Lead Engineer, Ads

About SmartNews

At SmartNews, we are building the future of news — a future where delivering quality information enriches and informs. Thanks to our unique machine learning technology and relationships with more than 3,000 global publisher partners, we provide news that matters to millions of users.

Founded in 2012 in Tokyo, SmartNews also has offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco, New York, and Singapore. If you share our vision and are passionate about our mission, we encourage you to apply!

The Team

The Ads Engineering team plays a pivotal role in powering the ads business, ensuring sustained durability for the company to fulfill its mission. We are seeking talented individuals to enhance this state-of-the-art system, working as key technical leaders within the cross-functional Ads Infrastructure, Machine Learning, and Customer Experience teams. We are looking for a standout individual contributor to help propel our advertising performance to new heights.

Role & Responsibilities

As a Lead Engineer in the SmartNews Ads Engineering team, you will lead technology vision and development for the leading news discovery app. You will partner with engineering leaders across SmartNews, to drive the core technical agenda for the organization. You will build advertising platforms and products that impact the experience of over 50 Million users who downloaded the app and many advertising customers around the world.

The successful candidate will be a strong thought leader in the technology space, with the ability to build and execute at scale, inspiring and guiding a large team of engineers solving big problems.

SmartNews ads is a fast growing scaled platform. Some of the things that the team works on:

• Ad Serving, Measurement and Attribution, Audience and Targeting, Marketplace, etc.
• Full funnel advertising objectives covering Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion consisting of products like Premium Ads, Standard Ads (in Channel View and Article View), Dynamic Ads, Video/Image/Text/Carousel Ads, etc.
• Demand Platforms and Experiences including Campaign Manager, Reporting Platform, and API Partner Ecosystem.
• Machine Learning components including Prediction, Generative AI, and Big Data.
• Programmatic Ads for off-site demand integration

What you'll be doing

• Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the advertising industry and emerging trends, providing domain expertise to the team.
• Contribute to defining both business and technical strategies while driving cross-functional alignment.
• Lead cross-team and cross-functional discussions, ensuring consensus on product and technology strategies.
• Develop and implement scalable systems and applications that enable the organization to achieve its objectives.
• Elevate craftsmanship at SmartNews by establishing best practices, setting high standards for quality and efficiency in software systems, and ensuring a balance between business impact, operational efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in design and architecture.
• Foster a culture that values diverse perspectives while navigating complex decision-making.

Requirements

Minimum qualifications

• 8+ years of software development experience
• 4+ years experience in large distributed systems
• Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the advertising industry and emerging trends, providing domain expertise to the team.
• B.A./B.S. degree in Computer Science or related field
• Eligible to work in the US

Nice to have experience

• Master's degree or higher in Computer Science or a related field.
• Proven experience in the advertising industry.
• Strong technical leadership experience, with a track record of guiding and mentoring top engineering and operations talent.
• Strong communication skills.
• Visionary mindset: Dream big and make bold moves to define and build the next generation of advertising platforms, inspiring others to do the same.

Benefits

Compensation and Benefits

• Compensation range: $238,000 to $356,000 base salary, plus bonus and equity
• 401(k) with employer matching
• Up to 100% medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family
• A benefits plan with monthly allowances
• Complimentary lunch, snacks, and beverages in the office