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RealSelf is the leading & most trusted source for people considering an elective cosmetic treatment.
The Role
The Senior Software Engineer will rebuild and modernize RealSelf's advertising infrastructure, working on backend services and ensuring system reliability and scalability.
Summary Generated by Built In
About RealSelf
For two decades, RealSelf has been the trusted authority in the aesthetics space. Now, we're evolving into a dynamic digital ecosystem that puts consumers at the center of their aesthetic journey. As the only destination combining verified patient experiences, board-certified doctor insights, and cutting-edge technology, RealSelf empowers millions to make confident, informed decisions.
Role Overview
Our NYC-based engineering team is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to rebuild and modernize RealSelf’s advertising infrastructure.
You will work across the stack, designing and building backend services, testing into optimized frontend experiences, and ensuring our ad systems are reliable and scalable.
This is a hands-on engineering role where you will collaborate with sales managers, designers, and other engineers. You’ll directly shape how millions of users engage with RealSelf while contributing to the foundation of our next-generation technology platform.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and lead the architecture for RealSelf’s AdTech infrastructure, including sponsored listings, native ads, GAM integrations, eventing, and performance tracking and optimization pipelines.
- Build and scale backend services using Kevel, Node.js, TypeScript, and SQL that manage ad delivery, budget pacing, and impression tracking.
- Refine data ingestion and attribution systems that connect first-party engagement data with off-platform signals to improve targeting and measurement.
- Collaborate across engineering and analytics to design APIs, data contracts, and machine learning data feeds used for ad optimization.
- Mentor and guide engineers, setting standards for code quality, observability, reliability, and system performance.
- Partner with product, sales, and leadership to define the roadmap for RealSelf’s ad and sponsorship systems, ensuring technical scalability and compliance with privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.).
- Lead key modernization initiatives, such as launching self-service provider onboarding and migrating legacy systems into event-driven, privacy-aware data pipelines.
- Own reliability and uptime metrics for all monetization-related backend services.
Requirements:
- 5+ years of backend or infrastructure engineering experience, with at least 1+ years in AdTech, Ads Measurement, or Revenue-focused systems.
- Deep understanding of ad delivery, targeting, and attribution systems (e.g., GAM, Facebook Ads, or custom-built ad servers).
- Proven experience designing high-throughput, low-latency distributed systems in Node.js, TypeScript, or Go and Python (Django)
- Strong foundation in data modeling, event-driven architecture, and analytics pipelines.
- Familiarity with Ads privacy frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, ATT) and privacy-preserving measurement techniques.
- Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred), infrastructure-as-code tools (CloudFormation, CDK, or similar), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and CI/CD best practices.Proficiency in leveraging AI tools to accelerate code delivery and improve quality.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with experience working cross-functionally with data, ML, and product teams.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
Bonus Qualities:
- Experience integrating or extending Google Ad Manager (GAM) or similar ad-serving platforms.
- Knowledge of Ads attribution and measurement models (conversion lift, brand lift, multi-touch attribution).
- Hands-on experience with data warehouse and analytics tools (Snowflake, BigQuery, dbt, Airflow).
- Familiarity with ML-driven optimization pipelines (e.g., bid optimization or personalization models).
- Previous work in consumer marketplaces or healthcare tech.
Benefits:
- You’ll work alongside our inspiring world-class team to create content and build products that connect and empower millions of people around the world, wherever they may be on their aesthetics journey.
- Health benefits: We offer comprehensive benefits for medical, dental and vision 100% paid for by RealSelf at the employee level.
- Work-life balance: Enjoy paid time off, including no work on your birthday and Summer Fridays, as well as generous leave options for life events such as becoming a parent.
- 401(k) matching: Plan for the future and take advantage of our 401(k) plan with a company match.
- Treatment reimbursement: At RealSelf, we encourage our team to walk in our audience’s shoes. That’s why we offer a cosmetic treatment reimbursement program to employees who would like to take on a more active role as the consumer.
- Company holidays: We believe in celebrating holidays! Enjoy time off during our 12 company-wide holidays + no work on your birthday!
- Hybrid NYC office: We recognize that there’s no one size fits all with office culture. That’s why we believe in a flexible hybrid schedule for our New York City employees, who can enjoy the benefits of in-person collaboration in our office as well as deep work time while remote at home.
RealSelf is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.
More About RealSelf
Adweek -Cosmetic Surgery Platform RealSelf Appoints New CEO to Spur Editorial Expansion
Tech Crunch - RealSelf, a community for cosmetic treatments, raises $40 million
Top Skills
Airflow
AWS
BigQuery
Cdk
CloudFormation
Dbt
Docker
Go
Kubernetes
Node.js
Snowflake
Typescript
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The Company
What We Do
Our goal is to empower every person to realize their most confident self.
RealSelf is the leading consumer destination in the $32B US medical aesthetics market. We make the experience of choosing a procedure and connecting with the right doctor easy, personal, and trusted.
Since 2006 our authentic reviews, unbiased ratings, and expert answers from board-certified doctors have helped tens of millions of people explore their options, from skincare to laser skin resurfacing to highly considered cosmetic surgery.
With the backing of world-class investors, we’re growing RealSelf into a global business with a broad range of services.
Why Work With Us
We’re still a startup, so we take pride in working smart, hard, and fast.
At RealSelf, the people are authentic and our work is inspiring. Whether you are helping a user build confidence by connecting with a provider or volunteering with coworkers as part of our philanthropy efforts, your work will have a purpose.
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