Ad Exchange Engineer

GumGum is The Mindset Company™ transforming advertising. We're an advertising technology company delivering results by matching brands with people in the right mindset in the moments that matter. Our platform is powered by the Mindset Graph™, our AI-driven data engine that processes billions of real-time contextual, creative, environmental, and historical signals to match every ad with the most receptive audience. The result is advertising that drives meaningful outcomes for advertisers and publishers, and is more relevant for consumers.

We were founded in 2008 and are headquartered in Santa Monica, California, operating in over 19 markets across North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

Our principles guide our work every day and are as follows:

• Customer-Obsessed: We're focused on advertising solutions that solve needs and drive success for clients and partners.
• Make it Happen: We have a bias for action and take ownership to deliver results.
• Always Innovate: We push boundaries with creativity and technology.
• Foster Belonging: We ensure colleagues feel included, supported, and empowered to thrive.

To be a part of The Mindset Company™ transforming advertising, please visit

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 will support the design and implementation of projects while maximizing the efficiency and scalability of our systems.

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

• Design, develop and maintain new features and improvements to our high volume, high traffic web services written in Java, orchestrated with Spring, and using data from MySQL, ScyllaDB and Aerospike.
• Engage in technical architecture discussions, solve ambiguous problems, and execute on a solution with a team of engineers across multiple teams.
• Create algorithms to optimize KPIs such as viewability, CTR, Revenue, costs etc.
• Improve the performance of the Ad Exchange including reducing latency and cost.
• 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.
• Support and train junior engineers in technical, business, and product concepts.
• Actively review other developers' code and provide insightful feedback.
• Troubleshoot user-reported issues from the team's products.
• Investigate and resolve production issues, ensuring application reliability and performance.
• 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.
• 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.
• 2-5 years of experience as a developer with understanding of programming languages, preferably Java and Spring Framework.
• A history of successfully shipping products into production.
• Experience with AWS and distributed systems such as Kafka, DynamoDB or equivalent.
• Experience with RDBMS systems.
• Experience 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 $159,000 - $182,000. 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

• 2025 & 2026 Digiday Media Awards Europe Best Contextual Targeting Offering
• 2025 AdExchanger Awards AI Innovators, Technology & Service Provider, Finalist
• 2025 MARKETECH APAC Marketing Technology Awards Silver Winner for Best Contextual Advertising Tech Platform
• 2025 Inc. B2B Power Partner
• 2025 ExchangeWire The Wires Global Best Client Services team winner (GumGum UK)
• 2025 and 2026 BuiltIn Best U.S. Midsize Companies to Work For

DEIB and EEO Statement
GumGum is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We're committed to creating a workplace where people feel respected, supported, and able to do their best work. We believe different perspectives make us stronger and lead to better outcomes-for our teams, our partners, and our business. We strive to build an environment where individuals are treated fairly, opportunities are accessible, and everyone is held to a high standard of respect and accountability.

We're always learning and evolving as a company, and we continue to take thoughtful steps to support our people and strengthen our culture.

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