Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Advertiser Growth

Unity Technologies SF; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 166,000 - 273,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity awards

Employee stock ownership

Comprehensive health insurance

Commute subsidy

Job summary

Unity Technologies SF is building a world-class ad-tech ecosystem. You will architect GenAI systems to create high-performing creatives, design pacing algorithms for multi-million-dollar budgets, and ensure billing pipelines scale to massive throughput with zero-fault tolerance.

This role sits at the intersection of financial execution, creative innovation, and marketplace science, driving Unity's financial integrity and growth.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in computer science or related field or equivalent experience.
• 6+ years of software engineering, incl. 3+ years on ads delivery systems.
• Extensive backend experience with large-scale, low-latency systems in Java/Go/Scala.
• Deep familiarity with budget control systems or spend-prediction algorithms.
• Proven experience scaling experimentation platforms with variance reduction and marketplace metrics.
• Experience on mission-critical pipelines requiring data precision and fault tolerance.
• Experience building backend workflows for Generative AI model support.
• Proficiency with real-time stream processing (Kafka/Flink/Spark) for event-based charging and feedback.
• Ability to lead multi-quarter technical roadmaps and mentor senior engineers.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize budget pacing controllers to smooth advertiser spend across time zones.
• Lead backend integration of Generative AI models for asset creation.
• Build scalable infrastructure for high-velocity experimentation (A/B tests, holdouts).
• Architect and maintain high-throughput billing pipelines with 100% accuracy.
• Analyze financial and marketplace data to tune pacing and billing via experiments.

Skills

6+ years of software engineering

3+ years ads delivery systems

Java/Go/Scala experience

Budget control systems

Experimentation platforms

GenAI backend workflows

Real-time streaming

Leadership / mentoring

Education

Advanced degree in computer science or related field

Tools

Kafka

Flink

Spark

Job description

The opportunity

At Unity, we are building a world-class ad-tech ecosystem that connects billions of users with the creators and experiences they love. The Advertiser Growth team is the engine of this mission, ensuring that as our marketplace expands, advertisers have the intelligent tools, robust infrastructure, and rigorous experimentation frameworks needed to scale their impact.

In 2026, our roadmap is defined by three transformative pillars: Foundation, Smart, and Intelligence. This role is unique in its technical breadth, sitting at the intersection of financial execution, creative innovation, and marketplace science. You will architect the GenAI systems that build high-performing creatives, design the pacing algorithms that manage multi-million dollar budgets, ensure our billing pipelines handle massive scale with zero-fault tolerance, and build the experimentation infrastructure that allows us to scientifically evolve the marketplace. This is a high-stakes role where your technical leadership directly governs Unity's financial integrity and the long-term growth of our ecosystem.

What you'll be doing

• Next-Gen budget pacing: Design and optimize sophisticated pacing controllers (PID, probabilistic forecasting) to smooth advertiser spend across diverse time zones and traffic spikes, ensuring optimal delivery and marketplace stability.
• Creative GenAI infrastructure: Lead the backend integration of Generative AI models (Diffusion, LLMs) to automate the creation of high-performing image and video assets tailored to specific campaign goals and formats.
• Marketplace experimentation engine: Build and scale the infrastructure for high-velocity experimentation, including A/B testing, switchback tests, and long-term holdouts to measure the impact of marketplace changes on advertiser ROI and platform health.
• High-Scale billing reliability: Architect and maintain high-throughput billing pipelines that process billions of events with 100% accuracy, bridging the gap between real-time ad delivery and mission-critical financial reconciliation.
• Scientific optimization: Analyze complex financial and marketplace datasets to refine the trade-off between spend velocity and advertiser performance, using experimentation results to tune pacing and billing logic.

What we're looking for

• Advanced degree in computer science or relevant engineering-related field or equivalent experience.
• 6+ years of software engineering experience, including 3+ years working on ads delivery systems.
• Extensive experience building and operating large-scale, low-latency backend systems using languages like Java, Go, or Scala.
• Deep familiarity with building or maintaining budget control systems, feedback loops, or spend-prediction algorithms.
• Proven experience building or scaling experimentation platforms, with a deep understanding of variance reduction, interference/network effects, and metric design in a marketplace context.
• A track record of working on \"mission-critical\" pipelines (like billing, payments, or clearinghouses) where data precision, idempotency, and fault tolerance are paramount.
• Experience or strong technical interest in building the backend workflows required to serve, scale, and store Generative AI models for creative asset generation.
• Proficiency with real-time stream processing (Kafka, Flink, or Spark) specifically applied to event-based charging and real-time performance feedback.
• A proven ability to lead complex, multi-quarter technical roadmaps and mentor senior engineers in a high-growth environment.

You might also have

Experience embracing AI as a strategic advantage in engineering, following established best practices for code quality and security.

Additional information

Gross Annual Salary: $165,600 - $273,400 USD

This range reflects the anticipated base salary for this position. Beyond base salary, this role may be eligible for equity awards and participation in our company incentive plans (such as annual discretionary bonuses or sales commissions). The final offer amount will depend on several factors, including geographic location and the candidate's relevant experience, professional background, and skill set.

Benefits

At Unity, we want our team members to thrive. We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support well-being and work-life balance.

Please note: Benefits eligibility, specific offerings, and coverage vary based on the country and employment status.

While specific benefits vary, here are some of the ways we strive to take care of our eligible team members globally:

• Comprehensive health, life, and disability insurance
• Commute subsidy
• Employee stock ownership
• Competitive retirement/pension plans
• Generous vacation and personal days
• Support for new parents through leave and family-care programs
• Office food snacks
• Mental Health and Wellbeing programs and support
• Employee Resource Groups
• Global Employee Assistance Program
• Training and development programs
• Volunteering and donation m