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Auction Theory Jobs (NOW HIRING)

$105K - $138K/yr

The Programmatic Bidding team powers our Adtech platform by processing billions of ad auctions ... theory, or financial trading systems.

... auctions, marketing strategies, advertising, contract design, and game theory. - Ability to work in a fast-paced business environment. - Strong research track record. - Effective verbal and written ...

... auctions, marketing strategies, advertising, contract design, and game theory. - Ability to work in a fast-paced business environment. - Strong research track record. - Effective verbal and written ...

Senior Economist

Seattle, WA · On-site

$104K - $132K/yr

... auctions, marketing strategies, advertising, contract design, and game theory. - Strong background in statistics methodology, applications to business problems, and/or big data. - Ability to work in ...

This requires developing and implementing innovative commercial strategies that can include world class auction and game theory techniques. The CSM team is responsible for helping develop the longer ...

OR

$91K - $124K/yr

This is a research-leaning role focused on theoretical problem formulation, training methodology ... Experience in ads ranking or auction-based systems (pCTR, bid optimization, ROAS feedback loops ...

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Auction Theory information

What are some common challenges faced by professionals working in auction theory roles within organizations?

Professionals specializing in auction theory often encounter challenges such as designing mechanisms that balance fairness and efficiency, interpreting complex bidder behavior, and adapting models to suit varied real-world markets like online advertising or energy trading. Additionally, collaborating with cross-functional teams—including economists, data scientists, and engineers—requires strong communication skills to translate theoretical concepts into practical applications. Staying updated with emerging research and evolving market practices is also essential to ensure solutions remain innovative and effective.

What is the difference between Auction Theory vs Auction Analyst?

AspectAuction TheoryAuction Analyst
Required CredentialsDegree in economics, mathematics, or related field; knowledge of game theoryDegree in finance, economics, or related; analytical skills in auctions
Work EnvironmentResearch-focused, academic or consulting settingsFinancial institutions, auction platforms, or consulting firms
Industry UsageUsed in economic research, policy design, and auction mechanism developmentAnalyzing auction outcomes, advising clients, optimizing bidding strategies

While Auction Theory involves the study and development of auction models and strategies, an Auction Analyst applies these principles practically by analyzing auction data and advising on bidding strategies. Both roles require a strong understanding of economics and mathematics, but Auction Theory is more research-oriented, whereas Auction Analysts focus on real-world application and data analysis.

What is auction theory?

Auction theory is a branch of economics that studies how people behave in auction markets and how different auction designs affect outcomes such as prices and resource allocation. It analyzes bidding strategies, auction formats (like English, Dutch, first-price, and second-price), and the incentives of participants. Researchers and practitioners use auction theory to design auctions that maximize efficiency, revenue, or fairness, and it is widely applied in areas such as government procurement, spectrum sales, and online marketplaces.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as an Auction Theory Analyst, and why are they important?

To succeed as an Auction Theory Analyst, you typically need a strong background in economics, mathematics, and game theory, often supported by an advanced degree such as a master's or Ph.D. Proficiency with analytical tools like MATLAB, R, or Python, as well as familiarity with economic modeling software, is commonly required. Excellent problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills help convey complex concepts and collaborate with stakeholders. These competencies are crucial for designing effective auctions, analyzing bidding strategies, and maximizing value in competitive marketplaces.
Infographic showing various Auction Theory job openings in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 96% Full Time, 3% Part Time, and 1% Contract. Highlights an 97% Physical, 1% Hybrid, and 2% Remote job distribution.

Staff/Senior Software Engineer, Programmatic Bidding

StackAdapt

$105K - $138K/yr

Other

Posted 2 days ago


Job description

About the Team:

The Programmatic Bidding team powers our Adtech platform by processing billions of ad auctions every day at millisecond latency. Our Bidding team designs, and builds scalable microservices that span every core aspect of the Adtech pipeline-including pacing, machine learning, bid price optimization, user-profile enrichment, and more. The StackAdapt bidding platform supports hundreds of thousands of advertisers, delivering real-time, intelligent and performant bidding decisions ensuring that every bid is both efficient, and strategically aligned with our customer's business goals. We empower our customers with the best performance driven platform for them to drive the best business decisions, and ROI. 

The ideal candidates we're looking for must have proven experience in Adtech, exceptional analytical thinking, and superior execution skills. You'll thrive here if you are eager to build and experiment with new technologies and approaches, and can back your ideas with rigorous analysis and data-driven, pragmatic approaches.

What You'll Be Doing:
  • Lead and collaborate with a team of engineers to design, implement, and optimize our programmatic bidding systems.  
  • Apply analytical, data-driven, and statistical methodologies to problem solving. Continuously optimizing programmatic performance through experimentation and quantitative analysis.  
  • Collaborate with ML engineers to architect and to build complex, innovative solutions that pushes the boundaries of programmatic advertising capabilities, and drive impactful business results.  
  • Rigorously optimize large-scale distributed systems capable of handling billions of requests per second with ms-level latency, ensuring high throughput and infrastructure performance under demanding workloads.  
  • Partner with Product teams to ship innovative features that advance the company's vision, and drive competitive advantage.  
  • Embody the team mission. Be adaptable, and ground development efforts in pragmatic, results-oriented decision making.  
  • Foster operational excellence across engineering and backend teams by cultivating a culture of trust, transparency and technical excellence  
  • Clearly articulate development ideas and hypotheses, openly embrace technical feedback to support collaborative innovation and continuous improvement.
What You'll Bring to the Table:
  • 3+ years of experience in AdTech or MarTech, ideally working on high-scale or performance-critical systems.
  • Advanced programming expertise in Go (or strong proficiency in comparable languages such as C++, Java, Scala, or Rust). We value engineers who can deliver high-performance applications regardless of language.
  • Experience applying machine learning, mathematics, and numerical methods-including deploying large-scale models and real-time inference systems in production. (This is an applied engineering role, not research-focused.)
  • 5+ years of experience in software development, particularly building high-throughput, low-latency distributed systems and architecting scalable microservices or data pipelines in a fast-growing tech environment.
  • Hands-on experience with multiple database systems, with a solid grasp of their trade-offs and performance considerations.
  • Strong foundation in computer science fundamentals, including data structures and algorithms.
  • Up-to-date knowledge of modern technologies, tools, and frameworks, with curiosity to continuously learn and evolve.
  • Bonus: Interest or experience in computational graphics, GPU programming, game development, game theory, or financial trading systems.