More jobs from this company
views: 0
Principal Software Engineer
We are seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the technical strategy and vision for Ads Foundations at Reddit — the technical backbone powering Ads Monetization at scale. This is the most senior individual contributor role in our engineering organization, designed for those who drive not only complex systems but also organizational and industry-wide influence.
As Principal Engineer, you will set the technical direction for how Reddit’s Ads backend evolves to meet the next generation of advertiser and user needs — with a particular focus on platform architecture, scalability, reliability, and operational excellence. You will operate as a force multiplier: elevating not only our systems, but also our engineers, our org, and the industry at large.
What You’ll DoTechnical Vision & Strategy
Who You Might Be
Bonus Points
- Define and drive the long-term technical architecture and platform strategy for Reddit Ads backend systems, anticipating future needs 3–5+ years out.
- Identify foundational gaps and emerging opportunities across Ads infrastructure, and lead strategic investments to address them.
- Architect systems that power billions of ad impressions with high reliability, low latency, and cost efficiency.
- Set standards for system design, scalability, and operational excellence that raise the bar across Reddit engineering.
- Lead cross-org and cross-functional technical initiatives that span beyond Ads — influencing how Reddit builds backend infrastructure at scale.
- Partner deeply with Infrastructure, Data, Machine Learning, and Product teams to ensure cohesive, performant systems.
- Champion rigorous observability, reliability engineering, and cost-aware architecture practices across the Ads organization.
- Coach, sponsor, and elevate Staff and Senior Engineers across the org — shaping the next generation of technical leaders.
- Model a culture of technical curiosity, deep ownership, and high standards.
- Represent Reddit’s technical brand externally through talks, blog posts, patents, or contributions to open source.
- Stay ahead of industry trends in large-scale distributed systems, ads infrastructure, and backend engineering.
Who You Might Be
- 10+ years of experience designing and operating highly scalable backend infrastructure.
- Recognized technical leader with a proven track record of driving large-scale platform transformations.
- Deep expertise in distributed systems, backend architecture, infrastructure, and performance engineering.
- Skilled at driving clarity in ambiguous spaces, influencing technical strategy across organizations.
- Exceptional collaborator and communicator — adept at aligning technical vision with business outcomes.
- Expertise in one or more general-purpose programming languages (Python, Go, Java, Rust, C++).
- Strong experience with systems observability, reliability, and operational best practices.
Bonus Points
- Experience in AdTech, real-time bidding systems, or creative management platforms.
- Experience driving infrastructure cost efficiency and performance optimization at scale.
- Contributions to technical communities or industry research.
- Prior experience with Technical Program Management for multi-year infrastructure bets.
More jobs from this company
views: 0
Be the first to know aboutnew jobs every week
Get 8 new jobs with salaries, once per week! Sign up here so you don't miss a single newsletter.