Senior Manager, Software Engineering, Ads Format

Location: Bellevue, India | Los Angeles, Canada | Palo Alto, Canada | Seattle, India

Department: Engineering

Employment Type: Full time

About Snap Inc

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

About the Role

Snap Inc is a camera company that believes the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together through our core products: Snapchat, a visual messaging app; Lens Studio, an augmented reality platform; and Spectacles, our AR glasses. Snap Engineering teams build fun and technically sophisticated products that reach hundreds of millions of Snapchatters daily. We’re deeply committed to our global community’s well-being, moving fast with precision, always prioritizing privacy. Join our Ads Formats Team as a Senior Manager, Software Engineering, to drive AR-powered ad innovations that enhance advertiser value and user experiences on Snapchat. In this role, you’ll manage a team of engineers, foster a positive culture of creativity and growth, and drive strategy focused on optimizing ad format performance. You’ll provide company-wide technical direction, design and scale critical services for launching high-performing ad formats integrated with camera and AR technologies, and collaborate across teams to deliver solutions that drive measurable business impact. Deeply analyze metrics like CTR, conversion rates, and latency to unlock performance improvements, while advocating for best practices in scalability, availability, and cost management. Your work will shape innovative ads that leverage Snapchat’s camera-first ecosystem, blending AR creativity with advertising efficacy. We seek leaders with 9+ years of software development experience (or equivalent advanced degrees), proven people management in advertising-focused teams, and deep expertise in ad formats including AR rendering optimization. Excel in ambiguous problem-solving, roadmap definition, and mentoring diverse teams. Preferred: advanced technical degrees, cross-platform experience, and a collaborative vision for AR-driven products. Snap practices a 'Default Together' policy (4+ days/week in office) to build our fun, innovative culture faster. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer, offering comprehensive benefits like paid parental leave, medical coverage, mental health support, equity, and more. Compensation varies by zone: Zone A (CA, WA, NYC) $276,000-$414,000; Zone B $262,000-$393,000; Zone C $235,000-$352,000, plus RSUs.

What You'll Do

• Manage a team of engineers, provide support to team members, grow leaders, and foster positive team culture within Snap's creative and innovative environment
• Drive the team’s strategy and goal setting related to project impact, system design, and engineering excellence, with a specific focus on optimizing ad format performance for Snapchat's camera-first experiences
• Provide technical direction that influences the entire company and improves organizational performance, leveraging AR innovations and camera technologies
• Design, implement, and scale critical engineering components and services to support Snap's most strategic initiatives, especially launching innovative, high-performing ads formats
• Work across teams to understand product requirements, evaluate trade-offs, and deliver solutions needed to build innovative products or services, ensuring new formats drive measurable value for advertisers
• Advocate for and apply best practices in availability, scalability, operational excellence, and cost management
• Deeply analyze format performance metrics (e.g., CTR, conversion rate, latency) to identify and execute opportunities for performance improvement across the ad formats lifecycle
• Collaborate with AR and Lens Studio teams to integrate camera-based ad formats that enhance user engagement on Snapchat
• Mentor engineers on cutting-edge technologies like AR rendering optimization for ads, fostering Snap's culture of fun, fast-moving innovation
• Define technical roadmaps that translate into measurable business impact, aligning with Snap's mission to empower self-expression through the camera

Minimum Qualifications

• 9+ years of post-Bachelor’s software development experience; or a Master’s degree in a technical field + 8+ years of post-grad software development experience; or a PhD in a related technical field + 5+ years of post-grad software development experience
• 2+ years of experience managing high-performing managers or providing technical and strategic leadership for engineering teams focused on advertising applications
• Proven experience in managing, mentoring, and scaling diverse engineering teams to consistently deliver complex, high-impact projects
• Deep expertise in the architecture and delivery of various digital ads formats (e.g., video, display, augmented reality, dynamic ads), including format specification and rendering optimization
• Experience in the advertising domain, including understanding of performance levers in an auction-based system related to ad quality and format efficacy
• Excellent programming and software design skills, including debugging, performance analysis, and test design
• Proven track record of operating highly-available systems at scale, with demonstrated history of delivering significant performance gains

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in a technical field such as computer science
• Experience with cross-platform development
• Ability to promote product excellence and collaboration, driving a portfolio of concurrent engineering projects from short-term critical feature launches to long-term research initiatives
• Ability to create a compelling vision for the future, communicate clearly, and have a collaborative leadership approach
• Experience integrating AR technologies with advertising formats

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Excellent programming and software design skills
• Debugging and performance analysis
• Test design
• Operating highly-available systems at scale
• Delivering significant performance gains
• Proactively learning new concepts and technologies
• Deep expertise in digital ads formats (video, display, AR, dynamic ads)
• Format specification and rendering optimization
• Advertising domain knowledge, including auction-based systems
• Ad quality and format efficacy levers
• Solving ambiguous problems
• Defining technical roadmaps with business impact
• Strong collaboration and mentorship skills
• Strong people management and leadership skills
• Cross-platform development
• AR integration for ads
• Metrics analysis (CTR, conversion rate, latency)
• Scalability and operational excellence

Our Benefits

• Paid parental leave
• Comprehensive medical coverage
• Emotional and mental health support programs
• Compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success
• Equity in the form of RSUs
• Support for disabilities or special needs requiring accommodation
• Dynamic collaboration in a 'Default Together' office environment (4+ days per week)
• Opportunities to work on innovative AR and camera technologies reaching hundreds of millions of users

Compensation

$276,000-$414,000 annually

This position is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.

"Default Together" Policy: At Snap Inc, we practice a "default together" approach and expect team members to work in an office 4+ days per week.

Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.