The RoleWe are hiring a Senior AdTech Engineer to join the AdTech team within Allen Media Digital. This team provides end-to-end technical orchestration, maintenance, and strategic enhancement of the ad technology stack across our premium Connected TV applications - primarily The Weather Channel App and Local Now.
In this role, you will balance optimization of our core ad-serving infrastructure, reduction of technical debt, and execution of advanced ad-related feature rollouts for a high-volume, predominantly U.S. traffic footprint. You will be a hands-on technical leader as we redesign the ad experience alongside the broader 2.0 platform rebuild.
What You Will Do- 2026-27 Application Redesign & Strategy - Provide technical leadership, scoping, architectural mapping, and debugging required for the holistic re-implementation of our adtech features during the upcoming full application redesign. Lead validation of advanced monetization initiatives, including interactive ad units, client-side beaconing migrations, and contextual targeting frameworks.
- Custom AdTech Development - Design, build, and maintain custom code across the ad-tech stack - from backend services and data pipelines to ad-decisioning logic and integration layers - ensuring our systems are reliable, scalable, and adaptable as ad formats, protocols, and vendor requirements evolve.
- Platform Orchestration - Serve as the primary technical lead for integrating, configuring, and managing demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply-side platforms (SSPs).
- SSAI & CSAI Architecture - Design, maintain, and optimize server-side ad insertion (SSAI) workflows (using tools like AWS MediaTailor) while coordinating client-side ad framework (CSAI) requirements across core platforms like Roku (RAF) and Amazon Fire TV.
- Protocol & Ad Signaling Management - Configure, validate, and troubleshoot ad-decisioning endpoints using VAST, VMAP, and SCTE-35 markers to ensure precise ad stitching across live and VOD streams, including complex programmatic signaling requirements.
- Optimization & Performance Analytics - Monitor and analyze operational analytics - including error rates, fill latency, tracking beacons, and ad-decisioning performance - to identify and resolve bottlenecks in the ad delivery pipeline.
- Privacy & Consent Compliance - Maintain and enhance advertising-related privacy and consent management workflows (via tools like OneTrust), ensuring adtech compliance with CCPA/CPRA, GPP, and state-level privacy standards.
- Cross-Functional & Vendor Alignment - Partner closely with backend, frontend, product, and ad operations teams to advance privacy-first architecture standards. Act as the primary technical point of contact for external ad-tech vendors and DSP partners to resolve delivery discrepancies.
- Vendor Collaboration & Knowledge Transfer - Work alongside an external AdTech engineering partner during an active modernization engagement on our ad caching service, absorbing architecture and implementation knowledge in order to take over ongoing maintenance and enhancement.
What We Are Looking ForExperience
- 7+ years in backend / distributed-systems engineering, with at least 3-4 of those years specifically in ad tech (RTB, programmatic, SSAI).
- Proven experience within Connected TV (CTV) ad-serving environments and native TV platforms (Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, Smart TVs).
Technical Proficiency
- Strong programmatic background with deep familiarity in Real-Time Bidding (RTB), header bidding, and identity resolution solutions (e.g., UID2, RampID).
- Hands-on experience with core AWS services, particularly AWS MediaTailor, CloudWatch, and serverless microservices (AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Run functions).
- Deep familiarity with leading ad servers and SSP architectures (e.g., SpringServe, Publica, FreeWheel, GAM).
- Mastery of video streaming protocols (HLS / DASH) and advertising standards (OpenRTB, VAST, VMAP, VPAID, SCTE-35).
- Experience with data-rich and contextual solutions such as identity graphs, clean rooms, Iris.TV, or Peer39.
Engineering Discipline
- Strong programming skills in Go (Golang) and Node.js, with the ability to read, extend, and maintain existing production services in addition to building from scratch.
- Familiarity with Go concurrency patterns (goroutines, channels) for background and async processing.
- Understanding of caching and TTL design principles (invalidation strategy, key design, expiration handling) sufficient to maintain and extend an existing caching layer.
Nice to Have- Familiarity with cloud data pipelines, specifically ingesting and querying log data within Google Cloud Storage, S3, and BigQuery.
- Proficiency in C# .NET Core.
- Ability to accelerate front-end proofs of concept (POCs) in BrightScript or React Native to streamline deliverables for core client UI teams.
- Specific, hands-on experience with key ecosystem vendors: SpringServe, MediaTailor, Quickplay, The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, Amazon APS, Google (GAM/PAL), and OneTrust.
- Background in media-industry content management systems (CMS) and video player development (AVPlayer, ExoPlayer).
