Senior AdTech Architect

Job Description

About Rakuten TV

Rakuten TV is one of Europe's leading video streaming platforms, offering premium transactional (TVOD) and advertising-based (AVOD/FAST) content to millions of users across more than 40 countries. Backed by Rakuten Group — one of the world's largest internet services companies — we operate a cutting-edge B2B2C model, partnering with leading device manufacturers, broadcasters, and advertising networks to deliver premium entertainment experiences. Headquartered in Barcelona, our international team combines deep expertise in technology, content, sales, and finance to drive continued growth across EMEA. We are a data-driven, fast-paced organization that values intellectual curiosity, ownership, and collaboration.

About the role

We are looking for an AdTech Architect to design and lead the build-out of our programmatic advertising stack. This is a greenfield role — there is no existing architecture to inherit. You will report directly to the CPO and own both the technical strategy and the day‑to‑day execution of our programmatic capabilities. The scope goes beyond platform design. You will be a key voice in shaping how Rakuten TV approaches advertising as a business — which demand channels to prioritise, how to position our ad product in the market, and where the organisation should invest next. A significant part of this role is cross‑functional. You will partner with commercial and ad operations teams on yield strategy, translate revenue requirements into architectural decisions, and represent the engineering side of AdTech in conversations with external partners and senior leadership. We are not looking for someone to build a system in isolation — we are looking for someone who understands why it needs to work commercially.

What you will be responsible for

Platform architecture design and own the end‑to‑end architecture of our programmatic stack: bid handling, auction logic, CTV ad delivery, and the impression and measurement pipeline. You will make the foundational decisions that determine what this platform can and cannot do at scale.

Build vs buy

You will own the strategic evaluation of which parts of the stack we build in-house and which we procure or license. We expect you to bring a clear point of view and the experience to back it.

Advertising strategy

Working with the CPO and commercial leadership, you will contribute to the organisation's overall advertising strategy: how programmatic fits within our revenue model, which standards and integrations to lead on, how our ad product evolves, and what capabilities differentiate us in the market.

Standards and compliance

Set the technical direction for IAB standards adoption, consent chain management across all surfaces, and advertiser measurement. Own technical relationships with SSPs, DSPs, and measurement partners.

Team leadership

Lead a small, focused team — PM, AdTech Specialist, AdTech Engineer — with a hands‑on approach. You will remain technically active while growing the people around you. As the team scales, this role is expected to evolve and you will help define what that structure looks like.

What we are looking for

Experience 8–12 years in AdTech, with a significant portion in programmatic and CTV

You have owned the design of an RTB or bid management system end‑to‑end, not just contributed to one

You have made or meaningfully influenced build‑vs‑buy decisions on critical stack components and can demonstrate the reasoning behind them

You are comfortable in commercial conversations — floor pricing, yield trade‑offs, DSP relationships — and can connect those back to technical decisions

Background in a broadcaster, streaming platform, SSP, DSP, or ad technology vendor

Technical (must-have)

OpenRTB 2.x / 3.0: bid request and response design, auction mechanics, deal types (PMP, PG)

VAST / VMAP / SCTE-35: creative compliance, trafficking workflows, and live stream ad break signalling

CTV ad integration: client‑side and server‑side ad insertion, ad measurement SDKs and third‑party verification frameworks

Real‑time event streaming and low‑latency system design: experience building impression and event pipelines at scale, and designing systems that operate under strict real‑time constraints

First‑party audience data architecture: identity resolution across device, email and behavioural signals (UID2, ID5 or equivalent) and activation in programmatic buying

Domain knowledge SSP and DSP ecosystem, programmatic economics, PMP and PG structures

Yield management: CPM floors, fill rate, eCPM optimisation

European compliance: GDPR, TCF 2.x, consent chain across surfaces

Broadcaster or streaming audience measurement frameworks

Nice to have

Experience implementing direct DSP integratio