Senior Backend Software Engineer

Join Chicory, a rapidly evolving adtech company, as a Senior Backend Software Engineer. In this role, you will lead backend architecture and strategic engineering initiatives, drive complex backend projects, and serve as a technical subject-matter expert on programmatic advertising. You will also mentor backend engineers, optimize high-throughput systems, and collaborate cross-functionally to ensure seamless integration of backend solutions. Enjoy comprehensive healthcare benefits, flexible paid time off, and a competitive compensation package.

• Lead backend architecture and strategic engineering initiatives across the programmatic advertising platform, including ad serving, OpenRTB, SSP/DSP integrations, auction systems, and related backend services.
• Independently drive complex backend projects from concept through delivery, balancing scalability, reliability, performance, and maintainability while meeting high technical standards.
• Mentor backend engineers, fostering technical growth and a culture of engineering excellence within the team, and conduct rigorous code reviews to establish and enforce standards of high-quality software development.

• This is a highly visible role for an engineer who enjoys solving ambiguous problems, owning meaningful technical decisions, and raising the bar for the people around them
• Ability to connect engineering decisions to business outcomes such as revenue, ad delivery, reach, and customer needs, and communicate effectively with Product and non-technical stakeholders
• Proven ability to design, build, and operate high-throughput, latency-sensitive distributed systems at scale, with strong instincts for service boundaries, API design, asynchronous processing, and failure modes
• 7+ years of professional backend software engineering experience, including 2+ years working directly on programmatic advertising systems such as SSPs, DSPs, ad exchanges, ad servers, or header bidding solutions
• Hands-on experience with OpenRTB and the mechanics of programmatic auctions, including bid request/response flows, timeouts, floor pricing, and deal types
• Demonstrated ability to independently investigate ambiguous problems across multiple services, identify root causes, and evaluate solution tradeoffs
• Track record of improving system performance and reliability through effective instrumentation, monitoring, load testing, and performance analysis (e.g., reducing latency, error rates, or improving availability)
• Experience leading major technical initiatives from architecture through production delivery, including influencing technical roadmaps and driving cross-team alignment
• Strong mentorship and knowledge-sharing skills, with a history of raising the technical bar of a team through code review, documentation, and architectural guidance
• Experience integrating complex external platforms and partners, with attention to versioning, data inconsistencies, operational dependencies, and graceful degradation
• Applied knowledge of Ad Tech ecosystem concepts including identity and cookie synchronization, audience targeting, measurement, and the end-to-end lifecycle of an ad request