Full job description
Seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead design and development of scalable, low-latency buy-side ad tech systems. Requires deep expertise in Golang, real-time bidding, campaign pacing, and optimization algorithms with DSP/performance advertising experience. Responsibilities include architecting high-throughput bidding systems, leading bidder service development, designing campaign pacing and budget management algorithms, owning deal execution and auction systems, building real-time data pipelines, collaborating with ML teams, supporting programmatic protocols, ensuring data quality and compliance, performance tuning, mentoring engineers, and driving technical innovation. Requires 8+ years software engineering experience in ad tech, strong Golang skills, experience with Kafka, Flink, Spark, OpenRTB, VAST, SQL, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure), containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and cross-functional collaboration. Bachelor’s degree in CS/IT or equivalent required. Hybrid work schedule with 3 days in office and 2 remote. Benefits include paid leave, healthcare, commuter benefits, wellness programs, unlimited DTO (US), mobile reimbursement, stocked pantries, and catered lunches.
What you'll do
- Architect, design, and build high-throughput, ultra-low-latency real-time bidding systems for buy-side advertising platforms
- Lead development of bidder services handling millions of QPS with strict latency and reliability SLAs using Golang/C/C++
- Design and implement campaign pacing, budget management, and delivery optimization algorithms across multiple objectives (CPA, ROAS, CTR, CVR)
- Own core systems for deal execution, auction participation, bid shading, and supply path optimization
- Build and evolve real-time and near-real-time data pipelines for impressions, clicks, conversions, and attribution using Kafka, Flink, or Spark
- Collaborate closely with ML engineers to productionize models such as bid optimization, contextual bandits, reach forecasting, and incrementality models
- Integrate and maintain support for programmatic advertising protocols (OpenRTB, VAST, CTV-specific standards)
- Drive architectural decisions around scalability, fault tolerance, data consistency, and latency optimization
- Ensure data quality, governance, privacy, and compliance across the performance advertising stack
- Conduct deep performance profiling, latency tuning, and debugging of distributed systems in production
- Mentor engineers, set coding and design standards, and lead technical reviews across teams
- Evaluate and introduce new technologies, auction strategies, and optimization frameworks to keep the platform competitive
Requirements
- Eight plus years of software engineering experience, with significant depth in ad tech / performance advertising / Building DSP bidder (Buy side)
- Strong hands-on experience with Golang in building low-latency, high-scale backend systems
- Proven experience designing and operating real-time bidding platforms, bidders, or ad serving systems
- Deep understanding of campaign pacing, budget allocation, and performance optimization algorithms
- Experience with streaming and distributed systems (Kafka, Flink, Spark Streaming)
- Strong familiarity with OpenRTB, VAST, and programmatic advertising workflows
- Solid knowledge of SQL, PostgreSQL and large-scale analytics platforms (Snowflake, BigQuery, or similar)
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Strong foundation in data structures, algorithms, and distributed system design
- Experience working cross-functionally with product, data science, analytics, and ML teams
- Demonstrated ability to own systems end-to-end, influence architecture, and deliver at scale
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to drive technical direction and mentor others
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering (CS / IT) or equivalent degree from well-known Institutes / Universities
Tech stack
GolangCC++KafkaFlinkSparkOpenRTBVASTSQLPostgreSQLSnowflakeBigQueryAWSGCPAzureDockerKubernetesGenerative AI toolsGitHub CopilotChatGPTClaudeCursorWindsurf
Benefits
Paid leave programsPaid holidaysHealthcare insuranceDental insuranceVision insuranceDisability insuranceLife insuranceCommuter benefitsPhysical wellness programsFinancial wellness programsUnlimited discretionary time off (DTO) in the USReimbursement for mobileFully stocked pantriesIn-office catered lunches 5 days per week