At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and build backend systems for a high-traffic web and data platform.
- Company: Join The Trade Desk, a leading global tech company in digital advertising.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, visa sponsorship, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Exciting career growth potential in a collaborative London office.
- Why this job: Lead innovative projects and mentor future tech leaders in a dynamic environment.
- Qualifications: Experience in backend systems, C#, .NET, and a passion for people management.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 £ per year.
The Trade Desk is a global technology company and the world’s leading independent platform for digital advertising. Our Software Engineers are end-to-end owners who will participate in all aspects of designing, building, and delivering data-focused products for our stakeholders. You will have the opportunity to work on large-scale distributed systems, petabyte-scale data challenges, machine learning, advanced visualizations, and interactive user interfaces. Our system performs all day, every day serving global traffic, with a focus on quality at scale in an agile environment. The SCORE team owns the backend health, performance, and reliability of a core part of The Trade Desk's platform, including APIs and systems for scheduled reports and near-real-time campaign performance metrics. Our scope is also growing into the infrastructure behind AI agents. This role is based in our London office.
What you'll do:
- Design, build, and operate backend systems supporting a high-traffic web and data platform as a Staff-level technical authority.
- Act as a technical reviewer and mentor, driving technical direction on ambiguous, cross-cutting problems.
- Partner with adjacent teams and platform governance groups.
- This role is a deliberate growth track toward people management, starting with direct management of a senior engineer and growing into leading a larger engineering team in London.
- You will run regular 1:1s, own performance and growth conversations, and participate in hiring.
Skills Required
- Backend Systems
- Web Platform
- Data Platform
- C#
- .NET
- SQL
- GraphQL
- REST APIs
- Reporting Systems
- AI Systems
- Agentic Systems
- Technical Leadership
- People Management
- Distributed Systems
- Cloud
- Physical Data Centers
- Petabyte-scale Data
- Machine Learning
- Advanced Visualizations
- Interactive User Interfaces
- Operational Health
- System Modernization
- Quality Standards
Interview preparation:
- You operate at a Staff engineer level, a recognized technical authority that other engineers turn to for guidance on hard problems.
- You have hands-on experience building and operating backend systems for a web or data platform of meaningful scale.
- Experience with C#/.NET and SQL is a strong plus, though not required.
- Experience designing or building GraphQL and/or REST APIs is a plus.
- Experience with reporting or scheduled-reporting systems is a plus.
- Experience building AI or agentic systems is a plus.
- You're actively seeking a path into people management and can point to some experience mentoring, leading, or informally guiding other engineers already.
- You operate independently in ambiguity, scoping, sequencing, and driving execution on complex backend problems.
Lead Staff Software Engineer in London employer: Software Careers
Elastic is an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and inclusive work culture, particularly for the Principal Software Engineer role in London. With a strong emphasis on employee growth and development, the company provides competitive benefits and encourages innovation in enhancing search capabilities. Working remotely with a diverse team allows for meaningful contributions to cutting-edge technology while enjoying a supportive environment.
