Principal Software Engineer, Ads Format, Level 7

Snap Snap · Consumer · Palo Alto, CA +6

Principal Software Engineer role focused on designing and implementing automated systems for ad format serving, optimization, and A/B testing to maximize user engagement and advertiser ROI. The role involves leading the vision and strategy for ad formats infrastructure, innovating new ad format ideas, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. It requires deep expertise in building and scaling ad formats or similar user-facing content delivery systems, with a strong emphasis on operational excellence and mentorship.

What you'd actually do

  1. Design and implement highly automated systems for ad format serving, optimization, and A/B testing to maximize user engagement and advertiser ROI.
  2. Lead the vision and strategy for our next-generation ad formats infrastructure, focusing on scalability, performance, and advertiser value.
  3. Innovate and conceptualize new ad format ideas, leveraging market trends, user behavior, and advertiser needs.
  4. Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including product management, design, data science, and other engineering teams, to deliver cohesive and impactful solutions.
  5. Advocate for and apply best practices when it comes to availability, scalability, operational excellence, and cost management

Skills

Required

  • 10+ years of post-Bachelor’s software development experience; or a Master’s degree in a technical field + 9+ year of post-grad software development experience; or a PhD in a related technical field + 6+ years of post-grad software development experience
  • 2+ years of experience with technical leadership or acting as the domain-expert to a technical organization
  • Experience in technical leadership/ownership and setting technical direction for engineering projects
  • Experience architecting, designing, and developing distributed systems
  • Deep expertise in building and scaling ad formats or similar user-facing content delivery systems
  • Excellent programming and software design skills, including debugging, performance analysis, and test design
  • Proven track record of operating highly-available systems at scale
  • Ability to proactively learn new concepts and technology and apply them at work
  • Skilled at solving ambiguous problems
  • Strong collaboration and mentorship skills
  • Ads domain experience

Nice to have

  • Client side and full stack experience preferred
  • Experience with cross-platform development
  • Ability to promote product excellence and collaboration, driving a portfolio of concurrent engineering projects, from short-term critical feature launches to long-term research initiatives
  • Ability to create a compelling vision for the future, communicate clearly, and have a collaborative leadership approach

What the JD emphasized

  • Deep expertise in building and scaling ad formats or similar user-facing content delivery systems
  • Proven track record of operating highly-available systems at scale