About Moloco:
Moloco is an AI-native performance advertising company, bringing the power of AI advertising to the open internet. Founded in 2013 by machine learning engineers who had built AI advertising systems inside the world's largest technology companies, Moloco began from a shared mission: to build that same engine for the open internet.
Today, Moloco is one company with two businesses, built on the same compound AI system. Moloco Ads is our AI-native performance advertising platform, helping mobile app marketers acquire, retain, and re-engage high-value users across the open internet. Moloco Commerce Media is our AI-native retail media platform, enabling retailers and marketplaces to turn their platforms into thriving ad businesses. Both are powered by CARA (Compound Ad Recommendation Architecture), the AI system behind every Moloco product.
At Moloco, we bring together those who've already solved hard problems and those with the drive to. Here, we work on some of the complex problems in AI advertising, at a scale and level of sophistication very few companies can offer. Come build what's next.
About the role
As a Staff Software Engineer at Moloco, you will help build the systems and products that power intelligent advertising and machine learning solutions for customers around the world. You will work on complex, large-scale problems at the intersection of software engineering, data, machine learning, and product development, turning them into reliable and intuitive solutions for customers and internal partners.
This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who combines strong technical depth with broad organizational impact. You will contribute to technical direction, lead critical initiatives from concept to production, and partner with teams across Moloco to deliver products and platforms that are scalable, measurable, and trusted by our customers.
Here’s what you’ll be working on:
- Set technical direction for key product and platform initiatives, influencing architecture, engineering standards, and long-term technical strategy.
- Lead complex, cross-functional projects from problem framing and requirements definition through technical design, implementation, launch, and post-launch improvement.
- Design, implement, and operate scalable backend services, APIs, data systems, and workflows that support Moloco’s products and customer experiences.
- Translate ambiguous business and customer problems into clear technical solutions, balancing product impact, engineering quality, delivery timelines, and operational cost.
- Partner closely with Product, Data, ML, UX, and other Engineering teams to define scope, align stakeholders, and make effective technical and product trade-offs.
- Build and improve systems that help customers manage, deliver, measure, and optimize their business outcomes.
- Improve system reliability, performance, scalability, and observability through strong engineering practices, including testing, metrics, logging, monitoring, incident response, and operational reviews.
- Raise the engineering bar across the organization by driving design reviews, sharing best practices, and promoting thoughtful approaches to maintainability and technical excellence.
- Mentor and support engineers across levels, helping them grow their technical judgment, project ownership, and ability to operate effectively in a global engineering organization.
- Represent the team in broader technical discussions and help align near-term execution with Moloco’s longer-term product and engineering goals.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 15+ years of software engineering experience, including significant experience building and operating backend systems, platforms, or user-facing products at scale.
- Strong proficiency in one or more modern programming languages such as Java, Go, Kotlin, C++, or Python.
- Deep understanding of distributed systems, service-oriented architecture, data structures, algorithms, and system design.
- Proven experience designing and operating reliable, high-throughput services and APIs in production environments.
- Experience working with relational or NoSQL databases and large-scale data systems, such as BigQuery, Bigtable, MySQL, or PostgreSQL.
- Track record of leading complex technical initiatives that span multiple components, teams, or disciplines, including aligning stakeholders and delivering high-quality results.
- Demonstrated ability to make sound technical decisions in ambiguous situations and clearly communicate the rationale, trade-offs, and expected impact.
- Experience collaborating closely with Product, Data, ML, UX, and Engineering partners to shape product direction and execution plans.
- Strong ownership mindset, with experience driving projects end-to-end and remaining engaged through launch, operation, and continuous improvement.
- Experience mentoring engineers and influencing engineering practices, team culture, or technical strategy beyond your immediate area.
- Fluent verbal and written communication skills in English, with the ability to lead technical discussions with global and cross-functional stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience building products or platforms in digital advertising, machine learning, media, e-commerce, fintech, or other data-intensive domains.
- Experience with large-scale distributed systems, real-time or near-real-time processing, high-volume data pipelines, or latency-sensitive services.
- Familiarity with cloud platforms and big-data technologies such as GCP, BigQuery, Dataflow, Kafka, Beam, or Spark.
- Experience integrating data pipelines, schemas, data contracts, analytics, and reporting capabilities into customer-facing products.
- Experience defining or improving reliability practices, including SLIs/SLOs, capacity planning, backfill strategies, cost management, and incident response.
- Ability to simplify complex technical or operational concepts into clear product experiences, APIs, and workflows.
- Experience working in a global or multi-region environment, especially where customer needs, market dynamics, or regulations differ by region.
- Demonstrated success influencing technical direction across organizational boundaries without relying on formal authority.
- Experience building inclusive, collaborative teams and helping engineers develop their technical and leadership capabilities.
Supporting Your Best Work and Your Best Life:
Our benefits are designed to support our people in doing their best work and living well, at work and beyond. Benefits vary by country, employment type, and eligibility. Connect with a recruiter to learn more about benefits in your region.
Moloco Values:
- Lead with Humility: Everyone’s voice is respected, valued, and heard. We win, lose, and learn together. Accountability and feedback are essential to our success.
- Uncapped Growth Mindset: We see all situations as opportunities to learn, grow, and improve as individuals and as an organization. We seek diverse perspectives, encourage curiosity, and promote experimentation to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
- Create Real Value: We pursue the most impactful opportunities with intensity and rigor. We take intelligent risks and make disciplined trade-offs to maintain deep focus. We help our customers win by delivering durable value.
- Go Further Together: We’re one team working towards one vision. We collaborate proactively and inclusively, involving the right people at the right time and in the right way. We strive to create a more equitable workplace. We won’t let each other fail.
Additional Resources:
AI Use in Interviews
Our interview process is designed to get to know the real you. Unless a round specifically includes AI as part of what's being assessed, we ask that candidates engage without AI assistance. Please review our AI Use in Interviews Policy before your interview to understand what to expect. Failure to comply with this policy may impact your candidacy.
Candidate Privacy Notice:
Your privacy matters to us. By applying, you acknowledge that you’ve reviewed our Candidate Privacy Notice.
