Principal Engineer

Principal Engineer, Steaming Ad Server

New York City, NY

Los Angeles, CA

Broomfield, CO

Hybrid Schedule (M/F remote, T/W/TH in-office)

At Magnite, we cultivate an environment of continuous growth and collaboration. Our work impacts what millions of people read, watch, and buy, and we're looking for people to help us tackle that responsibility with creativity and focus. Magnite (NASDAQ: MGNI) is the world's largest independent sell-side advertising platform. Publishers use our technology to monetize their content across all screens and formats including CTV / streaming, online video, display, and audio. Our tech fuels billions of transactions per day!

We are seeking a Staff/Principal Engineer to join our team, focusing on building, scaling, and modernizing our high-performance ad server. This role involves designing and implementing scalable, low-latency solutions to handle millions of queries per second (QPS), modernizing legacy systems, and building new features to support our product roadmap and quarterly commitments.

You will work on various aspects of ad serving, leveraging cutting-edge AWS infrastructure and frameworks such as Vert.x and Spring Boot. You will also utilize relational databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL alongside Aerospike, a highly scalable and reliable NoSQL solution. By integrating tools like Datadog and Grafana, you'll develop robust, scalable, and observable solutions to meet the evolving demands of ad tech.

Why Join Us?

• Work on cutting-edge ad tech platforms handling millions of QPS with low latency.

• Contribute to the design and delivery of impactful features supporting product roadmap and business goals.

• Play a key role in modernizing legacy systems and introducing state-of-the-art tools and frameworks like Vert.x, SpringBoot, Aerospike, etc

• Collaborate with a world-class engineering team and shape the future of advertising technology.

• Access to the latest tools and technologies in a fast-paced and innovative environment.

• Competitive compensation and benefits package.

If you are passionate about building scalable systems, designing impactful features, and modernizing platforms, we encourage you to apply!

In this role you will:

• Design and Architect:

  • Develop scalable, low-latency solutions to support ad-serving operations, ensuring sub-millisecond response times.

  • Architect and optimize multithreaded, non-blocking systems using frameworks such as Vert.x.

• Feature Development:

  • Collaborate with product teams to understand requirements, design technical solutions, and deliver high-quality features to support business goals.

  • Ensure that new features are robust, scalable, and aligned with system architecture principles.

• Modernization and Developer Experience:

  • Lead the modernization of legacy Java/Tomcat systems, implementing best practices, upgrading frameworks, and adopting modern technologies.

  • Improve developer experience by integrating tools such as SonarQube, CI/CD pipelines, and testing frameworks.

  • Drive the adoption of containerized and orchestrated deployments using Docker, ECS and Kubernetes (EKS).

• Monitoring and Observability:

  • Design and implement robust monitoring and observability systems using AWS-native tools (CloudWatch, etc) and third-party tools (Datadog, Grafana).

  • Establish real-time alerting, logging, and distributed tracing systems to ensure platform health and reliability.

• Cloud Infrastructure and Data Management:

  • Leverage AWS infrastructure (ECS, EKS, S3, RDS) to build and optimize services.

  • Architect and implement scalable storage and caching solutions using Aerospike, Memcached, Redis, etc.

• Technical Leadership:

  • Mentor and guide engineers, providing technical leadership and fostering a culture of engineering excellence.

  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to prioritize features, address technical debt, and improve system reliability.

• Ad Tech Expertise:

  • Address domain-specific challenges such as Real-Time Bidding (RTB), ad delivery, reporting, and data pipeline optimization.

We're looking for someone with:

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering with a focus on distributed systems, feature development, and system modernization.

• Hands-on experience with ECS, Kubernetes (EKS), Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform), and advanced observability tools.

• Technical Expertise:

  • Strong expertise in multithreaded programming and non-blocking frameworks like Vert.x.

  • Proficiency in Java (modern frameworks such as Spring Boot are a plus).

  • Experienced in designing and optimizing distributed systems for high throughput, low latency, and high availability and reliability.

  • Hands-on experience with caching (Memcached, Redis, etc) and databases (Aerospike, MySQL, Postgres, etc).

• Feature Development:

  • Proven experience in designing and delivering new features and modules aligned with product requirements and timelines.

  • Ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions with scalability and reliability in mind.

• Monitoring and Observability:

  • Experience with monitoring tools such as Datadog, Grafana, Prometheus, and AWS-native solutions like CloudWatch.

  • Strong knowledge of logging and distributed tracing tools (e.g. OpenTelemetry, etc).

• Developer Experience Tools:

  • Familiarity with developer productivity tools such as SonarQube, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, and infrastructure-as-code solutions.

• Leadership and Collaboration:

  • Proven ability to lead technical projects and mentor engineering teams.

  • Strong collaboration skills to work with product, engineering managers, and stakeholders.

Our current tech stack:

• Ad Tech Experience:

  • Knowledge of Real-Time Bidding (RTB), SSPs, DSPs, and ad delivery systems is a strong plus.

  • Familiarity with the challenges and solutions in the Ad Tech ecosystem, such as latency optimization and reporting pipelines.

  • Strong knowledge of AWS infrastructure (ECS, EKS, Lambda, CloudWatch, S3).

Total Rewards Include

Comprehensive Perks and Benefits:

• Comprehensive Healthcare Coverage for You and Your Family from Day One

• Generous Time Off

• Holiday Breaks and Quarterly Wellness Days

• Equity and Employee Stock Purchase Plan

• Family-Focused Benefits and Parental Leave

• 401k Retirement Savings Plan with Employer Match

• Disability and Life Insurance

• Cell Phone Subsidy

• Fitness and Wellness Reimbursement

Company Culture:

We believe collaboration is essential to success. Magnite's hybrid schedule includes two days worked remotely (Monday and Friday) and three days on-site (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). Our offices provide catered lunches, beverages, snacks, training and development, and office events to support your work week. We also understand you have appointments, families, hobbies, and other commitments. Magnite strives to maintain a healthy work/life integration for all employees so you can bring your best every day - both at work and at home.

• Community Service and Volunteer Events

• Company-Matched Charitable Contributions

• Wellness Coach and Mental Health Support

Magnite Invests in You:

• Career Development Initiatives and a Career Growth Framework

• Culture and Inclusion Programs

• Bonusly Peer-to-Peer Recognition Program

Starting salary will vary by location, qualifications, and prior experience; during the interview process, candidates will learn the starting salary range applicable for their location.

Only candidates in the following states will be eligible for employment: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, MA, MI, MT, NE, NJ, NY, NC, OK, OR, PA, SC, TX, UT, VA, WA.

In Colorado, the base salary range for this position is: $151,000 - 161,000 in addition to an annual variable bonus based on performance and company equity (NASDAQ: MGNI).

In New York, the base salary range for this position is: $187,000 - 197,000 in addition to an annual variable bonus based on performance and company equity (NASDAQ: MGNI).

In California, the base salary range for this position is: $169,000 - 179,000 in addition to an annual variable bonus based on performance and company equity (NASDAQ: MGNI).

For Los Angeles-based applicants:

Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

The material job duties of this specific job position for which Magnite reasonably believes that a criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship include:

• Having access to the Company's Confidential Information or trade secrets including data related to customers, clients, vendors, business partners, or suppliers

• Work with cross teams to access datasets, databases, formulas, algorithms, tools, products, prototypes, systems applications, and technologies in any stage of development

Magnite is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants due to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other federal, state or local protected class.

Our DEI Commitment: To establish Magnite as a thought leader by diversifying voices within Magnite, cultivating a culture in which employees feel safe as their authentic selves, and by investing in strategies to support Magnite's local communities.

Want to learn more about us?

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