Software Engineer, Backend, Level 5 – Ads Delivery

Snap Inc.•Los Angeles, CA

8d•$178,000 - $313,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Snap Inc. is seeking a Backend Engineer to join its Ads Delivery Platform team. This role involves designing, implementing, and operating the ads delivery infrastructure and services, including critical serving-time systems and business logic for reliable, scalable, and efficient ad delivery. The engineer will collaborate with Product, Data Science, ML, and Infrastructure teams to translate product vision into technical solutions, ensuring end-to-end execution and optimization. Responsibilities include designing, testing, debugging, and maintaining high-quality production systems, leveraging observability, experimentation, and automation. The role also involves championing best practices in distributed systems, availability, scalability, operational excellence, security, and infrastructure efficiency, while contributing to the long-term architecture of the ads delivery platform. The engineer will utilize AI tools and high-velocity engineering workflows to design and ship scalable services, maintaining rigorous standards for code correctness, security, and production readiness.

Requirements

Experience with backend services or distributed systems
Experience in at least one of the following areas: Large-scale microservices and distributed systems, Cloud computing and storage systems, Infrastructure and large-scale system design, Security, Networking and data storage, Machine learning and natural language processing
Proven track record of operating highly-available systems at significant scale
Experience with Java, C++, and/or Python
Experience with NoSQL solutions, Memcache/Redis, Kubernetes, or Google/AWS services
You can independently execute on medium sized features, taking a few weeks and multiple PRs to complete
You understand the operational aspects of your system and may participate in incident or hotfix investigation and resolution
Ability to collaborate and work well with others
Proficiency in, or a strong aptitude for, leveraging AI tools to streamline development, paired with the critical judgment to audit generated output for architectural integrity, performance bottlenecks, and security risks.
Adaptability in learning and applying evolving AI systems and tools to remain at the forefront of engineering trends and modern development practices
Bachelor's Degree in a relevant technical field such as computer science or equivalent years of practical work experience
6+ years of post-Bachelor’s software development experience; or Master’s degree in a technical field + 5+ year of post-grad software development experience; or PhD in a relevant technical field + 2+ years of post-grad software development experience
Experience with distributed systems
Experience with Java, C++, and/or Python

Nice To Haves

Experience building ad delivery, recommendation, marketplace auction, search, retrieval, or other high-throughput online serving systems.
Experience supporting multiple product surfaces through shared backend platforms and frameworks.
Familiarity with ads concepts, including ad serving, targeting, frequency capping, auctions, bidding systems, pacing, or campaign optimization.
Experience improving system efficiency, infrastructure utilization, and cost-performance tradeoffs at scale.
Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools and modern engineering workflows to improve engineering productivity and software quality.

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and operate our ads delivery infrastructure and services.
Own critical serving-time systems and business logic that enable reliable, scalable, and efficient ad delivery.
Partner closely with Product, Data Science, ML, and Infrastructure teams to translate product vision into scalable technical solutions, driving end-to-end execution from concept to launch and ongoing optimization.
Design, test, debug, and maintain high-quality production systems, leveraging observability, experimentation, and automation to ensure robust and resilient services.
Champion best practices in distributed systems, availability, scalability, operational excellence, security, and infrastructure efficiency while helping evolve the long-term architecture of the ads delivery platform.
Utilize AI tools and high velocity engineering workflows to design and ship scalable services while upholding rigorous standards for code correctness, security, and production ready quality code.