 10+ years of backend software engineering experience and 5+ years in adtech infrastructure (SSP, DSP, exchange, or ad server). The role focuses on backend systems powering the ad exchange including bid request processing, traffic shaping, data pipelines, and auction logic. The candidate will lead architectural decisions and champion AI engineering practices such as prompt engineering, RAG, agentic workflows, and LLM evaluation. Experience with high throughput, low latency systems at exchange scale is required. The engineer will identify AI applications in adtech like traffic scoring, bid shading, yield optimization, anomaly detection, and automated decisioning. Responsibilities include setting standards for AI system operation, driving technical standards, partnering with product and data science teams, and mentoring engineers. Technologies used include Java, Kafka (Redpanda), AWS, Databricks, Datadog, and ONNX. The position is hybrid with offices in Boulder, Colorado and New York City, New York, with remote options in select states. Salary range is $200,000 to $240,000 annually plus bonus, equity, and benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, paid holidays, flexible vacation, commuter benefits, 401(k) with match, and paid parental leave.

What you'll do

  • Own design and evolution of backend systems operating at exchange scale with high throughput and low latency
  • Lead architectural decisions across auction infrastructure, bid processing, traffic shaping, and supply-side integrations
  • Establish and champion AI engineering practices including prompt engineering, RAG patterns, agentic workflow design, and LLM evaluation
  • Identify high-leverage AI applications in adtech stack such as traffic scoring, bid shading, yield optimization, anomaly detection, automated decisioning
  • Set standards for evaluating, trusting, and operating AI-powered systems in production including observability, fallback behavior, and model governance
  • Drive technical standards, design reviews, and engineering best practices across senior team
  • Partner with product, data science, and platform teams to ship end-to-end
  • Help broader engineering team build fluency and confidence with AI tooling
  • Mentor and level up engineers through code review, design collaboration, and hands-on guidance

Requirements

  • 10+ years of software engineering experience with strong backend track record
  • 5+ years working specifically in adtech infrastructure (SSP, DSP, exchange, or ad server environments)
  • Deep fluency in programmatic ecosystem: OpenRTB, bid request/response flows, auction mechanics, supply path optimization
  • Experience building and operating systems at exchange scale with high QPS, strict latency budgets, fault tolerance
  • Demonstrated experience leading AI or agentic engineering efforts in production environments
  • Hands-on experience with LLM integration patterns including RAG, tool use, multi-step agentic workflows, prompt engineering, evaluation frameworks
  • Strong distributed systems fundamentals: messaging, caching, service architecture, observability
  • Comfort driving technical decisions in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
  • Ability to evaluate where AI is and isn't the right tool and make credible cases

Tech stack

JavaKafkaRedpandaAWSDatabricksDatadogONNXLLMRAGagentic workflowsprompt engineering

Benefits

Competitive salariesStock optionsMedical, dental, and vision coverageShort and long-term disabilityLife insurance11 paid holidaysFlexible vacationCommuter benefits401(k) plan and matchPaid parental leave programBonus and equity

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