Hopper is hiring: Senior Backend Ads Engineer - HTS Media Services in Austin

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About HTS Media

HTS Media is Hopper’s advertising and media division, built to help travel brands, destinations, and suppliers connect with travelers at scale. We power advertising placements across Hopper’s app and through our B2B partner network, which includes global brands like Capital One Travel and TripAdvisor. Our mission is to build the travel industry’s leading retail media network, turning advertising into a major driver of profitability for Hopper and our partners.

About The Role

As a Senior Backend Engineer on the HTS Media team, you will be a core contributor to the engine that powers our entire advertising platform. You will design, build, and scale high‑throughput, low‑latency services that handle ad requests, run auctions, and serve millions of relevant offers to travelers in real time. This is a mission‑critical role where your work will directly impact platform performance, advertiser success, and Hopper’s bottom line.

Responsibilities

• Build the Core Engine: Design, develop, and deploy high‑performance microservices for ad serving, targeting, and bidding.
• Optimize for Scale and Speed: Obsess over system performance, identifying and eliminating bottlenecks to ensure our services meet stringent low‑latency requirements.
• Ensure High Availability: Build resilient, fault‑tolerant systems and implement robust monitoring to maintain rock‑solid reliability.
• Drive Technical Excellence: Lead architectural discussions, conduct code reviews, and champion best practices in software development.
• Collaborate for Impact: Partner closely with product managers, data engineers, and the rest of the engineering team to ship cohesive, high‑impact features.
• Mentor and Lead: Provide technical guidance and mentorship to other engineers on the team, helping to level up the entire organization.

Experience

• 5+ years of professional software development experience, with a focus on building distributed, backend systems.
• Direct experience in ad tech or retail media is required, including familiarity with concepts like ad serving, real‑time bidding, and ad campaign management.
• Proven track record of designing and operating high‑throughput, low‑latency services in a cloud environment.
• Strong experience with high‑performance databases and caching systems.
• Deep understanding of system design, data structures, and algorithms.
• A strong sense of ownership and the ability to thrive in a fast‑paced, entrepreneurial environment where you can make a significant impact.

Perks And Benefits Of Working With Us

• Well‑funded and proven startup with large ambitions, competitive salary and the upsides of pre‑IPO equity packages.
• Unlimited PTO.
• Carrot Cash travel stipend.
• Access to co‑working space on demand through FlexDesk AND work‑from‑home stipend.
• Generous parental leave, much above industry standards.
• Entrepreneurial culture where pushing limits and taking risks is everyday business.
• Open communication with management and company leadership.
• Small, dynamic teams = massive impact.
• 100% employer‑paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees.
• Access to disability & life insurance.
• Health reimbursement account (HRA).
• 401(k) plan.

More About Hopper

At Hopper, we are on a mission to become the leading travel platform globally – powering Hopper’s mobile app, website and our B2B business, HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions). By leveraging massive amounts of data and advanced machine learning algorithms, Hopper combines its world‑class travel agency offering with proprietary fintech products to bring transparency, flexibility and savings to travelers worldwide.