Who gets hired, and why
Data
Java backend
GenAI
Go
C/C++ systems
Test
ML
Also present
Data engineers. Every ad shown, clicked and bought produces data that decides the next bid. Data engineers build those pipelines in Python and Java with Spark, Kafka, Airflow, Scala and BigQuery, at the healthcare advertising platform DeepIntent, the connected-TV ad company LG Ad Solutions and the dynamic-creative company Jivox. They are more than three times as common here as at a typical product company.
Java backend engineers. Java engineers build the ad servers, bidding and campaign systems at PubMatic, the mobile ad companies, like Verve and InMobi, Yahoo's ad business and the TV-ad company INVIDI Technologies. Java holds about its usual place, and it is hired entirely with experience.
GenAI engineers. Advertising is full of copy, images and targeting decisions that AI models can help with. GenAI engineers build those features at PubMatic, Media.net and the AI marketing company Pixis, in Python with LangChain and LlamaIndex. They are above their usual weight, and their jobs stay open longer than most here.
Go engineers. An ad auction must answer in milliseconds. PubMatic builds much of its auction engine in Go, and it hires most of the Go engineers here. They are more than three times as common here as elsewhere.
C/C++ systems engineers. The fastest parts of the ad server run close to the machine. PubMatic and the location-advertising company Blis hire C/C++ systems engineers on Linux, with compilers and assembler, and they are hired with experience.
Test engineers. Testers hold about their usual place, at the ad-spend management company Mediaocean, DeepIntent and Media.net.
ML engineers. Media.net and the mobile ad platform Aarki hire ML engineers who build models that predict clicks and match ads to pages. They are several times as common here as at a typical product company.
Also present. Mobile engineers at GreedyGame, which helps app makers earn from ads, at Affinity Global, which runs a supply-side platform and sells rich-media ad formats, and at the deep-linking company Branch, cloud engineers, a little below their usual weight, Node engineers at PubMatic, Python engineers at the retargeting company Criteo, and full-stack engineers at the marketing-analytics company Clarisights.
Rare here. .NET engineers are less common than at most product companies, and SAP and firmware work barely appear.
Where in the Industry Vertical the work is
Market Segment 34.1Ad buying platforms (DSPs) and ad networks hires the most. Buying on the phone, the web and the television hires Java, data, cloud and Python engineers at the mobile, web and connected-TV ad companies, like Verve and LG Ad Solutions, Planning the campaign and making the ad hires test, data and GenAI engineers at the ad-spend and dynamic-creative companies, and Ads aimed at doctors, job-seekers and shoppers hires data and test engineers at DeepIntent.
Market Segment 34.2Publisher ad monetisation platforms (SSPs) is almost as large, through PubMatic in Pune and Media.net in Bengaluru, hiring Go, Java, GenAI, C/C++, test and ML engineers.
Market Segment 34.3Ad verification and marketing measurement hires little, a few GenAI, full-stack and mobile engineers at marketing-measurement start-ups, like Lifesight and Fospha.
Some companies listed here have their main home elsewhere. They are Epsilon and dunnhumby (Market Segments 13.3 and 13.7, in Industry Vertical 13, Martech), Joveo (Market Segment 12.4, in Industry Vertical 12, HR tech) and CommerceIQ (Market Segment 27.2, in Industry Vertical 27, Retail tech). Together they post nearly as many jobs as the companies whose home is here, and their hiring is described where they live.
Bengaluru leads, through Media.net and the mobile, TV and creative ad companies. Pune is a strong second, through PubMatic, DeepIntent and Mediaocean, and Mumbai hires a little.