Summary
✨ AI‑Generated
Take technical ownership of backend architecture for a demanding real-time platform operating dozens of services and processing millions of users' data daily under millisecond latency constraints. You will work on ad serving, real-time bidding protocols, exchange integrations, auction systems, identity flows and large-scale distributed services.
Highlights
Lead backend architecture for a high-scale real-time platform handling millions of data records daily with millisecond-level latency requirements. The role offers significant technical ownership across distributed services, real-time systems, integrations and large-scale traffic growth.
Description
Most backend roles that say "scale" mean a CRUD app with a lot of users.
This one means a real-time bidding platform — 45 services, millions of people's data flowing through it daily, and latency budgets measured in milliseconds.
If you've worked on an SSP, a DSP, an exchange or an ad server, you already know why that's a different job.
The company
Our client is an established AdTech company in the content-to-commerce space, connecting brands and retailers with shoppers at the moment they're deciding what to buy.
Their platform runs across a large publisher network and integrates directly with dozens of major retailers.
They're expanding hard right now — more retail media partnerships, more publisher integrations, and a stated plan to double and triple the traffic moving through the platform.
What you'll do
Lead backend architecture across the programmatic advertising platform — ad serving, OpenRTB, SSP/DSP integrations, auction systems, identity and signal flowsDrive the ongoing migration of high-traffic services from Python to GoDesign, build and troubleshoot integrations with SSPs, DSPs and exchangesOptimise high-throughput, latency-sensitive auction and ad-serving workflowsOwn complex projects from concept through productionMentor backend engineers and set the standard in code review
What they're looking for
7+ years of backend engineering, at the top of the senior band2+ years working directly on programmatic advertising systems — SSP, DSP, ad exchange, ad server or header biddingProduction Go and production PythonReal-time bidding depth: OpenRTB, bid request/response flows, timeouts, floor pricing, deal typesDistributed systems built for high throughput and low latency, with real instincts for service boundaries, API design and failure modesDocker, Kubernetes, microservice architectureCloud development — they run on GCP, but any major cloud is fine
How the team works
This is the core team for the ad platform, and it's small enough that the work is genuinely yours.
They care about people who dig past the symptom to the root cause, who can hold a strong opinion and still change their mind when the evidence moves, and who'd rather ship and learn than wait for perfect clarity.
Deadlines are internal, not client-driven.
The work is niche and it is meant to be challenging.
Why join
Remote or hybrid in NYC if you'd rather have a desk.
Go, Python, GCP, Kubernetes.
$160,000–$180,000 + equity.
You'd own a real programmatic stack end-to-end — you can trace a single ad opportunity from request to auction to render, across their systems and their partners', and you're expected to.
The Python-to-Go migration is live and consequential.
The business is expanding into retail media, so the platform work has a direct line to revenue.
Benefits
Comprehensive health, dental and vision.
Flexible PTO.
14 paid holidays plus flexibility for any others you observe.
Annual learning and development stipend.
401k.
FSA/HSA.
Commuter benefits.
Dog-friendly NYC office and much more
