Director, Back-End Engineering

Publicis Groupe
New York, United States of America
9 days ago

Role details

Contract type
Permanent contract
Employment type
Full-time (> 32 hours)
Working hours
Regular working hours
Languages
English
Compensation
$ 242K

Job location

New York, United States of America

Tech stack

Java
API
Artificial Intelligence
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Data analysis
Computing Platforms
Azure
Computer Programming
Information Engineering
Data Governance
Distributed Systems
Event-Driven Programming
Fault Tolerance
Python
Machine Learning
Performance Tuning
Scala
Systems Architecture
Management of Software Versions
Data Logging
Google Cloud Platform
Concurrency
Multi-Cloud
ReadyAPI
Reliability of Systems
Backend
Event Driven Architecture
Kubernetes
Low Latency
Operational Systems
Virtual Agents
Microservices

Job description

We are seeking a Director level Backend Engineer to architect, build, and lead the backend systems that power scalable, multi cloud AdTech and MarTech platforms, analytics execution, and AI driven workflows.

This role carries end to end technical ownership for backend architecture and execution layers-designing the services, APIs, and protocols that connect data, analytics, activation, and operational systems. The ideal candidate combines deep distributed systems expertise, strong platform engineering judgment, and the ability to lead complex technical initiatives across teams and domains.

Why This Role Matters

This role sits at the core of the organization's technology and intelligence platforms. The Director of Backend Engineering will define how data, analytics, AI, and activation systems connect, scale, and operate, enabling faster innovation, safer automation, and durable competitive advantage.

Platform & System Architecture

  • Architect and own scalable, multi cloud backend platforms that integrate AdTech and MarTech systems across planning, activation, measurement, and optimization
  • Define system level architecture patterns for distributed services, event driven workflows, and execution layers
  • Design backend systems that support high throughput, low latency, and fault tolerant operations at enterprise scale
  • Establish architectural standards for interoperability, extensibility, and long term platform evolution

Backend Services & Execution Layers

  • Design and lead development of backend services that support execution, orchestration, scheduling, monitoring, and operational control
  • Build and manage services that bridge analytics, ML models, agent workflows, and activation systems
  • Own service lifecycle management including versioning, backward compatibility, and deprecation strategies
  • Ensure backend systems are secure, observable, and production ready

API & Integration Strategy

  • Define and own API strategy across internal and external systems, including REST and event based interfaces
  • Design integration patterns for connecting internal platforms with commercial AdTech and MarTech ecosystems
  • Establish clear contracts, schemas, and governance for cross system communication
  • Lead development of shared backend tooling that accelerates partner and platform integrations

AI Agent & Protocol Enablement

  • Design and lead development of a flexible backend stack to support AI agents and intelligent workflows
  • Define tools, APIs, and protocols that enable agents to interact with data, models, and execution services
  • Partner with data science and product teams to productionize agent driven workflows safely and at scale
  • Ensure agent systems operate within clear guardrails for security, auditability, and control

Technical Leadership & Ownership

  • Act as the senior technical authority for backend and platform engineering decisions
  • Lead and mentor senior engineers and architects across backend and platform teams
  • Collaborate closely with product, data engineering, analytics, and infrastructure leaders
  • Drive technical roadmap planning and prioritize platform investments aligned to business goals

Requirements

  • Extensive experience designing and operating large scale backend systems and distributed architectures
  • Strong expertise in API driven system design, service orchestration, and execution platforms
  • Deep understanding of microservices, event driven architectures, and asynchronous processing
  • Experience operating backend systems in multi cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP)

Programming & Frameworks

  • Advanced proficiency in backend languages such as Python, Java, Scala, or similar
  • Experience building production grade services using modern backend frameworks
  • Strong understanding of concurrency, performance optimization, and system reliability

AdTech / MarTech & Integration Experience

  • Proven experience integrating AdTech and/or MarTech systems, platforms, or APIs
  • Familiarity with activation, measurement, identity, and optimization workflows
  • Experience designing backend systems that connect analytics and decisioning to execution environments

AI, Analytics & Agent Enablement

  • Experience supporting ML, analytics, or AI driven platforms at the backend level
  • Familiarity with agent based systems, orchestration frameworks, or model execution pipelines
  • Ability to design backend systems that safely operationalize AI and automated decisioning

Operational Excellence & Governance

  • Strong experience with observability, monitoring, logging, and incident management
  • Experience implementing security, access control, and data governance in backend systems
  • Ability to balance speed, reliability, and long term maintainability in platform design

Leadership & Collaboration

  • Demonstrated success operating at a Director level of technical ownership
  • Ability to lead complex, cross team engineering initiatives
  • Strong communication skills with both technical and executive stakeholders

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