Senior Software Engineer

GumGum

GumGum

Software Engineering
Santa Monica, CA, USA
USD 172k-198k / year + Equity
Posted on Nov 15, 2025

GumGum is a contextual-first, global digital advertising platform that uses advanced AI technology to serve captivating creative ads that drive consumer attention, without the use of personal data. At GumGum, we don’t need to know who you are to deliver relevant and engaging ads that align with your active frame of mind. We believe that a digital advertising industry based on context rather than personal data builds a more equitable and less invasive future for the internet and is better for consumers, publishers and advertisers alike. Our blueprint for the future, The Mindset Matrix™, combines the power of context and creative in digital advertising to deliver superior attention and drive consumer action without sacrificing personal data.

To be a part of this next phase of digital advertising that prioritizes data privacy, please visit www.gumgum.com/careers

The Ad Exchange development team at GumGum is responsible for the technical development and operations of our Ad Exchange technology. The Ad Exchange software handles a high volume of requests (40 million requests per minute) and is a highly distributed Java web service. Our team currently uses technologies such as Java, Spring, MySQL, Kafka, Aerospike, ScyllaDb, Memcached, and more.

This role works with product managers and various engineering teams to deliver on priorities for the company, making a significant impact on a key revenue stream for the business. You’ll be expected to take ownership of complex features, mentor engineers, and influence technical direction while collaborating with cross-functional partners across Product, Design, DevOps, Data Engineering and other teams.

Note: GumGum fosters a flexible work environment, offering GumGummers the ability to work either in-office or remotely/from home. For this position, in-person/office collaboration is required 2 days per week, supporting a balanced approach to flexibility and team engagement.

What You'll Achieve

  • Lead the design, development, and delivery of complex features and high volume, high traffic web services written in Java, orchestrated with Spring, and using data from MySQL, ScyllaDB and Aerospike.
  • Architect solutions with attention to performance, maintainability, and usability, solve ambiguous problems, and execute on a solution with a diverse team of engineers across various teams such as Data and Web.
  • Setup integrations with supply and demand side partners.
  • Understand ML models and integrate new optimization models into Ad Exchange.
  • Mentor and support junior and mid-level engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.
  • Write clean, maintainable, and well-tested code following best practices as a model for other team members.Investigate and resolve production issues, ensuring application reliability and performance.
  • Collaborate with Product and internal stakeholders to identify, prioritize and develop new features and improvements for our products, as well as provide support for any stakeholder issues.
  • Improve the performance of the Ad Exchange, reducing latency and infrastructure cost.
  • Take a leadership role in actively reviewing other teammates’ code and provide insightful feedback.
  • Develop a deep understanding of the advertising industry as required to be able to make decisions about our technical approach and provide our users with more efficient applications.
  • Use technology innovatively to implement various ad tech features, privacy frameworks and setup integrations with external partners
  • Contribute to internal documentation, technical blogs, or presentations to elevate engineering visibility and learning.

Skills You'll Bring

  • B.S. in Computer Science preferred or equivalent experience.
  • 6+ years of experience as an engineer with understanding of programming languages, preferably Java and Spring Framework
  • A history of successfully shipping products into production
  • Experience in taking ownership of end to end product implementation and providing stakeholder updates
  • Preferred experience in a high volume transaction system > 100k transactions/second
  • Experience in Ad Tech, CTV and Real-Time bidding is a plus
  • Excellent communication skills and demonstrated ability to work with cross-functional teams across timezones, including remote collaboration
  • Fast learner with excellent problem-solving skills in highly complex multi-threaded applications
  • Experience working with AWS and distributed systems such as Kafka, Aerospike or equivalent large scale data storage/processing systems
  • Experience with MySQL or similar RDBMS systems
  • Analytical thinking and understanding complex logic
  • An understanding of RTB (Real Time Bidding protocol)
  • Experience working with Git, Gradle, and CI/CD delivery pipelines

What We Offer

At GumGum, competitive base pay is a part of a total rewards package which also includes benefits, an emphasis on recognition, development, and wellness. The reasonable estimated base pay range for this role is from $172,000-198,000 annually. The actual amount may be higher or lower. Individual compensation will vary based on factors including, but not limited to, relevant qualifications, work location, and labor market conditions.

The total rewards package offered also includes an employer-matched 401(k) retirement plan, and depending on the role, participation in a bonus, commission, or stock incentive program. Your recruiter can share more specifics during the hiring process. Learn more about our U.S. benefits & perks package at gumgum.com/benefits.

Awards

  • Shortlisted for Marketing Technology Company of the Year for the 2023 Mumbrella Awards
  • 2024 Winner of 7 BuiltIn Awards on a national, regional, and remote scale - including Remote Best Places to Work at #25 and Best Midsize Places to Work in Los Angeles, CA at #9
  • Ad Exchanger Programmatic Power Player 2022 and 2021
  • CTO Hero Award of OTT.X 2023
  • Digiday Media Awards Europe finalist 2022 and 2021
  • Finalist for the 2023 AdExchanger Awards Best Video Technology For Media Suppliers
  • Gold Award at the IAB Mixx Awards in Belgium in the “Best Use of Advertising Technology” category
  • The Drum Award Digital Advertising: Game-changing Technology for Domino's case study

GumGum is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. At GumGum, we believe in cultivating an environment where our team members can bring their authentic, whole selves to work. Encouraging identity and belonging is one of the many aspects of our culture that makes us stronger as an organization and drives innovation. We are committed to building and delivering a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce that is representative of the world around us, where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity - and to act swiftly if this value is ever threatened. We are constantly striving to be better, and we continue to take strategic steps to advance representation.

Learn more about our DEIB programming at gumgum.com/deib

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LinkedIn: GumGum
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