R&D Lead (Hands-on) | AdTech

A stable and innovative global AdTech company is looking for an experienced R&D Lead to lead a small, highly skilled engineering team while remaining deeply hands-on.

The company develops advanced programmatic monetization solutions for app developers and publishers, operating across the global advertising ecosystem.

This is a high-impact role with direct influence on technology strategy, architecture, product direction, and business growth.

We are looking for a strong technical leader who enjoys building scalable systems, solving complex engineering challenges, mentoring developers, and working closely with Product and Business teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a small team of software engineers while remaining hands-on with development.

• Own the architecture, scalability, and technical direction of the AdTech platform.

• Design and develop high-performance, distributed backend systems and modern web applications.

• Build scalable services, APIs, SDK integrations, and real-time advertising infrastructure.

• Drive engineering best practices, code quality, CI/CD, and system reliability.

• Lead architecture discussions, technology selection, and long-term platform evolution.

• Optimize system performance, scalability, security, and availability.

• Work closely with Product, Data, and Business teams to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.

• Evaluate emerging technologies and AI opportunities to improve engineering productivity and product capabilities.

Requirements

• 10+ years of software development experience, including large-scale distributed systems.

• Previous experience leading software development teams while remaining hands-on.

• Mandatory: proven experience in AdTech / Programmatic Advertising.

• Deep understanding of the programmatic ecosystem, including:

• RTB

• SSPs & DSPs

• Header Bidding

• Bidders

• SDK integrations

• Publisher monetization

• Expert-level Java experience.

• Strong hands-on experience with Node.js and React.

• Proven experience designing scalable, high-performance, cloud-native architectures.

• Strong experience with AWS.

• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and containerized environments.

• Strong understanding of CI/CD and DevOps best practices.

• Experience with MySQL, MongoDB, and data-intensive applications.

• Experience designing REST APIs, microservices, and distributed systems.

• Experience working with real-time, high-volume production environments.

• Strong understanding of architecture, scalability, performance optimization, and system reliability.

• Excellent leadership, mentoring, and communication skills.

• Business-oriented mindset with the ability to connect technology decisions to business goals.

• Fluent English.

What We Offer

• Join a stable, growing global AdTech company.

• Lead the technology behind a large-scale programmatic advertising platform.

• High ownership and influence over architecture, product, and engineering strategy.

• Work with a small, highly skilled engineering team.

• Exposure to cutting-edge AdTech technologies and AI-driven innovation.

• Competitive compensation and long-term growth opportunities.