Senior Backend Ads Engineer - HTS Media Services

Hopper; Boston; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading travel technology firm is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to enhance its advertising platform. The role involves designing and creating high-performance microservices for ad serving while ensuring system optimization and reliability. Candidates should have over 5 years of experience in software development, particularly in ad tech. Benefits include competitive salary, unlimited PTO, and comprehensive health coverage, supporting an entrepreneurial culture that values innovation and impact.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Unlimited PTO

Travel stipend

Flexible workspace options

Generous parental leave

Open communication with management

Dynamic teams

100% employer paid health coverage

Disability and Life insurance

Health Reimbursement Account

Access to 401k plan

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software development experience focused on backend systems.
• Experience in ad tech, real-time bidding, and ad campaign management.
• Proven ability in designing high-throughput, low-latency services.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy microservices for ad serving and targeting.
• Optimize system performance to meet low-latency requirements.
• Build resilient, fault-tolerant systems with robust monitoring.

Skills

Distributed systems

Backend development

Ad tech knowledge

Cloud environment experience

High-performance databases

System design expertise

Job description

About HTS Media

HTS Media is Hopper’s advertising and media division, built to help travel brands, destinations, and suppliers connect with travelers at scale. We power advertising placements across Hopper’s app and through our B2B partner network, which includes global brands like Capital One Travel and TripAdvisor. Our mission is to build the travel industry’s leading retail media network, turning advertising into a major driver of profitability for Hopper and our partners, much like Instacart, Uber, and Amazon have done in their sectors.

About the Role

As a Senior Backend Engineer on the HTS Media team, you will be a core contributor to the engine that powers our entire advertising platform. You will be responsible for designing, building, and scaling the high-throughput, low-latency services that handle ad requests, run auctions, and serve millions of relevant offers to travelers in real-time. This is a mission-critical role where your work will directly impact platform performance, advertiser success, and Hopper’s bottom line.

You will tackle complex challenges inherent to the ad tech space, from optimizing our real-time bidding (RTB) logic to ensuring millisecond response times under heavy load. You will serve as a technical leader, mentoring other engineers, driving architectural decisions, and setting the standard for high-quality, scalable code. If you are passionate about building distributed systems that operate at a massive scale, this is the role for you.

Responsibilities

• Build the Core Engine: Design, develop, and deploy high-performance microservices for ad serving, targeting, and bidding.

• Optimize for Scale and Speed: Obsess over system performance, identifying and eliminating bottlenecks to ensure our services meet stringent low-latency requirements.

• Ensure High Availability: Build resilient, fault-tolerant systems and implement robust monitoring to maintain rock-solid reliability.

• Drive Technical Excellence: Lead architectural discussions, conduct code reviews, and champion best practices in software development.

• Collaborate for Impact: Partner closely with product managers, data engineers, and the rest of the engineering team to ship cohesive, high-impact features.>

• Mentor and Lead: Provide technical guidance and mentorship to other engineers on the team, helping to level up the entire organization.

Experience

• 5+ years of professional software development experience, with a focus on building distributed, backend systems.

• Direct experience in ad tech or retail media is required. This includes familiarity with concepts like ad serving, real-time bidding, and ad campaign management.

• Proven track record of designing and operating high-throughput, low-latency services in a cloud environment.

• Strong experience with high-performance databases and caching systems.

• Deep understanding of system design, data structures, and algorithms.

• A strong sense of ownership and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment where you can make a significant impact.

Perks and benefits of working with us:

• Well-funded and proven startup with large ambitions, competitive salary and the upsides of pre‑IPO equity packages.

• Unlimited PTO.

• Carrot Cash travel stipend.

• Access to co‑working space on demand through FlexDesk AND Work‑from‑home stipend.

• Please ask us about our very generous parental leave, much above industry standards!.

• Entrepreneurial culture where pushing limits and taking risks is everyday business.

• Open communication with management and company leadership.

• Small, dynamic teams = massive impact.

• 100% employer paid Medical, Dental and Vision coverage for employees.

• Access to Disability & Life insurance.

• Health Reimbursement Account (HRA).

• DCA/ FSA and access to 401k plan.