Data Engineer
About the job
- A Bachelor's or Master's degree in an engineering discipline (BEng/MEng).
- One to two years of experience in a technical field.
- Competency in Python and SQL.
- Knowledge of systems engineering principles and product lifecycle management.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills.
- Design, build, and operate complex workflows using Apache Airflow.
- Design, build, and operate data transformation pipelines in Snowflake and dbt.
- Design, build, and manage distributed data science inference systems across multi-cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform.
About the company
Zefr provides privacy-friendly contextual advertising, focusing on placing ads alongside video content on platforms like YouTube and Facebook without using personal data. Its Contextual Data Management Platform captures and organizes brands’ preferences to activate targeted campaigns with pre-flight targeting and impression-level transparency. The product works by analyzing contextual signals to ensure ads appear next to content aligned with a brand’s values, delivering customized video-level targeting that aims to boost metrics such as view-through rates, aided awareness, and brand favorability. Compared with competitors, Zefr emphasizes privacy compliance and transparent targeting, offering dynamic, video-focused solutions that optimize ad performance while respecting user privacy. The goal is to help brands reach the right audiences in a privacy-safe way and achieve a stronger return on investment for their video campaigns.
Company Size
201-500
Company Stage
Series E
Total Funding
$65.1M
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
Founded
2009
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- July 2026 partnerships with Black C Media and RedC Media open Türkiye, GCC, Egypt.
- Opti launched before Google's August 17, 2026 shift, protecting Demand Gen economics.
- Zefr expanded Threads pre-bid controls, deepening Meta penetration across a fast-growing placement.
What critics are saying
- Google's August 17, 2026 bid-optimization change compresses Zefr's YouTube pricing power immediately.
- Reddit partnership announced September 30, 2026 lacks pricing, rollout, and pre-bid enforcement details.
- If Google or Meta internalize suitability tools, Zefr's core walled-garden moat erodes fast.
What makes Zefr unique
- MRC-accredited content-level YouTube brand safety distinguishes Zefr from broad-channel verification vendors.
- Zain and AdCP connect insights to activation across YouTube, TikTok, and Meta.
- Zefr combines multimodal AI with human review for nuanced brand suitability at scale.
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Benefits
Flexible Paid Time Off
Medical, dental, and vision insurance with FSA options
Company-paid life insurance
Paid parental leave
401(k) with company match
Professional development opportunities
14 paid holidays off
Flexible hybrid work schedules
Summer Fridays
In-office lunches and lots of free food
Optional in-person and virtual events (we like to celebrate!)
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
1%1 year growth
1%2 year growth
0%Zefr, Reddit partner to bring ai-powered brand suitability to advertising. The Zefr-Reddit partnership gives advertisers greater confidence to reach highly engaged communities through advanced AI-powered contextual intelligence. Zefr, the provider of AI-powered brand safety and suitability solutions for walled garden environments, has announced a partnership with Reddit to provide advertisers with advanced AI-powered content-level intelligence, insights, brand safety and suitability measurement solutions across Reddit's rapidly growing advertising platform. Reddit has become an increasingly important destination for product discovery, research, recommendations, and purchase decisions, giving advertisers an opportunity to reach consumers within highly engaged, interest-driven communities. The depth and nuance that make these conversations valuable also create an opportunity for advertisers to reach relevant audiences and unlock valuable inventory with greater precision - but doing so requires contextually adaptive approaches to brand suitability. Through this partnership, advertisers can move beyond broad content classifications to better understand the context surrounding Reddit conversations, giving them greater confidence, transparency and control as they scale campaigns across the platform. Rather than relying on restrictive filtering, Zefr's multimodal AI and contextual intelligence enable advertisers to better align campaigns with suitable conversations across Reddit, helping protect brand reputation while maximising campaign performance. Together, Reddit's community-based platform and Zefr's industry-leading content understanding give advertisers greater confidence to scale investment in one of today's fastest-growing digital advertising channels and the ability to reach valuable audiences and uncover new opportunities for engagement. "Our approach is about giving advertisers the intelligence to understand context, not just block against it. By bringing Zefr's content intelligence to Reddit, we can help brands better understand where and how they show up, uncover valuable audiences, and ultimately turn greater transparency into greater opportunity and performance," said Rich Raddon, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Zefr. Nishe Modoyan, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing at Reddit, said, "Reddit brings together communities across billions of posts and conversations, where people exchange knowledge, ask questions, and make decisions around the topics they care about." "By working with Zefr, we're helping brands account for the nuance of those conversations as they connect with the communities that matter to them most." The announcement marks another milestone in Zefr's continued expansion across the world's largest walled gardens and social platforms. The company currently provides AI-powered brand safety, suitability, and verification solutions across YouTube, TikTok, Meta, Snapchat, and other leading digital platforms, helping global brands navigate increasingly complex content environments through transparent, AI-driven measurement and optimisation. The partnership also reflects the growing importance of contextual intelligence as AI transforms digital advertising. As consumer discovery increasingly shifts toward community-driven conversations and AI-powered search experiences, advertisers require deeper content understanding to effectively balance reach, relevance, and brand suitability. Zefr's technology is designed to adapt to the unique needs and standards of individual brands, providing intelligence that can inform media quality, suitability, audience strategy, and campaign performance. Sophia Bennett is a news curator at Martechvibe, covering global developments across marketing technology, digital transformation, AI, data, and customer experience trends. View More
