Principal AI/ML Engineer - AdTech

Principal AI/ML Engineer

As a Principal AI/ML Engineer in our AdTech team at Zeta Global, you will be a key individual contributor driving the development of advanced machine learning models and AI‑driven features for our advertising platform. You will design, build, and deploy ML solutions for campaign optimization, user personalization, and creative content generation at large scale with low latency.

Key Responsibilities

• Machine Learning Leadership : Lead the design and implementation of scalable, high‑performance, and resilient ML solutions for AdTech use cases, setting technical direction for AI/ML integration.
• ML System Design : Architect end‑to‑end ML pipelines, from data ingestion and training to real‑time inference, ensuring seamless integration with ad serving architecture.
• Technical Strategy : Define the technical roadmap and vision for AI/ML, evaluate emerging tools and techniques, and guide build‑vs‑buy decisions.
• AI & Agentic Applications : Develop intelligent systems using AI agents and agentic workflows to automate and optimize campaign processes, leveraging LLMs.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration : Partner with engineering, product, and data science teams to translate marketing objectives into ML solutions.
• Performance & Reliability : Ensure system robustness, optimize algorithms and infrastructure for speed and scalability, and implement monitoring for model performance.
• Mentorship & Best Practices : Provide technical guidance and mentorship to engineers and data scientists, fostering excellence in ML best practices.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering or data science, with 3‑5 years in a principal or lead ML role, preferably in AdTech/MarTech.
• Proven experience designing high‑throughput, low‑latency distributed systems or data pipelines for large‑scale applications.
• Deep expertise in the programmatic advertising ecosystem (DSPs, RTB, SSPs, ad exchanges).
• Proficiency in Java, Go, and Python for backend services and ML tooling.
• Hands‑on experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow for model development.
• Strong experience with big data and streaming frameworks such as Apache Spark, Kafka, Hadoop.
• Expertise with cloud platforms (preferably AWS) and related services for scalable ML deployment.
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases (MySQL/PostgreSQL, Cassandra, DynamoDB, Redis).
• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes for service deployment.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, able to convey complex ML concepts.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Large Language Models and generative AI applied to advertising.
• Experience designing agentic workflows for autonomous decision‑making in marketing campaigns.
• Experience serving and optimizing models for real‑time inference in latency‑critical environments.
• Familiarity with modern data lake formats (Apache Iceberg, Hudi).
• Knowledge of microservices architecture and event‑driven design patterns.
• Track record of contributions to open‑source projects or speaking at industry conferences.

Benefits & Perks

• Unlimited PTO
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Employee equity
• Employee discounts, virtual wellness classes, and pet insurance

Salary Range

The salary range for this role is $300,000 - $400,000, depending on location and experience.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Zeta considers applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, veteran status, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and actively fosters a workplace of trust and belonging.