Senior Software Engineer, Backend
About The Position
At Cognitiv, we are industry trailblazers redefining media buying with our Deep Learning Advertising Platform. Since 2015, we have harnessed the power of cutting-edge deep learning technology and data science to transform how brands connect with their customers. Our mission is to bring intelligence to advertising and deliver unparalleled precision, relevance, and impact at scale. With our innovative platform, advertisers enjoy unprecedented flexibility—whether it is activating Dynamic Deals through their preferred DSP, leveraging our managed service DSP, or utilizing our industry-first ContextGPT product. As a part of Cognitiv, you will be at the forefront of AI-driven advertising solutions, driving change and achieving remarkable growth in a rapidly evolving industry. As a Senior Software Engineer, you will own the design, delivery, and reliability of the systems powering our next-generation, pixel-less ad targeting platform. You’ll translate complex requirements into scalable systems, navigating ambiguity and making the critical tradeoffs necessary to drive system performance and engineering effectiveness. In this role, you’ll own the design and delivery of backend solutions that support ContextGPT integrations, helping the platform scale across new partners, supply sources, and capabilities. You’ll work closely with other engineers and cross-functional partners to solve complex technical problems, make thoughtful tradeoffs, and deliver reliable solutions that support product and business growth. This position will be located in Bellevue with a hybrid work schedule of 3 days in office (Mon/Tue/Wed) and 2 days remote optional (Thursday/Friday).
Requirements
- Ownership, Drive & Agency: You identify systemic problems, create solutions without waiting for direction, and drive execution through influence rather than authority.
- System Design: Proven track record of designing, decomposing, and delivering high-scale production services or distributed systems.
- Technical Proficiency: Strong programming skills in .NET Core or another strongly typed backend language such as Java or Kotlin, with experience building APIs, services, or data pipelines.
- Operational Mindset: Deep understanding of system reliability, observability, and "up-front" design for maintainability.
- Curiosity: You’re naturally curious and eager to understand how things work. You ask thoughtful questions, dig into unfamiliar systems and problems, and look beyond the immediate task to identify root causes and opportunities for improvement.
- Communication: Clear ability to explain technical tradeoffs and decisions.
Nice To Haves
- Experience designing large-scale distributed systems serving high-throughput production workloads
- Deep experience building platform services or developer infrastructure used across multiple engineering teams
- AdTech or programmatic advertising experience
- Experience leading major partner integrations or platform expansion initiatives
- Startup or high-growth company experience
- Expertise with CI/CD, infrastructure automation, and engineering productivity tooling
- Hands-on experience with .NET Core, AWS, RDS, ClickHouse, Datadog, or similar technologies
Responsibilities
- Own the end-to-end design and delivery of .NET Core backend services and APIs that power ContextGPT, proactively accounting for scalability, performance, failure modes, and security as the platform grows across the ad-tech ecosystem.
- Identify bottlenecks and improve system observability (metrics, logging, monitoring). Lead blameless post-mortems and implement long-term systemic fixes to prevent incident recurrence.
- Strengthen the team through high-quality code reviews, technical mentorship, and the creation of exemplary technical artifacts (design docs, diagrams).
- Exercise strong judgment to resolve unknowns and balance long-term system health with rapid development velocity.
- Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to align technical solutions with business priorities and roadmap requirements.
Benefits
- Medical, Dental and Vision plan for US employees & Extended Health Benefits for Canadian employees
- 12 weeks paid parental leave + 4 weeks WFH
- Unlimited PTO + Work-From-Anywhere August
- Career development with clear advancement paths
- Equity for all employees
- Hybrid work model & daily team lunch
- Health & wellness stipend + cell phone reimbursement
- 401(k) & RRSP with employer match
- Parking (CA, WA, Vancouver offices) & pre-tax commuter benefits
- Employee Assistance Program
- Comprehensive onboarding (Cognitiv University)
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
