[Remote] Performance Systems Engineer 5 - Ad Server Platform

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Netflix is a leading entertainment company focused on pushing the boundaries of storytelling and technology. They are seeking a Performance Systems Engineer to optimize their ad serving infrastructure, ensuring peak efficiency and reliability under demanding conditions.ResponsibilitiesProfile and optimize the ad serving runtime for latency, throughput, and resource efficiency across the full request lifecycle: targeting evaluation, policy enforcement, ad selection, and response serializationIdentify and eliminate performance bottlenecks across services: CPU hotspots, GC pressure, memory allocation patterns, thread contention, and network overheadDesign and run load tests, squeeze tests, and capacity models to validate system behavior under peak and burst traffic (including Live events at NFL scale)Establish performance baselines and regression detection: automated benchmarking in CI/CD to catch regressions before they reach productionInstrument comprehensive latency telemetry, tracing, and profiling across the ad request lifecycle to enable data-driven optimizationOptimize the rule engine framework and frequency management service for minimal overhead per request as policy complexity growsWork closely with the programmatic team on bid request/response performance: QPS management, connection pooling, timeout tuning, and load shedding under pressureDrive platform reliability through an efficiency lens: capacity planning, autoscaling tuning, graceful degradation, and cost-per-request optimizationOwn performance SLOs and budgets: define latency budgets per component, track them, and hold teams accountable when budgets are exceededPartner with infrastructure and platform teams to adopt runtime improvements, evaluate hardware configurations, and tune GC strategiesSkills7+ years building and optimizing distributed systems and backend services at scaleDeep experience with performance engineering: profiling (async-profiler, JFR, flamegraphs), JVM internals (GC tuning, JIT compilation, memory models), and systematic bottleneck analysisStrong understanding of latency engineering: cache hierarchies, connection pooling, async I/O, thread pool sizing, and tail latency reductionExperience designing and running load tests, squeeze tests, and capacity models for high-throughput, latency-sensitive systemsBuilt or operated ad servers, SSPs, DSPs, or real-time bidding infrastructureProficiency in Java, Kotlin, or similar JVM languages with deep understanding of runtime behavior beyond just writing correct codeExperience with event-driven architectures: Kafka, Flink, or similar stream processing, with a focus on throughput optimization and consumer lag managementUnderstanding of ad serving concepts: targeting, frequency capping, publisher controls, programmatic protocolsAbility to operate in an environment that is a mix of big-tech scale and startup speedExperience with CTV constraints: server-side ad insertion, live event ad serving at scale (NFL-sized audiences)Built or improved logging and telemetry frameworks for high-throughput request pipelines with minimal performance overheadMulti-region deployment experience: active-active architectures, failover, and regional performance variance analysisChaos engineering or SRE practices: error budgets, game days, fault injection, squeeze testingExperience with hardware-aware optimizationBuilt automated performance regression detection in CI/CD pipelinesBenefitsHealth PlansMental Health supportA 401(k) Retirement Plan with employer matchStock Option ProgramDisability ProgramsHealth Savings and Flexible Spending AccountsFamily-forming benefitsLife and Serious Injury BenefitsPaid leave of absence programsFull-time hourly employees accrue 35 days annually for paid time off to be used for vacation, holidays, and sick paid time offFull-time salaried employees are immediately entitled to flexible time offCompany OverviewNetflix is an online streaming platform that enables users to watch TV shows and movies. It was founded in 1997, and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California, USA, with a workforce of 10001+ employees. Its website is https://www.netflix.com.Company H1B SponsorshipNetflix has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 65 in 2026, 310 in 2025, 309 in 2024, 191 in 2023, 261 in 2022, 268 in 2021, 225 in 2020. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role.