[Hiring] AdTech Engineer @Very

Role Description

As a Senior AdTech Engineer, you'll join a client's engineering team through Very's staff augmentation model, working as an embedded member of their team on programmatic advertising infrastructure. You'll work across the ad serving pipeline, from bid request handling through creative delivery, in high-throughput, low-latency environments on AWS.

This role is hands-on and long term. You'll work in the client's codebase, tools and processes, take part in their code reviews and on-call rotation, and report day to day to their engineering leads, while staying part of the Very team. At Very, a senior engineer has deep expertise in their specialty and works independently in their domain without needing detailed direction.

This is not an easy role. You'll work under real deadlines with a client who expects you to be available, proactive and delivering from day one. If you like doing hard things well, you'll fit right in.

What You’ll Be Working On

• Build and maintain real-time bidding (RTB) infrastructure, including the bid request/response lifecycle, auction logic and win notification handling.
• Integrate with ad server platforms, including tag management, creative rendering and VAST compliance.
• Design and operate AWS systems that scale elastically under variable, auction-driven traffic.
• Build and support data pipelines for bid stream processing, event logging, reporting, attribution and frequency capping.
• Optimize for low latency, high throughput and cost-efficient architecture at volume.
• Take part in the on-call rotation and help maintain system health, performance and reliability.
• Collaborate across engineering, product and business stakeholders to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Identify and proactively address potential technical or operational risks before they affect revenue or customers.

You'll operate in an environment that includes:

• Ad Tech: OpenRTB, IAB standards (ads.txt, sellers.json, VAST/VPAID), Spring Serve, header bidding (Prebid)
• Cloud: AWS (EC2, ECS/EKS, auto-scaling, CloudFront, S3, Athena/Redshift)
• Streaming: Managed Kafka (MSK) or Kinesis
• Databases & Caching: DynamoDB, Redis
• Infrastructure as Code: AWS CDK, Terraform
• DevOps: Docker, GitHub Actions, CI/CD pipelines
• Observability: Logging, monitoring, alerting and production diagnostics

Outcomes

• Keep Auctions Fast and Reliable: Make sure bid handling meets strict latency targets and stays available under peak traffic.
• Scale With Confidence: Build infrastructure that scales elastically with auction-driven traffic while keeping cloud costs under control.
• Ensure Accurate Data: Deliver reliable impression, event and reporting pipelines the business can trust.
• Deliver High-Quality Features: Ship secure, reliable code that meets requirements and delivers measurable business value.
• Be a Trusted Team Member: Integrate fully with the client's team and become someone they rely on.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain RTB and ad serving components that comply with OpenRTB and IAB standards.
• Build and support integrations with ad server platforms such as Spring Serve.
• Design, build and maintain scalable AWS infrastructure using AWS CDK and/or Terraform.
• Build and operate bid stream and event processing pipelines using Kafka or Kinesis.
• Own deployments, CI/CD pipelines, logging, monitoring and alerting.
• Work within the client's engineering processes, tools and team rituals (standups, sprint planning, code reviews).
• Take part in the 24/7 on-call rotation and help diagnose and resolve production issues.
• Support documentation and knowledge sharing within the team.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related field
• 8+ years of professional software development experience
• Hands-on experience building programmatic advertising systems (ad networks, SSPs, DSPs, ad exchanges, ad-tech startups or publisher-side engineering)
• Experience working in high-throughput, low-latency production environments
• Experience designing and operating systems on AWS at scale
• Full software development lifecycle experience, including requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment and operations

Great to have

• Spring Serve ad server integration experience (a strong differentiator)
• Header bidding experience (Prebid.js or server-side)
• SSP or DSP platform internals
• CTV/OTT ad delivery experience
• Privacy and consent frameworks (TCF, GPP, CCPA signal handling)
• Infrastructure as code with AWS CDK or Terraform
• Experience working embedded in client or distributed teams (staff augmentation or consulting)

Technical Proficiency

• Strong knowledge of the OpenRTB specification and IAB technical standards (ads.txt, sellers.json, VAST/VPAID)
• Experience with the real-time bidding lifecycle: bid requests/responses, auction mechanics and win notifications
• Experience integrating with or building against ad server platforms
• AWS scaling patterns for ad-tech workloads, including:
  • EC2/ECS/EKS auto-scaling
  • CloudFront for creative delivery
  • DynamoDB or Redis for low-latency lookups
  • S3 with Athena or Redshift for impression and event logging
• Hands-on experience with infrastructure as code (AWS CDK or Terraform)
• Experience building data pipelines for reporting, attribution and frequency capping
• Experience debugging distributed production systems at scale

Requirements

• Must be based in Colombia.
• Professional English fluency.
• Ability to work with significant overlap with US business hours.

Skills

• Client Obsessed: Keeps the client’s success front and center. Measures technical choices by their business impact.
• Clear Communicator: Collaborates effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Quality-Driven: Holds themselves to high standards for code quality and reliability.
• Ownership Mindset: Takes responsibility for delivering solutions that work in real-world conditions.
• Problem Solver: Thrive in complexity and find solutions even when requirements are evolving.

Compensation & Contract Details

• Hourly rate: $50/hr USD
• Contract Type: Though this role is structured as a contract engagement, the scope of work is substantial and may approximate a full-time (40 hours/week) workload.
• This role requires availability during core client business hours, Monday - Friday 9 - 5 ET.
• Must have access to your own computer/device, design software, and a reliable internet connection.

Why Work for Very

We do not promise an easy ride — we promise meaningful work. We work hard because our clients’ success depends on it, and we take pride in delivering when others can’t. We collaborate closely, move fast, and stay grounded in results. We take joy in the process — in the problem-solving, the iteration, and the shared wins that come from doing the hard things well.

If you’re looking for a place where every project matters, where the standards are high, and where you’ll grow by pushing yourself and others — welcome to Very.

Interviewing for a new company is a serious time commitment for all parties involved. Please take the time to read this and thoughtfully consider if we would be a good fit for one another. No agencies. Seriously. #LI-Remote

Note: To qualify for this role, you must reside in Colombia.