Full Stack Software Engineer 2 - Omnichannel

Retail media must prove how retailer data improves advertising beyond owned channels. Retail media networks (RMNs) have spent years expanding beyond their owned properties, building capabilities across social, search, connected TV, and the open internet. But as shopping journeys become more fragmented, the industry's next challenge is demonstrating how retailer data can improve advertising investments across those channels. That was a central theme of "Partnerships Powering the Future of Discovery," a panel featuring executives from Target, Pinterest, Google, and The Trade Desk. The event was held Oct. 13 at The Roundtable: NYC, hosted by Target's Roundel. The boundaries between discovery and shopping continue to blur. US off-site retail media ad spending will reach $17.98 billion in 2026 and $35.57 billion by 2030, according to EMARKETER forecasts. But expanding into more channels doesn't automatically give advertisers a compelling reason to shift their budgets. Consumers increasingly move between social platforms, search engines, AI-powered assistants, and physical stores as they discover and evaluate products. Nearly half of purchases that begin with ecommerce browsing are completed in stores, according to Bhaskar Mishra, vice president of digital product at Target. For the retailer, the opportunity is to make those transitions easier, including through AI-powered experiences that help consumers navigate product choices and move from discovery to purchase. Pinterest is seeing a related shift in how consumers express shopping intent. Rather than beginning with a specific product or brand, consumers often arrive with an idea, aesthetic, or occasion in mind, according to Kristin Patterson, vice president of omnichannel retail at Pinterest. The platform sees more than 80 billion searches each month, roughly half of which are commercial, and 96% of its top searches are unbranded. AI is making it possible to interpret these less explicit signals of intent. Stefanie Stewart, head of industry for retail media at Google, highlighted how search is also evolving toward more conversational, visual, and exploratory experiences. For advertisers, these changes create opportunities to influence demand earlier in the shopping journey, while raising questions about what unique value retailers can contribute when discovery increasingly happens on platforms they don't own. Retailer data must make existing media investments better. Retail media's expansion across the funnel has largely focused on building access to new advertising environments. Yet despite widespread partnerships between RMNs and major social platforms, just $1.30 billion in social advertising spending will flow through RMNs in 2026, according to EMARKETER forecasts. That's less than 2% of total retail media spending and less than 1% of social media spending. For advertisers already investing heavily in these environments, access alone isn't a compelling reason to involve another intermediary. The opportunity lies in what retailers know about actual purchasing behavior. Amy Babcock, senior director of client development at The Trade Desk, emphasized how retailer transaction data can help advertisers understand who purchases a brand, chooses a competitor, or buys complementary products. Through its partnership with Roundel, The Trade Desk incorporates SKU-level sales data from Target's online and physical stores to inform audience strategies and campaign optimization. That intelligence can help advertisers identify valuable customers, understand where their brands have opportunities to grow, and make more informed decisions across their broader media plans. Retailer data can also improve the consumer experience by connecting inspiration with relevant, available products, making it easier for shoppers to act on an idea. Scaling adoption requires simpler activation and stronger measurement. Even when retailer data can improve campaign performance, advertisers face practical barriers to adopting these capabilities at scale. Buying processes, measurement systems, and budget ownership often differ across shopper marketing, brand, social, and broader media teams. Adding retailer data can introduce another layer of complexity unless integrations fit naturally into existing workflows. For Pinterest, simplifying activation is an important part of that equation. The company reports that its Performance+ tools require 50% fewer inputs to launch a campaign, while product-catalog sales campaigns have delivered an average 20% improvement in cost per acquisition compared with business-as-usual setups. Measurement must also evolve to reflect retail media's broader role in discovery and demand creation. Connecting advertising exposure with a transaction remains valuable, but attribution alone doesn't establish whether advertising changed consumer behavior. Advertisers increasingly need to understand whether their investments are attracting incremental customers, influencing consideration, and generating sales that otherwise wouldn't have occurred. For Target, Mishra identified incremental buyers, lower acquisition costs, and the relevance of sponsored recommendations as important indicators of progress. Ultimately, retail media has made considerable progress expanding where advertisers can reach consumers. Its next phase of growth will depend on making discovery more useful for consumers and demonstrating that commerce intelligence delivers measurable value across the broader media plan. You've read 1 of 2 free articles this month. Get more articles - create your free account today!

