Principal Software Engineer - Mobile App Monetization

About the Role:

PubMatic is seeking an experienced and technically driven Principal Software Engineer to lead the design and development of our next-generation mobile app monetization platform. This role is focused on building high-performance, scalable, real-time systems that drive programmatic monetization across various mobile ad formats, including banners, interstitials, rewarded video, and native ads.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned backend engineer with deep domain expertise in mobile app advertising, OpenRTB protocols, and SDK-DSP-SSP integration workflows. You will work closely with Product, Data Science, and Monetization teams to design ML-integrated systems that optimize yield, latency, and reliability across our mobile ecosystem.

What You'll Do:

• Architect and implement scalable APIs and backend services powering mobile app monetization, including SDK-driven request handling, real-time targeting, ML-based decisioning, and campaign selection logic.
• Develop low-latency, high-throughput server-side systems capable of handling billions of RTB bid requests daily.
• Collaborate with ML Engineering and Data Science teams to integrate models for yield optimization and performance enhancement.
• Design and support A/B testing and experimentation frameworks to evaluate monetization strategies across diverse ad traffic.
• Contribute to the long-term technical strategy and roadmap for the mobile monetization platform.
• Champion engineering best practices in observability, fault tolerance, API performance, and modular architecture.

We'd Love for You to Have:

• Five plus years of backend engineering experience, with a proven track record of building high-scale, low-latency systems, preferably in the mobile app advertising or programmatic AdTech domain.
• Strong programming expertise in C++, with additional experience in Go or Java. Solid understanding of Linux/UNIX environments and system-level programming (multi-threading, multi-processing, memory management).
• Proficient in data structures, algorithms, and core computer science principles, with experience designing modular, scalable, and fault-tolerant systems.
• Deep understanding of programmatic advertising workflows, including RTB, OpenRTB 2.x/2.6, bid lifecycle, and mobile SDK monetization.
• Experience integrating with DSPs, ad exchanges, mediation platforms, and working with SDK-DSP-SSP pipelines, including device graph utilization and session-aware ad serving.
• Familiarity with rewarded video, native ad formats, in-app gaming monetization, and mobile-specific privacy regulations (e.g., ATT, COPPA).
• Hands-on experience with real-time ML inference pipelines, working closely with ML engineers and integrating model predictions into latency-sensitive systems.
• Practical knowledge of containerized and microservice architectures, with experience in API integrations, caching solutions, data stores, and cloud-native deployments.
• Skilled in troubleshooting production issues, performing root cause analysis, and supporting live systems with minimal downtime.
• Ability to write clean, modular, loosely coupled code and develop systems with strong observability and monitoring.
• Exposure to generative AI tools and familiarity with prompt engineering and AI-powered developer environments.
• Working knowledge of scripting languages such as Python, Shell, or Perl, and hands-on experience with relational databases, preferably MySQL.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills with a collaborative mindset and strong ownership over deliverables.
• Proficiency in AI-assisted coding, automation, prompt engineering, and an understanding of the strengths and limitations of LLM-generated code is a strong plus

AI-Enabled Engineering Mindset

We value engineers who actively leverage Generative AI tools and IDEs (e.g. GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Windsurf etc.) to accelerate development, improve code quality, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance documentation and debugging workflows. Engineers who demonstrate AI-first thinking using these tools to drive faster experimentation, ideation, and technical execution will thrive in our high-scale, performance-critical environment.

Qualifications:

• Should have a bachelors degree in engineering (CS / IT) or equivalent degree from well-known Institutes / Universities.