Principal, Software Engineer 2, System Engineering, Ad Sales

This is a New York City, NY, based position that works both in-office (2 days/week) and remotely. #LI-Hybrid

DIRECTV is seeking a Principal Software Engineer II to lead the technical architecture, engineering design, and platform modernization of large-scale Advertising Technology systems. This role is a senior individual contributor position that blends deep hands-on engineering expertise with architecture leadership across Ad Tech platforms, AI-enabled systems, Integration, CI/CD, networking, cloud infrastructure, and production operations. The ideal candidate is a highly experienced engineer who thrives in complex, distributed platform environments, partners closely with product, architecture, operations, security, and engineering teams, and raises technical standards through architecture design, production code, automation, and operational rigor.

Here's what you'll do:

Ad Tech Platform & System Architecture

• Design, build, and evolve scalable Ad Tech platforms supporting campaign planning, ad routing, decisioning, delivery, measurement, reporting, and operational workflows.
• Own end-to-end technical architecture across application services, APIs, integrations, data flows, cloud infrastructure, networking, and platform operations.
• Ensure Ad Tech systems meet requirements for reliability, performance, scalability, security, resiliency, observability, and cost efficiency.

AI Architecture & Intelligent Platform Capabilities

• Lead architecture and engineering patterns for AI-enabled Ad Tech capabilities, including GenAI assistants, multi-agent workflows, intelligent diagnostics, decision support, automation, and platform copilots.
• Apply AI, ML, and GenAI concepts pragmatically to improve platform intelligence, engineering productivity, operational response, and business workflow automation.
• Define reusable AI architecture patterns, integration standards, governance guardrails, observability expectations, and production-readiness criteria.

CI/CD, Automation & Engineering Enablement

• Define and improve CI/CD architecture for AI, deployment patterns, release automation, environment management, infrastructure-as-code practices, and quality gates.
• Drive engineering automation that improves delivery speed, system reliability, test coverage, security compliance, and operational consistency.
• Serve as a senior technical escalation point for complex build, deployment, integration, platform reliability, and production engineering issues.

Networking, Integration & Distributed Systems

• Architect secure, resilient, and performant integrations across Ad Tech platforms, APIs, cloud services, partner systems, enterprise applications, and operational tooling.
• Apply strong networking fundamentals across connectivity, routing, DNS, load balancing, firewalls, proxies, latency, throughput, resiliency, and troubleshooting.
• Lead resolution of cross-system technical challenges spanning applications, infrastructure, networks, APIs, data movement, and downstream consumers.

Engineering Excellence & Governance

• Set standards for architecture reviews, code quality, platform observability, automated testing, reliability engineering, documentation, and operational readiness.
• Participate in design and code reviews to elevate engineering quality, security, scalability, and maintainability across teams.
• Ensure production readiness through monitoring, alerting, incident response, capacity planning, resiliency testing, and continuous improvement practices.

Here's what you'll need:

Experience & Education

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field
• 5 – 7 years required, 7 – 10 years desired of progressive experience in system engineering and system architecture roles.
• Proven experience delivering production AI/ML or GenAI systems, beyond proofs of concept.
• Experience providing technical leadership and driving cross-organizational initiatives.

Technical Skills

• Strong expertise in technical architecture, distributed systems, platform engineering, API design, cloud-native services, and production operations
• Deep understanding of Ad Tech platforms, advertising workflows, campaign lifecycle, delivery systems, measurement, reporting, and operational integrations.
• Knowledge of GenAI architectures, including LLMs, multi-agent systems, orchestration patterns, prompt engineering, evaluation, governance, and observability.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD architecture, deployment automation, infrastructure as code, automated testing, release management, and engineering productivity tooling.
• Strong networking fundamentals, including routing, DNS, load balancing, firewalls, proxies, cloud networking, connectivity troubleshooting, latency, and resiliency patterns.
• Working knowledge of data flows, analytics platforms, and AI/ML lifecycle concepts as they relate to modern Ad Tech and intelligent platform capabilities.

Leadership & Communication

• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, design, and technical execution.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to explain complex technical architectures, platform tradeoffs, AI patterns, and engineering decisions to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven track record of mentoring engineers and partnering effectively with product, architecture, operations, security, and business teams.

Strategic Thinking

• Proven ability to make strategic technical decisions considering long-term organizational impact.
• Experience with technology evaluation, vendor assessment, and build vs. buy analysis.
• Understanding of business drivers and ability to align technical solutions with business objectives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Media, Advertising, Ad Tech, or large-scale platform engineering environments.
• Prior ownership of revenue-impacting Ad Tech platforms, delivery systems, integration platforms, or operational engineering capabilities.
• Exposure to GenAI-enabled engineering, AI architecture, intelligent automation, developer productivity, or platform operations use cases.

May require a background check due to job duties requiring routine access to DIRECTV and DIRECTV customer’s proprietary data. Qualified applicants with arrest and conviction will be considered for employment in accordance with local ordinances and state law.

This role requires but is not limited to approximately 10% travel.

This is a New York City, NY, based position that works both in-office (2 days/week) and remotely. #LI-Hybrid

A career with us comes with big rewards:

DIRECTV's compensation structure is designed to be market-competitive and fully supports efforts to attract and retain employees. It is the company's policy to offer pay that is competitive with other employers in the local market. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location.

The Base Salary range displayed below reflects the minimum and maximum target salary for the position and work location(s) listed in the job posting US Labor Market Zone(s). Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

DIRECTV WAGE ZONE

N4: $178,952 - $268,307

Please note that the salary ranges reflect base salary only and do not include bonus or benefits - when you consider all of these together, it represents a pretty impressive total compensation package.

Apply today!