Zefr announces the launch of Opti. Opti is designed to help advertisers running lower-funnel and conversion-focused campaigns minimise potential bidding friction and cost inflation as auction dynamics evolve. Zefr, a company in AI-powered responsibility across walled gardens, has announced the launch of Opti, a new solution designed to help brands maintain control over media costs while maximising the performance of YouTube Demand Gen and Performance Max campaigns. Opti arrives ahead of YouTube's August 17 changes to target bid optimisation. It is designed to help advertisers running lower-funnel and conversion-focused campaigns minimise potential bidding friction and cost inflation as auction dynamics evolve. "YouTube is successfully moving down the funnel for advertisers, and Demand Gen and Performance Max are critical parts of the performance mix," said Jonathan Berke, Senior Vice President, Platform Development, Zefr. "With Opti, advertisers can continue to take advantage of these campaign types while managing the potential impact of changing auction dynamics on efficiency." As marketers place greater emphasis on performance and return on investment, YouTube has evolved from primarily a TV alternative into a powerful performance engine. Demand Gen and Performance Max campaigns are central to that evolution, helping advertisers generate measurable results across the customer journey. Zefr's brand suitability intelligence has already helped advertisers confidently expand their investment across YouTube. Opti builds on that foundation by bringing greater control and confidence to advertisers' bidding strategies as the platform's auction model changes. As a privately held AI company focused on maximising advertising effectiveness within walled gardens, Zefr developed Opti in direct response to Google's recent update to target bid optimisation. Sophia Bennett is a news curator at Martechvibe, covering global developments across marketing technology, digital transformation, AI, data, and customer experience trends. View More
Zefr has launched Opti, a solution designed to help brands control media costs whilst maximising performance of YouTube Demand Gen and Performance Max campaigns. The launch precedes YouTube's 17 August changes to target bid optimisation. Opti aims to help advertisers running lower-funnel and conversion-focused campaigns minimise potential bidding friction and cost inflation as auction dynamics evolve. The tool brings greater control to advertisers' bidding strategies as YouTube's auction model changes. "YouTube is successfully moving down the funnel for advertisers, and Demand Gen and Performance Max are critical parts of the performance mix," said Jonathan Berke, senior vice president of platform development at Zefr. Opti is available immediately to all Zefr customers worldwide for YouTube activations.
Zefr expands strategic partner network across Türkiye, GCC and Egypt with Black C Media and RedC Media. Partnership brings AI-powered cross-platform content intelligence, brand safety and suitability solutions to regional advertisers and agencies. Zefr, the leading provider of AI-powered brand safety and suitability solutions for walled garden environments, today announced strategic partnerships with Black C Media and RedC Media to expand support for advertisers and agencies across Türkiye, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Egypt. Under the partnership, Black C Media will serve as Zefr's official partner in Türkiye, while RedC Media will support the GCC region, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, as well as Egypt. The partnership combines Zefr's AI-powered technology with Black C Media and RedC Media's local market expertise, agency relationships and hands-on activation support. Together, the companies will give advertisers and agencies an additional way to access Zefr's contextual, brand safety and suitability capabilities on YouTube, supported by local sales, campaign activation, strategic guidance tailored to regional market dynamics and languages including Turkish, Arabic and English, and managed service support where needed. "Türkiye, GCC and Egypt are not only fast-growing digital markets, they are culturally rich and highly nuanced regions where local context and cultural sensitivity are everything. We are proud to partner with Black C Media and RedC Media to bring Zefr's patented content intelligence to advertisers and agencies in the region. Together, we're enabling brands to activate on YouTube and across social platforms with a video-level precision and relevance so every dollar works harder," said Alexandra Kondrashtina, MENA Commercial Lead at Zefr. "In Türkiye, brands' sensitivity to high-risk and unsafe content has never been higher, and YouTube - where thousands of videos are uploaded every day - is the country's largest media platform. "Zefr's suitability layer, which processes every frame with AI, finds the most relevant context for each brand within this massive content flow while helping brands avoid unsuitable or high-risk ad environments. Thetimesofuae at Black C Media are proud to bring this new capability to the Turkish advertising market. "From now on, brands on YouTube will be able to reach their audiences at the right moment and in the right context - while helping direct investment toward quality content and creators," said Cengiz Coşkun, Managing Director, Black C Media - Türkiye. "In the GCC, where YouTube consumption is exceptional - users spend more than 60 minutes daily with a penetration of 94%+ - however, scale alone is not enough. In today's complex social media environment filled with controversial & misinformative content, brands need quality scale - placements that protect suitability, build affinity, and drive real ROI. "At Red C, we are proud to partner with Zefr, to help GCC brands deliver ads in brand safe and suitable environments, ensuring every social media impression delivers real measurable business outcomes," said Taher Jawadwala, Country Manager, Red C Media. Zefr's platform helps advertisers bring greater precision to video and social media buying by combining contextual targeting, brand safety, suitability, measurement and optimization in one solution. On YouTube, Zefr is the first third-party platform integration to receive Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for content-level brand safety and suitability labeling and reporting, reinforcing its ability to help brands assess media quality at the individual content level rather than relying only on broad channel or property-level classifications. The company works with many of the world's leading brands helping them better understand where their ads appear, identify the content most relevant to their message, and reduce wasted impressions across unsuitable or low-quality environments.
