Principal Software Engineering Manager

ProRata

$220K — $260K *
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years in software engineering, with 3-5 years in leadership roles.
  • Experience building or scaling ad serving systems in display, native, or search-based advertising.
  • Proficient in Python, Java, C++, or Rust, with ability to write high-performance code.
  • Expertise in designing cloud-based distributed systems with low latency and high availability.
  • Understanding of GenAI/LLM concepts and experience with agentic workflows and inference optimization is a plus.
  • Proven delivery of complex systems in fast-paced environments.
  • Effective communicator able to convey complex technical concepts to varied audiences.

Responsibilities

  • Lead design and development of ad serving infrastructure for high throughput and low latency.
  • Build agentic backend systems for intelligent ad workflows and decision-making.
  • Collaborate with frontend teams on campaign management and creative optimization tools.
  • Implement scalable reporting, analytics, and fraud detection systems.
  • Guide technical strategy for cloud-native, distributed systems balancing cost and performance.
  • Mentor engineers, providing technical leadership and aiding in talent recruitment.
  • Work cross-functionally to translate business needs into robust systems.
  • Contribute to the technical roadmap emphasizing GenAI and performance in AI platforms.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work at the forefront of AI technology.
  • Collaborative and innovative work environment.
  • Professional development and growth opportunities.
  • Chance to make a significant impact on the company's success.
Full Job Description
About the Role

You will own critical components of the ad serving system, including low-latency ad decisioning, agentic backend workflows, robust reporting, and fraud detection.

This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership position. You will blend deep technical architecture with team guidance, working closely with frontend, product, and business development teams to deliver a next-generation ad platform that is scalable, reliable, and truly AI-native.

Key Responsibilities
  • Lead the design and development of our core ad serving infrastructure, ensuring high throughput, sub-100ms latency, and extreme reliability at scale.
  • Architect and build agentic backend systems powered by LLMs - enabling intelligent workflows for contextual ad placement, creative optimization, real-time brand safety, and dynamic decisioning.
  • Partner closely with the frontend team on campaign management, creative generation/optimization, and advertiser-facing tools.
  • Design and implement scalable reporting, analytics, and fraud detection systems to maintain ecosystem trust and performance transparency.
  • Drive technical strategy for cloud-native, distributed systems - making trade-offs around cost, latency, availability, and AI inference efficiency.
  • Mentor and grow a team of strong engineers; provide technical leadership, conduct code/design reviews, and help recruit top talent.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Ads Engineering, and Business Development to translate business needs into robust, production-ready systems.
  • Contribute to our evolving technical roadmap, with emphasis on GenAI integration, prompt-based advertising, and seamless performance in AI surfaces.

Qualifications
  • 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 3-5 years in a technical leadership or engineering manager role.
  • Extensive hands-on experience building or scaling ad serving systems for display, native, or search-based advertising (experience at SSPs, DSPs, or large ad platforms is highly valued).
  • Strong proficiency in at least one of: Python, Java, C++, Rust - with proven ability to write production-grade, high-performance code.
  • Deep experience designing large-scale distributed systems in cloud environments (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including high availability, low-latency architectures, and observability.
  • Solid understanding of GenAI/LLM concepts; experience with prompt engineering, agentic workflows, or GPU-based inference (CUDA/ROCm) is a strong plus.
  • Track record of delivering complex, high-impact systems end-to-end in fast-moving environments.
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills - able to explain complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

Preferred Qualifications
  • Prior experience building advertising technology systems at scale.
  • Hands-on work with large language models, inference optimization, or agent-based architectures.
  • Startup experience - comfort operating with high ownership, evolving requirements, and limited resources.
  • Familiarity with programmatic advertising concepts (OpenRTB, real-time bidding, contextual targeting) and ad quality/fraud challenges.

Compensation

The compensation for this position is competitive and commensurate with experience including:
  • Base salary range: $220,000 - $260,000
  • Equity participation


What We Offer
  • Opportunity to work at the forefront of AI technology
  • Collaborative and innovative work environment
  • Competitive salary and benefits package
  • Professional development and growth opportunities
  • Chance to make a significant impact on the company's success


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