Sr Software Engineer - High Performance Computing - Rates & Fees Team

The Trade Desk is a global technology company and the world’s leading independent platform for digital advertising, with nearly 4,000 employees across more than 30 offices. Our technology helps advertisers reach the right audiences across the open internet — from streaming TV and podcasts to mobile apps, news, and more.

Advertising powers the content people love. By making it more transparent, effective, and responsible, we help support trusted journalism, quality entertainment, and creators worldwide. The world’s brands and agencies rely on us to reach their customers and grow their businesses responsibly.

The scale of our platform brings unique technical challenges — from processing massive datasets in real time to building systems that operate reliably on a global scale. When you work here, your impact is worldwide. We welcome diverse perspectives, encourage curiosity, and build teams that learn from one another. If you’re driven to solve meaningful challenges, we’d love to meet you.

What we do:

Our Software Engineers are end-to-end owners who design, build, and operate the systems that power our platform at scale.

We are part of the High Performance Computing (HPC) team, which powers the core bidding platform by supplying large volumes of data and ensuring its availability, freshness, and quality. This foundation enables critical systems to operate reliably and efficiently in a real-time, global environment.

Within HPC, the Rates & Fees team focuses on building the systems that power how our platform prices and monetizes data.

We own the infrastructure that determines how data is costed, activated, and transacted across the platform, sitting at the core of how the business operates.

We build highly scalable backend systems that manage complex workflows and large datasets across distributed environments. This includes everything from real-time APIs that support critical user workflows, to data pipelines that ensure information is accurate and globally available. Our work directly impacts system performance and business outcomes, requiring a strong focus on correctness, reliability, and efficiency.

Our systems run 24/7, serving global traffic in a highly collaborative environment. Engineers on our team solve challenging problems around system design, data consistency, and large-scale processing—working across teams to build resilient, high-performance systems that operate at scale.

What you'll do to help us deliver on our mission:

• Design, build, and own end-to-end software systems from concept through production
• Develop and maintain scalable backend services and APIs
• Build and optimize data pipelines that ensure data is accurate, timely, and available for real-time use
• Design flexible systems that can evolve with changing business and product needs
• Drive complex, cross-system changes with a focus on correctness, reliability, and scalability
• Deliver high-quality code with strong automated test coverage, observability, and monitoring
• Collaborate closely with product, business, and engineering partners to turn ambiguous requirements into scalable solutions
• Improve system performance and reduce latency for time-sensitive workflows
• Build internal tools and workflows that improve efficiency for both internal teams and external partners
• Ensure systems are resilient and operate reliably at scale, supporting 24/7 global traffic
• Use data to measure and communicate the impact of your work on system performance and operational efficiency
• Participate in architecture and design discussions, contributing to long-term technical strategy
• Mentor other engineers through code reviews, design feedback, and knowledge sharing
• Participate in on-call rotations and take ownership of production systems

We are a global team with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. To complement this team, you will welcome ideas that are different from your own, and work to build from common ground—valuing and fostering both visible and invisible dimensions of diversity.

Who we’re looking for:

• 6+ years of experience building and operating production software systems, ideally in high-scale or high-impact environments
• Strong fundamentals in computer science, with hands-on experience across distributed systems and a range of technologies such as .NET/C#, Java, Linux, networking, streaming systems, and NoSQL databases
• Writes high-quality, maintainable code and is diligent about testing, validation, and ensuring reliable production systems
• Ability to take ownership of complex problems, drive them from ambiguity to execution, and collaborate effectively across teams
• Clear communicator who can work across both technical and non-technical audiences and thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment
• We care less about knowing every tool we use and more about your ability to learn quickly, think critically, and build thoughtful solutions to complex problems.
• Experience building and operating distributed systems at scale
  Keywords: high-throughput systems, event-driven architecture, streaming, concurrency, scalability
• Strong focus on code quality and reliability
  Important skills for the role: automated testing, unit/integration tests, validation, monitoring, observability
• Experience designing and optimizing backend services: performance optimization, latency reduction, profiling, load testing
• Hands-on experience with modern backend technologies: .NET/C#, Java, Linux, APIs, SQL/NoSQL databases
• IC Senior opportunity
• Tech stack: C#, C++, Kubernetes, HTTP & TCP networking, Linux, AWS
• Understanding of AdTech is a plus
• You have a Bachelor’s/Master’s level degree in a computer-science or relevant engineering related field or equivalent experience. Not everyone has the same level of access to opportunities. What is most important to us is what and how you can contribute, which is why our consideration is not limited by the level of education you have.

Variety of technical opportunity is one of the best things about working at The Trade Desk as a software engineer which is why we do not expect you to know every technology we use when you start. What we care about is that you can learn quickly and find solutions to complex problems using the optimum tools for the job. What you know is less important than how well you learn and innovate. We don't need engineers who know all the answers; we need engineers who can invent the answers no one has thought of yet, to the questions yet to be asked.

The Trade Desk does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm recruiters. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

#LI-AD

In accordance with various US state laws, the range provided is the Trade Desk's reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role. The actual amount may differ based on non-discriminatory factors such as experience, knowledge, skills, and location. All employees may be eligible to become The Trade Desk shareholders through eligibility for stock-based compensation grants, which are awarded to employees based on company and individual performance. The Trade Desk also offers other compensation depending on the role such as variable compensation-based incentives and commissions. Plus, expected benefits for this role include comprehensive healthcare (medical, dental, and vision) with premiums paid in full for employees and dependents, retirement benefits such as a 401k plan and company match, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, well-being benefits, reimbursement for certain tuition expenses, parental leave, sick time of 1 hour per 30 hours worked, vacation time for full-time employees up to 120 hours thru the first year and 160 hours thereafter, and around 13 paid holidays per year. Employees can also purchase The Trade Desk stock at a discount through The Trade Desk’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

The Trade Desk also offers a competitive benefits package. Click here to learn more.

Note: Interns are not eligible for variable incentive awards such as stock-based compensation, retirement plan, vacation, tuition reimbursement or parental leave

At the Trade Desk, Base Salary is one part of our competitive total compensation and benefits package and is determined using a salary range. The base salary range for this role is $183,100—$274,000 USD

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, The Trade Desk is committed to creating an inclusive hiring experience where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Please reach out to us at accommodations@​thetradedesk.​com to request an accommodation or discuss any accessibility needs you may require to access our Company Website or navigate any part of the hiring process.

When you contact us, please include your preferred contact details and specify the nature of your accommodation request or questions. Any information you share will be handled confidentially and will not impact our hiring decisions.