ZAWYA: Zefr expands strategic partner network across Türkiye, GCC and Egypt with Black C Media and RedC Media. LOS ANGELES-(BUSINESS WIRE/AETOSWire)- Zefr, the leading provider of AI-powered brand safety and suitability solutions for walled garden environments, today announced strategic partnerships with Black C Media and RedC Media to expand support for advertisers and agencies across Türkiye, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Egypt. Under the partnership, Black C Media will serve as Zefr's official partner in Türkiye, while RedC Media will support the GCC region, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, as well as Egypt. The partnership combines Zefr's AI-powered technology with Black C Media and RedC Media's local market expertise, agency relationships and hands-on activation support. Together, the companies will give advertisers and agencies an additional way to access Zefr's contextual, brand safety and suitability capabilities on YouTube, supported by local sales, campaign activation, strategic guidance tailored to regional market dynamics and languages including Turkish, Arabic and English, and managed service support where needed. "Türkiye, GCC and Egypt are not only fast-growing digital markets, they are culturally rich and highly nuanced regions where local context and cultural sensitivity are everything. We are proud to partner with Black C Media and RedC Media to bring Zefr's patented content intelligence to advertisers and agencies in the region. Together, we're enabling brands to activate on YouTube and across social platforms with a video-level precision and relevance so every dollar works harder," said Alexandra Kondrashtina, MENA Commercial Lead at Zefr. "In Türkiye, brands' sensitivity to high-risk and unsafe content has never been higher, and YouTube - where thousands of videos are uploaded every day - is the country's largest media platform. "Zefr's suitability layer, which processes every frame with AI, finds the most relevant context for each brand within this massive content flow while helping brands avoid unsuitable or high-risk ad environments. We at Black C Media are proud to bring this new capability to the Turkish advertising market. "From now on, brands on YouTube will be able to reach their audiences at the right moment and in the right context - while helping direct investment toward quality content and creators," said Cengiz Coşkun, Managing Director, Black C Media - Türkiye. "In the GCC, where YouTube consumption is exceptional - users spend more than 60 minutes daily with a penetration of 94%+ - however, scale alone is not enough. In today's complex social media environment filled with controversial & misinformative content, brands need quality scale - placements that protect suitability, build affinity, and drive real ROI. "At Red C, we are proud to partner with Zefr, to help GCC brands deliver ads in brand safe and suitable environments, ensuring every social media impression delivers real measurable business outcomes," said Taher Jawadwala, Country Manager, Red C Media. Zefr's platform helps advertisers bring greater precision to video and social media buying by combining contextual targeting, brand safety, suitability, measurement and optimization in one solution. On YouTube, Zefr is the first third-party platform integration to receive Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for content-level brand safety and suitability labeling and reporting, reinforcing its ability to help brands assess media quality at the individual content level rather than relying only on broad channel or property-level classifications. The company works with many of the world's leading brands helping them better understand where their ads appear, identify the content most relevant to their message, and reduce wasted impressions across unsuitable or low-quality environments. About Zefr Zefr is the leader in AI-powered content classifications for brands and advertisers. Zefr's platform is purpose built for multi-modal content understanding on open platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Meta and Snap, with pre-bid activation and verification solutions. Our products safeguard media and AI investments, while maximizing performance and efficacy on those channels. Headquartered in Los Angeles with global offices across New York, Chicago, London, Toronto, Singapore, and more, Zefr is redefining what trust and transparency means for social media in the age of AI. To learn more, visit zefr.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260707124119/en/ *Source: AETOSWire Contacts Media Contacts: Zefr: Cassady Nordeen [email protected] Send us your press releases to [email protected] Disclaimer: The contents of this press release was provided from an external third party provider. This website is not responsible for, and does not control, such external content. This content is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither this website nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this press release. The press release is provided for informational purposes only. 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