Model ML appoints Alex Kayyal as Chief Financial Officer. Tue, 6th Oct 2026 (Today) Model ML has appointed Alex Kayyal as Chief Financial Officer, bringing a veteran technology finance executive and investor to the company. Kayyal joins the financial services software group after senior roles at The Trade Desk, Salesforce and Lightspeed Venture Partners. He has also served on more than 10 boards, from early-stage start-ups to listed companies. The appointment comes as Model ML reports rapid growth 18 months after launch. In the second quarter of 2026, it doubled annual recurring revenue, added more than 47,000 seats and saw daily activity per user triple in 12 weeks. Model ML sells software to banks, private equity firms, asset managers and advisory firms, focusing on research, due diligence, analysis and document creation. Its customers include HSBC, PwC, Deloitte, FT Partners and five of the 10 largest global asset managers, according to the company. Founded in 2024, the business has been valued at more than USD $1 billion. It has raised more than USD $100 million from investors including FT Partners, HSBC Asset Management, QED and Y Combinator, and expanded to almost 200 employees across nine offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Kayyal most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of The Trade Desk, where he led the company's global finance organisation after first joining its board as an independent director. Earlier, he spent nearly a decade at Salesforce, including as SVP & Managing Partner of Salesforce Ventures, where he oversaw more than USD $5 billion invested across more than 300 companies globally. He later became a General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and served on the firm's investment committee. Kayyal began his career at Merrill Lynch, first in the office of the CFO and later in IPO and M&A advisory. Growth push The hire adds financial leadership as Model ML seeks to scale further with large institutional clients. The company said Kayyal's experience as both an operator and investor would help it expand while maintaining the standards expected by customers and backers. Model ML describes its software as an AI operating system for financial and professional services firms. The platform routes work across different AI models for tasks such as financial analysis and document drafting. Its rise reflects a broader push by financial institutions and advisory groups to deploy AI tools in core workflows rather than limited pilot projects. Banks, consultants and investors have been testing systems that can handle document-heavy work, but suppliers still face pressure to demonstrate reliable output, governance and commercial staying power. Against that backdrop, the arrival of an executive with experience in public markets, venture investing and board oversight may help reassure customers and investors as the company expands. Model ML said it now serves thousands of customers globally each day. Kayyal said the scale of the market and the pace of the company's growth drew him to the role. "Finance is one of the largest market opportunities globally. In just 18 months Model ML's platform has fundamentally transformed how finance professionals work, and its adoption at several global banks and leading professional services institutions stands as a testament to that. I've seen the speed Chaz and his team are moving at and that velocity continues to increase exponentially. Model ML is moving faster than any other company I have seen or invested into in my entire career, and the level of ambition is truly unmatched. I couldn't be more excited to join Chaz and the team on this journey to help grow Model ML into a lasting global business," Kayyal said. Englander said the company was bringing in a finance chief with experience across company building, investing and advisory work. "Alex has seen what it takes to scale technology companies from every side of the table: as an operator, investor, investment banker and board member. We're growing quickly across markets and working with global institutions. Alex's experience will be invaluable as we build Model ML for the long term," Englander said.

DigiPlus Fest 2026: Next 100 million CTV viewers will come from Tier 2 and mini metros. As Connected TV (CTV) reshapes the digital video ecosystem, smart screens are transforming into intelligent, high-impact channels for brand marketing, audience extension, and performance-driven commerce. At DigiPlus Fest 2026, Meeta Gupta, director, client services, The Trade Desk, explained how CTV insights from busting scale and reach myths to cross-screen retargeting are helping advertisers deliver unified, multi-screen campaigns that capture viewer attention, drive conversions, and deepen customer lifetime value. * Published On Sep 29, 2026 at 01:04 PM IST In the early days of television advertising, linear TV was the undisputed champion of mass awareness. Over time, digital platforms and mobile video transformed media habits, and today, Connected TV (CTV) platforms and FAST channels are powering hundreds of millions of viewing hours across India. Smart screens have become versatile, high-engagement ecosystems, enabling brands to orchestrate cross-device journeys that seamlessly bridge high-impact storytelling with digital commerce. Meeta Gupta, director, client services, The Trade Desk, recently addressed DigiPlus Fest 2026, speaking on 'The Connected TV Era: India's New Prime Time'. She noted that marketers today are navigating rapid technological shifts, fragmented media consumption, and evolving consumer habits. 'Many advertisers still operate under old myths about CTV limitations. But CTV is no longer just a niche tool for high-end urban households - it is becoming the core fabric of how modern brands build scale, drive incremental reach, and convert audiences,' Gupta said. Gupta shared compelling data highlighting the explosive growth of the CTV ecosystem in India, revealing that the channel now reaches over 65 million CTV households, representing 207 million viewers who average 2.9 hours of daily watch time. She emphasized that this growth is no longer confined to top-tier metros. 'We are seeing massive growth fueled by affordable smart TV sets, accessible mobile hotspots, and the rise of FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) channels,' she explained. 'Today, one in five CTV viewers consumes FAST content for 50 minutes daily, with overall watch time reaching 3.4 hours for FAST consumers. This provides unprecedented scale for advertisers.' Beyond dismantling the perception of limited reach, Gupta addressed common misconceptions surrounding audience demographics and measurement: Mass Reach: CTV is no longer a metro-only phenomenon. Tier 2, mini-metros, and rural regions are fueling the next wave of 100 million viewers, driven by smart TV hardware prices dropping below the cost of average smartphones. Linear Coverage: Linear TV no longer guarantees full market coverage. One in three CTV users cannot be reached via linear television, with 27% having actively cut the cord and 5% being cord-nevers. Viewing Metrics: One impression on CTV does not equal just one viewer. CTV mirrors traditional living room co-viewing, with prime time (8 PM to 10 PM) averaging 2.5 viewers per impression. Once brands tap into this massive audience across OTT apps, set-top boxes, and FAST channels, programmatic consolidation becomes critical to avoiding audience fragmentation. 'When you plan TV, plan for Total TV complementing linear with CTV while managing frequency through a unified, consolidated buy,' Gupta explained. Furthermore, Gupta highlighted the power of the second screen in driving full-funnel marketing outcomes. With 83% of CTV viewers using their mobile devices while watching TV, advertisers can leverage cross-device graphs and identity frameworks (such as UIDs, device IDs, and IP signals) to seamlessly connect TV exposure with second screen engagement. 'Imagine a viewer seeing a healthy snack ad on their CTV living room screen, hearing a related brand message on Spotify while working out, and receiving a final push on a quick-commerce app to complete the purchase all without requiring a manual login state,' Gupta illustrated during the Q&A session. She concluded 'Connected TV is only beginning to reveal its full performance potential, and every brand must look at how an omnichannel approach can maximize media efficiency. Connected TV, backed by smart cross-screen retargeting, is the true future of video marketing and commerce.' * Published On Sep 29, 2026 at 01:04 PM IST