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
• The Omnichannel team at The Trade Desk is pioneering a new approach to digital advertising — one built around telling a coherent story through ads, using the media best suited for each chapter. We work across the full ad tech stack, from identity to measurement to bidding, to deliver unified campaign experiences that span screens, formats, and moments. Our Software Engineers are end-to-end owners who participate in designing, building, and delivering data-focused products for our stakeholders.
What You'll Do
• Design and build systems that orchestrate advertising across channels, ensuring a unified narrative from first impression to conversion.
• Work across team boundaries — partnering with identity, measurement, and bidding teams to integrate their capabilities into cohesive omnichannel solutions.
• Own projects end to end, from early design through production rollout and ongoing operation.
• Translate ambiguous business requirements into concrete technical designs and execution plans.
• Deliver high-quality changes with automated tests, metrics, and monitoring.
• Collaborate with product managers and business stakeholders to define what success looks like and drive toward it.
• Mentor other engineers and contribute to a culture of trust, ownership, and technical excellence.
Who You Are
• You're comfortable owning things end to end — from scoping a problem to shipping and operating the solution.
• You communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical audiences, and you're effective working across teams with competing priorities.
• You thrive in ambiguity. Vague requirements don't slow you down — you translate them into actionable plans and iterate toward the right answer.
• You have 7+ years of software development experience.
• You have strong experience with distributed systems and backend development in a language such as C#, Java, or Python.
• You have a solid understanding of computer science and engineering fundamentals.
• You're comfortable working on an agile, distributed team spanning multiple time zones.
Nice to Have
• Experience with large-scale data processing (Spark, Airflow, Kafka, Flink).
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure and orchestration tools (Kubernetes, Terraform).
• Experience in ad tech or with real-time bidding systems.
• Exposure to cross-channel measurement or identity resolution.
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
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.
The Trade Desk Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
Our Chicago office is located in the heart of the West Loop neighborhood, with views of the downtown skyline and Lake Michigan.
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