Senior Software Engineer

Overview

The Trade Desk is a global technology company with a mission to create a better, more open internet for everyone through principled, intelligent advertising. Handling over 1 trillion queries per day, our platform operates at an unprecedented scale. We value an inclusive culture built on trust, ownership, empathy, and collaboration. We welcome diverse experiences and perspectives, and strive to foster spaces where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work.

Do you have a passion for solving hard problems at scale? Are you eager to join a dynamic, globally-connected team where your contributions will make a meaningful difference in building a better media ecosystem? Fortune magazine consistently ranks The Trade Desk among the best small- to medium-sized workplaces globally.

What We Do

Our Software Engineers are end-to-end owners who participate in many aspects of designing, building, and delivering data-focused products for our stakeholders. We focus on building the backend infrastructure of our platform with a focus on quality at scale. Whether building client-facing applications, internal solutions for our team, or model pipelines for bidding optimizations, we ensure infrastructure, development, and tools to do it right and efficiently. Our system operates 24/7, serving global traffic, and we build a distributed system in a highly collaborative environment. Backend developers work on algorithmic, optimization, and scale challenges.

What You’ll Do

• Design, build, deliver, and own full lifecycle software from inception to production
• Demonstrate a firm grasp of the entire software development lifecycle
• Drive complex changes involving multiple components
• Deliver quality changes, including automated tests, metrics, and monitoring
• Collaborate with team members to deliver features
• Guide and review changes to product features in line with product roadmaps
• Implement and maintain product features
• Build components and processes regularly used by others
• Build execution plans incorporating user data, observations, and market insight
• Validate changes to ensure high quality product releases
• Work in a distributed system environment
• Understand the business objectives behind the code
• Understand system architecture fundamentals through self-directed learning
• Participate in and lead projects with a high level of technical ambiguity
• Contribute to development of comprehensive success criteria
• Lead others through example, mentorship, and teaching
• Participate in hiring activities
• Use data to analyze and communicate the impact of your work on operational efficiency

Who You Are

Our culture emphasizes trust, generosity, scrappy problem solving, and excellence. You do not have to meet every item, but those who meet most will have a higher likelihood of success.

• You are comfortable working on an agile, distributed team spanning multiple time zones and continents.
• You can communicate effectively across technical and non-technical audiences.
• You have a solid understanding of computer science and engineering fundamentals.
• You have experience with distributed systems.
• You are proficient in one or more of these languages: C#, Java, C, C++, Python, SQL, or Scala.
• You have knowledge of software development tools/editors (Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Rider) and version control (Git, Perforce).
• You have 7+ years of software development experience.
• You have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science or a relevant field, or equivalent experience. We value contribution over formal education.

Nice-to-have experience includes: database engines (Microsoft SQL Server, Postgres, Aerospike, Vertica, Redis), building microservices, operating systems and cloud, Kubernetes, Kafka.

We do not expect you to know every technology we use at start; what matters is your ability to learn quickly and solve complex problems using suitable tools. We value learning and innovation and seek engineers who can invent answers to questions not yet asked.

The Trade Desk does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms. We are an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected status.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, The Trade Desk is committed to an inclusive hiring experience. Please reach out to accommodations@thetradedesk.com to request an accommodation or discuss accessibility needs. Include your preferred contact details and the nature of your accommodation request. Any information shared will be kept confidential and will not impact hiring decisions.