Software Engineer 5 - Live Ads Management

Software Engineer 5 - Live Ads Management

Los Gatos, California, United States of America • New York, New York, United States of America

At Netflix, our mission is to entertain the world. Together, we are writing the next episode - pushing the boundaries of storytelling, global fandom and making the unimaginable a reality. We are a dream team obsessed with the uncomfortable excitement of discovering what happens when you merge creativity, intuition and cutting-edge technology. Come be a part of what's next.

We launched a new ad-supported tier in November 2022, offering more choice to members while providing a new, high-impact way for advertisers to connect with deeply engaged audiences. We are now building a world-class offering around booking, managing, and delivering ads for Live Events.

The Ads Platform Engineering organization builds the foundation that powers every ad delivered on Netflix. We design systems that seamlessly integrate advertising into our world-class content delivery ecosystem — blending advanced encoding, metadata intelligence, and client-server innovations to deliver ads that are personalized, performant, and respectful of the viewing experience.

The Live Ads Management team is at the forefront of this evolution. We focus on:

• Planning and execution of ads for Netflix Live Events like recurring WWE events, NFL Christmas game, WBC Japan and FIFA Women's World Cup 2027.
• Partnering with Ad Serving and streaming teams to ensure flawless Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) during live streams.
• Building next-generation applications to power ad operations — from UI tooling to automated, agentic workflows that dynamically generate ad manifests and intelligent ad-sourcing to scale for millions of concurrent viewers

We're a new team with a bold mission — to build high-performance, intelligent ad systems that monetize Netflix's expanding live slate while setting a new benchmark for quality and innovation in the Connected TV (CTV) ecosystem.

We are seeking highly motivated engineers with a passion for advertising technology, live streaming, and large-scale distributed systems to join us on this journey.

What You'll Do

• Architect and scale systems that support diverse live event formats and real-time ad delivery across global audiences.
• Partner cross-functionally with Ad Serving, Forecasting, Product, Data Science, Engineering, and Player teams to deliver seamless DAI experiences.
• Build robust automation for availability checks, manifest creation, and real-time optimization of live event monetization.
• Develop cloud-native services and AI-driven agentic workflows to enhance operational efficiency and ad yield.
• Ensure advertiser brand safety, viewer experience integrity, and system reliability during live broadcasts.
• Contribute to the broader Netflix Ads Platform vision by influencing architecture, standards, and live ad tech evolution

What We're Looking For

• Experience in streaming/content delivery, programmatic advertising, DAI (Dynamic Ad Insertion), or broadcast/live ad workflows.
• Proven ability to design and scale distributed systems in the cloud using modern languages (Java, Go, Scala, or similar) and technologies (GraphQL).
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, evolving environments, driving clarity amid ambiguity and influencing across teams.
• Strong technical communication and collaboration skills, especially when working with Ad Ops, Player, and Data Science partners.

Nice to haves:

• Contributions to ad tech standards (e.g., VAST, OpenRTB) or participation in industry working groups.
• Familiarity with content delivery networks (CDNs), video streaming protocols, live streaming, and ad delivery pipelines.
• Awareness of ads compliance and regulatory landscapes across global markets.
• Experience in CTV or OTT environments and understanding of their unique latency and performance tradeoffs.

Generally, our compensation structure consists solely of an annual salary; we do not have bonuses. You choose each year how much of your compensation you want in salary versus stock options. To determine your personal top of market compensation, we rely on market indicators and consider your specific job family, background, skills, and experience to determine your compensation in the market range. The range for this role is $388,000.00 - $558,000.00.

Netflix provides comprehensive benefits including Health Plans, Mental Health support, a 401(k) Retirement Plan with employer match, Stock Option Program, Disability Programs, Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts, Family-forming benefits, and Life and Serious Injury Benefits. We also offer paid leave of absence programs. Full-time hourly employees accrue 35 days annually for paid time off to be used for vacation, holidays, and sick paid time off. Full-time salaried employees are immediately entitled to flexible time off.

Inclusion is a Netflix value and we strive to host a meaningful interview experience for all candidates. If you want an accommodation/adjustment for a disability or any other reason during the hiring process, please send a request to your recruiting partner.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and celebrate diversity, recognizing that diversity builds stronger teams. We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.