Lead Engineer, Audience Data Platform at Hearst

DescriptionOverview (Why This Role)Were looking for a Lead Engineer to help build and scale the next generation of our Audience Targeting and Contextual Intelligence Platforma system that enables privacy-safe contextually relevant advertising and deeper insights into audience engagement.Youll be the technical owner of one or more applications in this ecosystem designing scalable backend services building data pipelines and integrating with Hearsts core publishing platform. This is a full-stack engineering role where youll collaborate with dedicated frontend engineers data scientists and platform teams to deliver impactful AI-enabled advertising technology.About Hearst Magazines (Why Us)Hearst Magazines portfolio of more than 30 iconic brands in the Cosmopolitan ELLE Esquire Good Housekeeping Harpers BAZAAR and Popular Mechanics inspires entertains and builds new and bold experiences for an engaged and growing audience across digital video social and print reaching nearly 130 million readers and site visitors each month. With sophisticated content creation cutting-edge technology and industry-leading data capabilities we make media and products that move people across all platforms. We are a global media company that publishes nearly 200 magazine editions and 175 websites around the worldand together we are shaping whats next.Key Responsibilities (What You Are Doing)Lead the design and implementation of backend services and pipelines supporting contextual and audience targeting taxonomy creation and data ingestion.Architect APIs data models and streaming workflows for real-time classification recommendations and audience insights.Build and maintain Python-based (Quart/FastAPI) applications integrated with PostgreSQL Redis and event-driven architectures (AWS SNS/SQS).Collaborate with and guide frontend engineers on full-stack development using React and modern web frameworks.Integrate with core platform services for identity metadata and analytics to ensure seamless interoperability.Design and manage multi-cloud infrastructure (primarily AWS with GCP integrations for ML/data workflows).Implement robust CI/CD testing and deployment pipelines.Implement observability using Datadog Sentry and other monitoring tools.Use modern AI development tools (e.g. GitHub Copilot Codex Claude) to accelerate delivery and improve code quality.Partner with product managers and data scientists to evolve contextual AI and embedding models for privacy-safe high-performance targeting.Qualifications (What Were Looking For)8 years of software engineering experience with strong Python backend and full-stack development skills.35 years leading technical design or architecture for scalable data-intensive applications.Proficiency in PostgreSQL (including pgvector) and Redis for performance and caching.Hands-on experience cloud-based development primarily AWS (S3 RDS SNS/SQS Lambda); exposure to GCP (Pub/Sub BigQuery).Familiarity with Docker Kubernetes and modern CI/CD workflows.Comfortable using AI-assisted development tools for productivity testing and documentation.Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills across technical and non-technical partners.Hybrid role based in NYC with 4 days a week in-office.Nice to HaveExperience in building and maintaining taxonomy management systems.Knowledge of contextual or audience targeting ad-tech systems or recommendation platforms.Understanding of privacy-safe advertising first-party data frameworks and data-compliance standards (GDPR CCPA).Exposure to machine-learning workflows or AI-based personalization systems.Experience with GraphQL Elasticsearch.Experience with observability stacks (Datadog Sentry).Benefits (What We Offer)Work with the Best: Collaborate with top-tier professionals across media advertising tech fashion lifestyle and publishing shaping the future of these dynamic industries.Grow Your Skills: Unlock your potential with access to innovative training programs immersive workshops and exclusive industry events.Work-Life Harmony: Enjoy the flexibility of hybrid work empowering you to balance professional success with personal priorities.Foster Connection & Belonging: Join our Employee Resource Groups and help create a welcoming workplace where everyone feels valued and empowered.Wellness First: Prioritize your well-being with a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical dental and vision insurance from Day 1.Plan for Your Financial Future: Enjoy competitive financial perks including a 401(k) plan with a generous company match.The base salary for this role is between$168000 - $204000. The actual base pay offered is dependent upon many factors such as: transferable skills work experience business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.Hearst is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color religion sex sexual orientation gender identity national origin disability protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. Key Skills Apache Hive,S3,Hadoop,Redshift,Spark,AWS,Apache Pig,NoSQL,Big Data,Data Warehouse,Kafka,Scala Employment Type : Full-Time Experience: years Vacancy: 1