Lead Backend Engineer

DT (NASDAQ: APPS) is unifying the full mobile experience. Our growth platform powers the mobile ecosystem by bringing together advertisers, app developers, and device partners, to create a unique and premium value exchange, that results in a personalized and seamless mobile device experience.

At DT, we move fast, think big, and build collaboratively. We believe great ideas can come from anywhere, and we trust our teams to take ownership, challenge convention, and make an impact from day one.

Here, you’ll have the opportunity to grow your career while contributing to products and experiences used by millions around the world.

With us, you will enjoy competitive compensation, equity awards, and a comprehensive benefits package designed to invest in your total well-being, all within a hybrid and flexible work environment.

About the Role

Digital Turbine operates on autonomous, outcome-driven engineering pods where technical ownership meets massive platform scale. We hire engineers, not single-language specialists: we care that you can reason deeply about distributed systems, choose the optimal tool for the problem, and ship low-latency, highly reliable software.

As a Lead Backend Engineer, you will serve as a technical anchor and authority across our core platform architecture. You will be responsible for pushing complex computational logic, data modeling, and heavy algorithmic weight into robust, low-latency microservices that connect supply, demand, and marketplace workflows across Digital Turbine's ecosystem. In this role, your influence extends well beyond feature implementation—you will architect core backend systems, optimize throughput under massive concurrency, mentor engineering talent, and raise the standard for engineering excellence across the organization.

About the Lead Backend Engineer Role

• Architectural Leadership & Strategy: Lead the backend design, technical roadmap, and end-to-end execution of scalable, fault-tolerant platform services and APIs. Ensure system architectures are designed for long-term maintainability, predictability, and low-risk evolution
• Heavy Backend & Algorithmic Engineering: Drive low-latency optimization and algorithmic problem-solving to manage massive throughput and real-time marketplace dynamics. Abstract system complexity away from downstream surfaces by building resilient, high-performance back-end services
• API & Platform Ecosystem Design: Define, build, and maintain clean, well-governed APIs (REST, gRPC) and asynchronous messaging interfaces that integrate Digital Turbine's products into a unified, modular architecture rather than isolated silos.
• Polyglot System Optimization: Evaluate and select the best language and toolstack for each technical domain (running across JVM, Go, Node, or other ecosystems), optimizing for performance, concurrency, and memory utilization
• Production Excellence & Operational Ownership: Own backend services through their full production lifecycle. Implement advanced telemetry, distributed tracing, automated failover, and performance tuning to ensure high availability and SLA compliance
• Technical Governance & Mentorship: Act as a force multiplier across pods by mentoring engineers, establishing backend design principles, leading rigorous code and architectural reviews, and promoting modern software engineering practices
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner directly with Product Leads, System Architects, and Data Engineering teams to convert complex business goals into clear technical strategies and execution plans

About You as the Lead Backend Engineer

• Experience: 8+ years of hands-on experience building, scaling, and operating high-throughput backend platforms in production, with demonstrated technical leadership on distributed systems (Radford P4 benchmark)
• Algorithmic & System Design Mastery: Strong foundations in computer science, memory management, data structures, and distributed algorithms with a track record of solving high-concurrency and resource-optimization challenges
• Polyglot Proficiency: Expert command of at least two backend ecosystems (e.g., Java, Go, Kotlin, Scala, Python, C++, TypeScript) with an objective, problem-first approach to choosing technical stacks
• Data Engineering & Persistence: Deep experience with relational (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and distributed/NoSQL data stores (Redis, Cassandra, DynamoDB, Elasticsearch), including query optimization and data pipeline architecture
• API & Distributed Systems Architecture: Demonstrated expertise designing enterprise-grade APIs, event-driven architectures (Kafka, RabbitMQ), and microservice integration patterns
• Autonomy & Technical Drive: Proven ability to navigate ambiguity, drive technical consensus across teams, and independently deliver mission-critical software
• Education: B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical/military experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Cloud Native & DevOps: Proficiency with container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes), cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP), and automated CI/CD pipelines
• AdTech & High-Scale Systems: Exposure to ad exchange mechanics, Real-Time Bidding (RTB), high-frequency trading platforms, or large-scale data analytics platforms
• AI & ML Integration: Experience incorporating machine learning models, inference engines, or automated streaming pipelines into high-availability backend service workflows

DT (NASDAQ: APPS) is a mobile growth platform that powers superior experiences and outcomes for advertisers, app developers, carriers, OEMs, and publishers worldwide.

Our technology connects brands and apps with consumers across devices, apps, and mobile environments — helping partners drive awareness, acquisition, engagement, and monetization through intelligent, integrated experiences.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, DT operates globally across North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM.

DT is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives, and believe teams with different points of view build better products, ideas, and experiences.