Senior Software Engineer — Real-Time Ad Serving
WHO WE ARE
Zeta Global (NYSE: ZETA) is the AI-Powered Marketing Cloud that leverages advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and trillions of consumer signals to make it easier for marketers to acquire, grow, and retain customers more efficiently. Through the Zeta Marketing Platform (ZMP), our vision is to make sophisticated marketing simple by unifying identity, intelligence, and omnichannel activation into a single platform – powered by one of the industry’s largest proprietary databases and AI. Our enterprise customers across multiple verticals are empowered to personalize experiences with consumers at an individual level across every channel, delivering better results for marketing programs. Zeta was founded in 2007 by David A. Steinberg and John Sculley and is headquartered in New York City with offices around the world. To learn more, go to www.zetaglobal.com .
THE ROLE
As a Senior Software Engineer on the LiveIntent Real-Time Ad Serving team, you will design, develop, and own the business logic that powers programmatic advertising at scale — ad selection, targeting, frequency capping, budget pacing, and delivery optimization.
The real-time platform is built on C++ and Lua: C++ provides the high-performance server framework, while Lua implements the business logic layer. You will work primarily in Lua, developing and evolving the features that directly serve LiveIntent's product — ensuring advertisers get the best outcomes and publishers maximize their revenue. While we're open to candidates with experience in any backend language, a willingness to work with Lua is essential — we provide time and the right environment to get up to speed.
You will collaborate closely with Product, working on features that directly impact LiveIntent's customers — from ad targeting and delivery to reporting and optimization. This is a hands-on engineering role where your code runs in production handling billions of daily transactions.
This is a hybrid/remote role based out of our Berlin, Germany or Prague, Czech Republic offices.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Develop and optimize business logic in Lua for ad selection, targeting, frequency capping, and budget pacing
Design, build, and maintain real-time services processing 200K+ requests per second with strict latency requirements
Work closely with Product to deliver features that meet advertiser and publisher needs
Ensure code quality through code reviews, automated testing, and continuous integration
Participate in architecture discussions and influence the technical roadmap
Participate in on-call rotation to support production systems
DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS
5+ years of software engineering experience in backend development
Deep understanding of computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, performance optimization
Experience building and operating distributed systems in production
Exposure to the full software development lifecycle — from design to production and monitoring
Strong commitment to code quality, automated testing, and documentation
Proficient English (the interview process will be held in English)
Experience with Lua or willingness to learn (we provide time and the right environment)
Experience in online advertising / ad tech (RTB, programmatic, DSP/SSP) is a plus
Proficiency in a systems-level language (C++, Go, Rust, or Java) is a plus
Experience with MongoDB and real-time data processing is a plus
Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS) at scale is a plus
Experience with AI-assisted development tools and agentic workflows is a plus
Experience with OpenRTB protocol and ad exchange integrations is a plus
BENEFITS & PERKS
Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage
PEOPLE & CULTURE AT ZETA
Zeta considers applicants for employment without regard to, and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual’s sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, status as a veteran, or national or ethnic origin; nor does Zeta discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
We’re committed to building a workplace culture of trust and belonging, so everyone feels invited to bring their whole selves to work. We provide a forum for employees to celebrate, support and advocate for one another. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion here: https://zetaglobal.com/blog/a-look-into-zetas-ergs/
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