Principal Software Architect (Platform)
OperativeUnited States
Posted May 5, 2026
Full Time
About the Company
Operative is a cloud-native SaaS platform that empowers media companies and publishers to manage and grow their advertising businesses. By replacing traditional ratings-based models with outcome‑based selling, Operative streamlines campaign, trafficking, and revenue management across linear, digital, and multi‑channel formats from a single interface. The company serves more than 300 global clients—including FOX, NBCU, Disney, HBO, and Sky—processing $8.5 B in digital ad revenue and $40 B in TV ad revenue. Operative’s distinctive value lies in its modern order‑management architecture, which unifies content rights, ad serving, and yield optimization to maximize revenue and operational efficiency. With a culture focused on innovation and client success, Operative is a leading partner for media organizations looking to modernize their ad operations.
Job Description
Operative is seeking an experienced architect with a strong hands-on engineering background and a demonstrated ability to operate independently and drive the technical quality of the teams and codebases they engage with. This individual will serve as a senior technical authority across Operative's platform engineering disciplines, spanning backend services, distributed data infrastructure, and cloud-native architecture.
Requirements
- Architect and lead delivery of complex, cross-functional initiatives spanning backend services, data pipelines, and cloud infrastructure
- Drive the adoption and maturity of AI within engineering workflows, including agentic tooling, AI-assisted development practices, and the integration of autonomous AI agents into platform capabilities
- Identify systemic technical challenges across reliability, performance, scalability, and observability, and own the path to resolution
- Define and uphold engineering standards across code quality, testing practices, API design, data modeling, and deployment patterns
- Make well-reasoned architectural decisions in ambiguous or rapidly evolving situations, and communicate those decisions clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Provide mentorship and technical guidance to engineers across the broader global team through design reviews, documentation, code review, and direct collaboration
Benefits
- Competitive compensation commensurate with experience and scope of impact
- Flexible remote-first work environment
