Principal Data Engineer

About the role

We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer (Data) with deep roots in adtech data infrastructure and a genuine conviction about what AI-native data engineering looks like in practice. This is a specialized principal-level engineering role focused on Sovrn’s Data Collective.

What you'll be doing

• Data Platform & Architecture - Own the design and evolution of data platform systems that operate at exchange scale; high throughput, real-time streaming, and always-on batch pipelines
• Lead architectural decisions across data infrastructure: pipeline design, data modeling, lakehouse architecture, and data services layers
• Specify data platform components and configurations required for pipeline implementation; define pipeline observability to understand and improve performance at massive scale
• Research, implement, and evolve methods to process and democratize data across the organization
• Drive technical standards, design reviews, and engineering best practices across a senior team
• Partner with product, data science, and platform teams to ship end-to-end AI & Agentic Engineering Leadership
• Establish and champion AI engineering practices across the team, from prompt engineering and RAG patterns to agentic workflow design, LLM evaluation, and progressive implementation of agentic design patterns
• Identify high-leverage opportunities to apply AI in our data stack: intelligent pipeline optimization, anomaly detection, automated data quality, forecasting, and LLM-powered data services
• Lead the evolution of our existing LLM and agentic tooling from passive use to intentional, well-architected integration within our data platform
• Set standards for how we evaluate, trust, and operate AI-powered systems in production, including observability, fallback behavior, and model governance
• Help the broader engineering team build fluency and confidence with AI tooling, not just tolerance of it
• Collaboration & Mentorship - Provide domain expertise across the organization to enable business growth through data services and data models
• Provide counsel to all consumers and stakeholders of data to enable efficient and impactful use of our data assets
• Mentor and level up engineers through code review, design collaboration, and hands-on guidance; foster a culture of innovation and continuous learning

Requirements

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with a strong data engineering and backend track record
• 5+ years working specifically in adtech data infrastructure, SSP, DSP, exchange, or ad server environments
• Deep fluency in the programmatic ecosystem: OpenRTB, bid request/response flows, auction mechanics, supply path optimization, or similar
• Excellent understanding of real-time streaming and batch pipelines, big data, and data lakes; hands-on experience in distributed data processing in the AWS ecosystem
• Strong understanding of second-layer big data platforms such as Snowflake and Databricks, applicable use cases, best practices, implementation, and support considerations
• Strong experience in structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data techniques; metadata management, data lineage, and data governance
• Experience with data security and compliance (PII, CCPA, GDPR, etc.)
• Demonstrated experience leading AI or agentic engineering efforts in production environments; not just experimentation, but shipped, operated, and iterated on
• Hands-on experience with LLM integration patterns: RAG, vector DBs, tool use, multi-step agentic workflows, prompt engineering, and evaluation frameworks
• Ability to clearly document and communicate architectural concepts at multiple levels; ability to lead problem definition, solution designs, and implementation work plans
• Understanding of DevOps and SRE practices
• Comfort driving technical decisions in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
• A point of view on where AI is and isn’t the right tool, and the credibility to make that case

Qualifications

• Location: Sovrn offices are located in Boulder, CO and New York, NY. We believe collaboration and shared purpose lead to deeper relationships, more creative problem-solving, and more learning, faster. For employees located near one of our offices, working in-person is our default. We trust people to use personal agency when focused work or life circumstances call for flexibility.
• We would consider remote locations in these states: AZ, CA, CO, GA, MD, MA, MI, MO, NJ, NY, NC, OK, TX, UT, WA.

Pay and Benefits

• The base pay range for this position is $200,000 to $240,000 annually. In addition to the base salary, the total compensation package includes bonus, equity, and benefits.
• Actual earnings may vary depending on the candidate’s direct experience, skills, industry knowledge, and location.
• Sovrn offers a full slate of benefits from competitive salaries, stock options, medical, dental, and vision coverage, short and long-term disability, life insurance, 11 paid holidays, flexible vacation, commuter benefits, a 401(k) plan and match, and a paid parental leave program.