Lead Software Engineer, Insights

Position Overview

Zeta Global is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to join the Opportunity Insights team. This role is for a highly experienced engineer who operates at system and platform scope—someone who can define architecture, drive technical direction, and deliver scalable, data-intensive systems that power marketing intelligence products.

You will lead the design and evolution of distributed systems running on AWS and Kubernetes (EKS), enabling large-scale data processing and real-time insights across billions of data points. This role requires deep expertise in distributed systems, strong architectural judgment, and the ability to influence engineering standards across teams.

• Define and evolve the architecture of scalable, distributed systems deployed on AWS.
• Design and operate microservices and data-intensive workloads running in Kubernetes (EKS).
• Lead technical design for systems that process and analyze large-scale datasets (high-volume, high-velocity, and high-variety data).
• Establish patterns and best practices for building resilient, observable, and performant services.
• Partner with Product, Data Science, and Engineering leaders to translate business strategy into long-term technical roadmaps.
• Drive cross-team technical initiatives and influence architecture decisions beyond your immediate team.
• Optimize data storage, retrieval, and processing strategies across relational and No
  
  SQL systems.
• Mentor engineers, raise the bar on design and code quality, and lead through technical example.
• Take end-to-end ownership of critical platform components, ensuring long-term scalability and maintainability.

• 8+ years of experience building and scaling production-grade distributed systems.
• Strong foundation in computer science, distributed systems, and large-scale system design.
• Proven experience architecting systems that operate on large datasets (event streams, batch + real-time pipelines, high-throughput services).
• Deep hands‑on experience with AWS, including EKS, EC2, S3, RDS, IAM, Lambda, Cloud Watch, and infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Experience with streaming and data infrastructure technologies such as Kafka, Elasticsearch, and No
  
  SQL databases (e.g., Aerospike).
• Strong proficiency in Java, Python, Ruby, or similar object-oriented languages.
• Experience designing APIs and service communication layers (REST, gRPC, Thrift).
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical design reviews and influence engineering direction.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to operate independently in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience leveraging AI-powered development tools to improve engineering productivity.

• BS or MS in Computer Science or related field.
• Experience building platforms that support ML or advanced analytics workloads.
• Experience modernizing or evolving legacy systems into scalable cloud-native architectures.
• Track record of leading high-impact, cross-team engineering initiatives.

• Unlimited PTO
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Employee Equity
• Employee Discounts, Virtual Wellness Classes, and Pet Insurance And more!

The salary range for this role is $190,000 - $205,000, depending on location and experience.

Zeta considers applicants for employment without regard to, and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual’s sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, status as a veteran, or national or ethnic origin; nor does Zeta discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

We’re committed to building a workplace culture of trust and belonging, so everyone feels invited to bring their whole selves to work. We provide a forum for employees to celebrate, support and advocate for one another. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion here: