Lead Engineer, Audience Data Platform

Overview (

Why This Role?

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We're looking for a Lead Engineer to help build and scale the next generation of our Audience Targeting and Contextual Intelligence Platform–a system that enables privacy‑safe, contextually relevant advertising and deeper insights into audience engagement.

Hearst Magazines’ portfolio of more than 30 iconic brands in the U.S.—including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Popular Mechanics—inspires, entertains, and builds new and bold experiences for an engaged and growing audience across digital, video, social and print, reaching nearly 130 million readers and site visitors each month. With sophisticated content creation, cutting‑edge technology, and industry‑leading data capabilities, we make media and products that move people across all platforms.

We are a global media company that publishes nearly 200 magazine editions and 175 websites around the world—and together, we are shaping what’s next.

• Lead the design and implementation of backend services and pipelines supporting contextual and audience targeting, taxonomy creation, and data ingestion.
• Architect APIs, data models, and streaming workflows for real‑time classification, recommendations, and audience insights.
• Build and maintain Python‑based (Quart/FastAPI) applications integrated with PostgreSQL, Redis, and event‑driven architectures (AWS SNS/SQS).
• Collaborate with and guide frontend engineers on full‑stack development using React and modern web frameworks.
• Integrate with core platform services for identity, metadata, and analytics to ensure seamless interoperability.
• Design and manage multi‑cloud infrastructure (primarily AWS, with GCP integrations for ML/data workflows).
• Implement robust CI/CD, testing, and deployment pipelines.
• Implement observability using Datadog, Sentry, and other monitoring tools.
• Use modern AI development tools (e.g., Git Hub Copilot, Codex, Claude) to accelerate delivery and improve code quality.
• Partner with product managers and data scientists to evolve contextual AI and embedding models for privacy‑safe, high‑performance targeting.

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, with strong Python backend and full‑stack development skills.
• 3–5 years leading technical design or architecture for scalable, data‑intensive applications.
• Proficiency in PostgreSQL (including pgvector) and Redis for performance and caching.
• Hands‑on experience cloud‑based development, primarily AWS (S3, RDS, SNS/SQS, Lambda); exposure to GCP (Pub/Sub, Big Query).
• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and modern CI/CD workflows.
• Comfortable using AI‑assisted development tools for productivity, testing, and documentation.
• Excellent communication and cross‑functional collaboration skills across technical and non‑technical partners.
• Hybrid role based in NYC, with 4 days a week in‑office.

• Experience in building and maintaining taxonomy management systems.
• Knowledge of contextual or audience targeting, ad‑tech systems, or recommendation platforms.
• Understanding of privacy‑safe advertising, first‑party data frameworks, and data‑compliance standards (GDPR, CCPA).
• Exposure to machine‑learning workflows or AI‑based personalization systems.
• Experience with GraphQL, Elasticsearch.
• Experience with observability stacks (Datadog, Sentry).

• Work with the Best :
  Collaborate with top‑tier professionals across media, advertising, tech, fashion, lifestyle, and publishing, shaping the future of these dynamic industries.
• Grow Your Skills :
  Unlock your potential with access to innovative training programs, immersive workshops, and exclusive industry events.
• Work‑Life…