Senior Software Engineer — Real-Time Ad Serving

As a Senior Software Engineer on the LiveIntent Real-Time Ad Serving team, you will design, develop, and own the business logic that powers programmatic advertising at scale — ad selection, targeting, frequency capping, budget pacing, and delivery optimization. The real-time platform is built on C++ and Lua: C++ provides the high-performance server framework, while Lua implements the business logic layer. You will work primarily in Lua, developing and evolving the features that directly serve LiveIntent's product — ensuring advertisers get the best outcomes and publishers maximize their revenue. While we're open to candidates with experience in any backend language, a willingness to work with Lua is essential — we provide time and the right environment to get up to speed.

You will collaborate closely with Product, working on features that directly impact LiveIntent's customers — from ad targeting and delivery to reporting and optimization. This is a hands-on engineering role where your code runs in production handling billions of daily transactions. This is a hybrid/remote role based out of our Berlin, Germany or Prague, Czech Republic offices.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES Develop and optimize business logic in Lua for ad selection, targeting, frequency capping, and budget pacing Design, build, and maintain real-time services processing 200K+ requests per second with strict latency requirements Work closely with Product to deliver features that meet advertiser and publisher needs Ensure code quality through code reviews, automated testing, and continuous integration Participate in architecture discussions and influence the technical roadmap Participate in on-call rotation to support production systems DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS 5+ years of software engineering experience in backend development Deep understanding of computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, performance optimization Experience building and operating distributed systems in production Exposure to the full software development lifecycle — from design to

production and monitoring Strong commitment to code quality, automated testing, and documentation Proficient English (the interview process will be held in English) Experience with Lua or willingness to learn (we provide time and the right environment) Experience in online advertising / ad tech (RTB, programmatic, DSP/SSP) is a plus Proficiency in a systems-level language (C++, Go, Rust, or Java) is a plus Experience with MongoDB and real-time data processing is a plus Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS) at scale is a plus Experience with AI-assisted development tools and agentic workflows is a plus Experience with OpenRTB protocol and ad exchange integrations is a plus BENEFITS & PERKS Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage PEOPLE & CULTURE AT ZETA Senior Software Engineer — Real-Time Ad Serving • London, England, United Kingdom