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Software Engineer, Ads ML Infra

News Break

News Break

Software Engineering, Data Science
Mountain View, CA, USA
USD 165k-225k / year + Equity
Posted on Oct 7, 2025

About NewsBreak

Founded in 2015, NewsBreak is the Content Intelligence platform shaping the future content economy. With over 40 million monthly active users, our flagship platform delivers highly personalized local news and information powered by advanced AI, recommendation systems, and adtech.

Recognized by Fast Company as #32 on the Top Workplaces for Innovators, we're proud to be Great Place to Work® certified and home to a dynamic team of technologists, product innovators, and business leaders who are passionate about solving meaningful challenges at scale.

Together, we reached unicorn status in 2021, and we remain committed to continuing this high-growth trajectory with the right team to fulfill our mission: building the infrastructure layer for content intelligence.

If you’re inspired to dream big, innovate fast, and make a difference, we’d love to hear from you! For more information, visit www.newsbreak.com/about

About the Role
We are looking for an experienced Software Engineer to join our Ads team, with a strong focus on scalability, efficiency, and cost optimization. You participate in design, build and optimize large-scale distributed systems that power our advertising platform and ML pipelines, ensuring performance and reliability while driving meaningful cost reductions across compute, storage, and network resources.
This is a highly impactful role where you will collaborate with Ads, Data, and Infrastructure teams to improve system efficiency, reduce infrastructure waste, and optimize ROI for one of the company’s most critical businesses.
Responsibilities
  • Design, implement, and optimize large-scale distributed systems for ads serving, bidding, ranking, and ML model training/inference.
  • Analyze system performance and cost metrics to identify inefficiencies across compute, storage, and network usage.
  • Develop frameworks, tools, and automation to improve infra utilization and reduce overall infrastructure costs.
  • Partner with Ads, ML, and Data teams to ensure infra aligns with business growth while maintaining cost efficiency.
  • Apply cutting-edge infrastructure and ML optimization techniques (e.g., caching strategies, quantization, distributed training optimization, autoscaling, scheduling).
  • Drive cost-efficiency initiatives across cloud and on-premise infrastructure, balancing performance, latency, and budget constraints.
  • Provide technical leadership in infrastructure optimization, system design, and best practices.
Minimum Qualifications
  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
  • 3+ years of experience in software engineering, with a focus on infrastructure, distributed systems, or performance optimization.
  • Proficiency in at least one programming language (C++, Java, Go, Python).
  • Strong background in systems design, performance profiling, and cost optimization.
  • Experience with large-scale Ads/ML systems (e.g., ad serving, recommendation, ML training/inference pipelines).
  • Solid understanding of cloud or data center resource management (compute, storage, network).
Preferred Qualifications
  • 5+ years of experience in Ads Infrastructure, ML Infrastructure, or large-scale distributed systems.
  • Experience with infrastructure cost reduction projects (e.g., autoscaling, quota management, compute efficiency).
  • Familiarity with GPU/TPU optimization, model compression, or distributed ML training.
  • Experience with high QPS, low-latency ad serving systems.
  • Knowledge of big data ecosystems (Hadoop, Spark, Flink, Presto) and ML platforms (TensorFlow, PyTorch).
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with proven track record of driving efficiency improvements.

Benefits

We offer a competitive benefits package:

  • Health, dental, and vision care for you and your family
  • Top-tier 401(K) plan with company matching
  • Paid time off and paid holidays
  • Paid parental leave
  • FSA and commuter benefits programs
  • Team activity budget
The US base salary range for this full-time position is listed below. Pay may vary based on a number of factors including job-related skills, level, experience, geographic location and relevant education or training. At NewsBreak, we design our overall rewards package to attract top talents. Depending on the position, the role may also be eligible for discretionary bonus and options. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.
Annual Base Pay Range
$165,000$225,000 USD