Software Engineer, Ads Platform

NewsBreak

Location

Mountain View, California, United States

Posted

11 days ago

Department

Engineering

What they actually want (must-haves)

5+ years of backend engineering experience building and operating distributed, high-QPS, low-latency production services (Java, Go, C++, or similar)
Strong system design fundamentals: service decomposition, data modeling, caching (e.g., Redis), streaming/messaging (e.g., Kafka), analytical query engines (e.g., ClickHouse, Trino, Spark), and cloud infrastructure (AWS)
Demonstrated end-to-end ownership of a revenue-critical or transaction-critical system, including correctness of money — accounting, idempotency, reconciliation — and production operational responsibility
Comfort with ambiguity and full ownership on a small team: able to go from a business problem to a shipped, measured system without a spec handed down
Strong written communication and cross-functional collaboration; effective working with AI-assisted development workflows

Nice to have

Direct advertising-domain experience — DSP, SSP, ad exchange, or ad server — including OpenRTB, real-time auctions, header bidding, budget pacing, bid shading, and attribution/conversion measurement
Experience integrating with Google Ad Manager / Ad Exchange, Meta or Google ad SDKs, or major mobile exchanges
Experience integrating ML model serving (CTR/CVR prediction, ranking) into an auction under latency constraints
Experience with brand safety, ad fraud, or invalid-traffic detection

What the job really is

The Software Engineer for the Ads Platform at NewsBreak will be responsible for owning and scaling the backend of the advertising platform, including managing the ad serving path and optimizing auction processes. This senior role involves collaborating with various teams to enhance system performance and operational resilience, while also ensuring the integrity of revenue-critical systems and metrics.

Benefits

Annual base pay range of $155,000 — $260,000 USD
Discretionary bonus and options may be available
Overall rewards package designed to attract top talents

Things to weigh

Role involves significant ownership and responsibility on a small team, which may require navigating ambiguity
High-performance expectations with a focus on revenue-critical systems
No specific mention of work-life balance or remote work options

Job score3.2/5

Benefits2/5

Freshness5/5

Career value4/5

Role clarity5/5

Pay transparency0/5

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