---
title: 'AI Product Engineer at Samba'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ai-product-engineer-samba-san-francisco-182m84bmfsaj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-19'
---

# AI Product Engineer at Samba

- **Company:** Samba
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $150k–$200k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-03-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-19
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/sambatv/a0a1f3cc-9b2e-4440-b5c1-45ea050cf0b1

## Job description

Samba is a media intelligence company. We know what the world is watching, reading, and thinking about — in real time, at scale, across every screen. Our data exists with the consent of over a billion people, organized into the most complete picture of consumer attention ever built. The biggest brands in the world use that picture to make smarter decisions. We think it’s the most interesting data asset on the planet, because it’s the most culturally relevant.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Build and deploy AI agents using modern agent SDKs (Claude, OpenAI, or similar) with custom tools and function calling

- Design and build tool harnesses and execution environments for agents—both on desktop (local CLI, IDE integrations) and in the cloud (containerized, API-driven)

- Partner with internal teams across the organization to understand their workflows, identify automation opportunities, and build agents tailored to their use cases

- Think critically about LLM capabilities and limitations—understand the differences between models, when to use which, and how to get the best results from each

- Develop context engineering strategies—understanding how to give LLMs the right information at the right time within token limits

- Build and maintain custom tool libraries that agents can use to interact with internal systems, APIs, and data sources

- Deploy and manage agents in cloud environments with proper monitoring, error handling, and cost controls

- Optimize LLM costs and performance through prompt engineering, caching, and smart model selection

## WHO YOU ARE

- You’ve built AI agents and shipped them to production—not just prototypes

- You’ve deployed agents in cloud environments and dealt with the real-world challenges that come with it

- You’ve built tools, harnesses, or scaffolding that agents use to accomplish tasks

- You use Claude Code and Cursor daily—you’re deeply comfortable with AI-assisted development, including headless mode, multi-file editing, and MCP server integration

- You think critically about LLMs—you understand how they work under the hood, not just how to call an API
- You understand the differences between models (Claude, GPT, Gemini, open-source) and can reason about which to use for a given task
- You have strong product sense—you focus on what users actually need, not just what’s technically interesting
- You’re pragmatic—you ship 80% solutions quickly and iterate based on feedback
- You can sit with a non-technical team, understand their pain points, and translate that into an agent that actually helps
- You take ownership and drive things from idea to measurable impact
- You communicate clearly—you can explain complex AI systems to anyone in the company
- You stay current with the rapidly evolving AI landscape and bring new ideas to the team
- You’re comfortable working across cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, Azure) and containerized environments
- Experience with advanced agent patterns or multi-agent systems
- Experience building and configuring MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers
- Open-source contributions to AI/ML projects
- Familiarity with observability tools for LLM applications
- Media, ad tech, or streaming data domain knowledge

Samba is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.  We strive to empower connection with one another, reflect the communities we serve, and tackle meaningful projects that make a real impact.

Samba may collect personal information directly from you, as a job applicant, Samba may also receive personal information from third parties, for example, in connection with a background, employment or reference check, in accordance with the applicable law. For further details, please see Samba's Applicant Privacy Policy. For residents of the EU , Samba Inc. is the data controller.

## About Samba

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Samba (formerly Samba TV) is a media intelligence company that uses AI and first-party deterministic data from 1.5 billion people to power cross-screen TV and digital advertising measurement, targeting, and analytics for the world's largest brands, publishers, and platforms.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2008
- **Founders**: Ashwin Navin (Co-founder & CEO), Alvir Navin (Co-founder & COO)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Media Intelligence / Advertising Technology / Data & Analytics
- **Target Customers**: B2B — primarily Enterprise (global brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms like Disney, Havas Media, and "the vast majority of top global brands")
- **Mission Statement**: Unite TV, digital, and behavioral data through AI to power faster, more accurate media decisions.

## Products & Services
- **Samba Analytics**: Independent cross-screen measurement using first-party data for deduplicated reach, frequency, and performance outcomes. Allows optimization of campaigns while they are still in-flight.
- **Samba Audiences**: Exclusive audience segments and Private Marketplaces (PMPs) built from Samba's deterministic cross-screen signals for effective targeting.
- **Samba Knowledge Graph**: AI-powered mapping of interests, behaviors, and purchase intent, linking content to 1.5 billion real people, devices, and households.
- **Samba ID**: A universal identity solution linking content to real people and devices across screens.
- **Samba AI**: Contextually analyzes and indexes all media content, including brand logo detection on TV.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Total Funding**: $75.7M USD across 9 rounds
    - Last known round: Series B ($30M, June 2017, led by Union Grove Venture Partners and Disney Accelerator)
    - Other notable rounds: Series A ($7M, February 2012, led by August Capital)
- **Key Metric**: Owns first-party TV and web data for 1.5 billion people globally.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: August Capital, Union Grove Venture Partners, Disney Accelerator. Strategic clients include Disney, Havas Media, and "every platform and publisher you need."
- **Growth Signals**: Acquired Semasio in 2024, becoming the only provider owning both TV and web first-party data. Rebranded from "Samba TV" to "Samba" in 2026. Global workforce of 251 employees (+20.1% YoY growth). Operations span 6 countries with 13 offices.

## Competitive Advantages
- **First-Party Data Moat**: Nearly two decades of proprietary, deterministic data from smart TVs (24 brands, 48M devices) and web (1.5B people), creating a unique and un-copyable dataset.
- **Full-Funnel Integration**: The only provider to combine TV and web first-party data (after acquiring Semasio), offering planning, measurement, and activation in one platform.
- **AI-Powered Knowledge Graph**: Goes beyond traditional media measurement by mapping interests, behaviors, and purchase intent, enabling contextual analysis without relying on third-party cookies.

## Strategic Focus
- **Platform Expansion**: Evolving from a TV data provider into a comprehensive "media intelligence" company (rebranded in 2026).
- **Cross-Screen Unification**: Connecting TV and digital data to provide a complete view of audience behavior across all screens.
- **AI & Contextual Intelligence**: Deepening investment in AI for content analysis, brand detection, and predictive audience targeting.
- **Global Scale**: Operating across six continents and expanding direct partnerships with major platforms and publishers.

## Why Work Here
- **Founder-Led Culture**: Described as having "startup intensity and enterprise impact," with a "culture that values ownership over hierarchy and outcomes over optics."
- **Global & Distributed**: Teams span San Francisco (HQ), New York, London, Hamburg, Sydney, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Warsaw, Taipei, and Amsterdam. Officed with a global, collaborative ethos.
- **Engineering & Data-First**: Ships products that "touch billions of signals daily." A strong emphasis on data science, engineering, and product roles.
- **Compensation & Benefits**: Competitive base salary, equity participation, performance bonuses, generous parental leave, flexible PTO, annual learning budgets, home office stipend, and best-in-class hardware.
- **Culture Values** (from company career page): Determined & Resilient, Self-Aware, Naturally Curious, Low Ego, Results Oriented.
- **Employee Rating**: 3.9/5.0 on LinkedIn (172 reviews), with Work-Life Balance at 3.9, Compensation at 3.8, and Culture at 3.8.

## Sources
1. [samba.com](https://samba.com/about-samba) — About Samba / Company History
2. [samba.com](https://samba.com/careers) — Careers Page / Culture & Benefits
3. [samba.com](https://samba.com/) — Home Page / Product & