Senior Software Engineer, Creative Ads

WHO WE ARE Headquartered in sunny Austin, TX with a growing footprint in the heart of NYC, KERV.ai is an award-winning, boundary-pushing company that's transforming how content and commerce converge in media. As the leader in AI-powered video analysis and monetization, our patented technology breaks video down frame by frame, making every object, product, or moment instantly interactive, measurable, and shoppable. We serve as the connective tissue between creative, commerce, and data, helping the world’s top brands and publishers turn video into a truly dynamic and rewarding experience for their audiences. At KERV.ai , we’re not just redefining how people engage with media. We’re building the future of it. If you’re looking to work at the intersection of innovation, storytelling, and smart technology with a team that’s shaping what’s next in media, we’d love to meet you. THE CHALLENGE AHEAD As a Software Engineer on KERV’s Creative Ads team, you’ll be a key contributor building the visual products our clients and audiences actually see. This is a small, focused team responsible for our dynamic video generation pipeline, a video template studio, and the interactive overlay that powers ad experiences on top of video content (including VPAID-based ad products). What makes this role unique is the blend: one day you’re optimizing AWS Step Functions and FFmpeg-powered Lambda layers that generate video at scale, and the next you’re iterating on a React-based studio interface alongside a designer. You’ll work closely with product and creative teams — not just fulfilling client requests, but proactively A/B testing new ad formats and pushing the boundaries of what our products can do. You’ll also be helping establish this team from the ground up — shaping CI/CD practices, building out observability, and hardening production systems as the team matures. If you thrive at the intersection of creative tooling, cloud infrastructure, and a fast iteration cycle with a team that ships work people can see — this is for you. WHAT YOU’LL DO Technologies you will use: JavaScript/TypeScript (Node.js, React, Svelte), HTML/CSS/SCSS, AWS (Lambda, Step Functions, S3, MediaConvert), Serverless Framework, FFmpeg, Puppeteer, MySQL, Git Build and maintain our dynamic video generation pipeline — a multi-stage, serverless orchestration system on AWS that produces video creatives at scale Develop and improve our video template studio and interactive overlay applications using modern frontend frameworks (React, Svelte) Collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and creative teams to translate ad concepts into shippable features Proactively design and run A/B tests on ad formats, creative treatments, and user experiences to drive measurable performance improvements Help harden production systems: improve observability (CloudWatch, logging), error handling, CI/CD pipelines, and cost/performance tuning across the video pipeline Contribute to architectural decisions, weighing long-term maintainability against short-term delivery needs Write clean, well-tested code across a diverse codebase — from serverless pipeline orchestration to client-facing ad experiences where visual quality and stability are immediately visible Participate in team code reviews, sharing knowledge and learning from others Participate in sprint planning, ensuring that realistic plans are set forth and delivered Communicate effectively within the engineering team and with non-technical teams Have the discipline to shift between establishing new features and maintaining legacy features based on the needs of the business WHAT YOU’LL BRING 3–7+ years of professional experience developing web-based applications Strong experience with JavaScript/TypeScript across both frontend and backend Professional experience with React; additional experience with Svelte is a plus Experience with Node.js in production environments Working knowledge of AWS services, particularly Lambda, S3, and Step Functions — or comparable cloud infrastructure experience Comfort working across the stack, from UI components to serverless backend services Ownership mindset — you can take responsibility for a slice of the system end-to-end, propose tradeoffs, and collaborate closely with teammates through pairing, code review, and clear communication Strong asynchronous communication skills, ensuring efficient and effective collaboration with remote team members Experience with or strong interest in AI-driven prompt engineering and AI coding assistants WHAT WE’D CONSIDER A BONUS Experience with video processing technologies (FFmpeg, transcoding, video playback, MediaConvert) Familiarity with Adobe After Effects or the Adobe Creative Suite, particularly Lottie/JSON export workflows Experience with browser automation tools (Puppeteer, Playwright) Background in animation systems, 2D graphics programming, or creative tooling Python experience, particularly in media/video processing contexts Experience with the Serverless Framework or similar IaC tools Digital advertising experience, specifically with video ad technologies (VAST, VPAID) Experience with A/B testing frameworks and experimentation methodology Experience developing an enterprise or SaaS product Previous experience in a startup environment WHO YOU ARE Collaborative: Comfortable working on a small team with shared ownership — works well across disciplines including engineering, product, and creative Adaptable: Moves fast without compromising on quality, security, or reliability; flexible across multiple projects and changing requirements Proactive Communicator: Shares ideas, updates, and feedback clearly, both synchronously and asynchronously Self Motivated: Takes ownership of tasks, follows through on commitments, needs little oversight to drive day-to-day work Growth Mindset: Curious, consistent drive to learn, open to feedback, continuously improving, and embracing challenges Salary Range $120,000 — $155,000 USD WHY YOU’LL LOVE WORKING AT KERV We are a team of talented, kind people, driven by innovation. We put the human first. Whether our employee, client, partner, or community; we genuinely care about your well-being and will do whatever we can to support it. We are relentless in our pursuit of innovation, remaining flexible and open to change, remaining scrappy and collaborative in pursuit of common goals. We balance our dedication to success with the accountability to deliver, trusting our expertise, while verifying our thinking at every step. We advocate for the growth and success of our people and the communities in which they belong to through transparent & clear communication, championing a culture in which everyone has a voice and contributes to our success, and a socially aware approach to everything we touch. We aim to cultivate a work environment where each person, no matter the identities they hold, not only feels safe, seen, and heard, but also celebrated. We offer… Unlimited PTO with a healthy culture of taking time off to recharge so you can bring your best self to work Competitive compensation packages Comprehensive health and wellness benefits including modern support services via Bennie, such as a custom app and healthcare concierge to support a simplified benefits experience for our staff Mental Health Support via Samata Health paid 100% by KERV 401K with company match and 100% vesting on day 1 Unlimited referral bonuses Flexible working schedules with remote and hybrid opportunities Fitness Reimbursement Program “Moments that Matter” program, centered around our heart-centered value, which celebrates and supports employees through life’s biggest wins, transitions, and challenges — because at KERV, we show up for each other beyond just the work. KERV provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. KERV participates in E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all new hires.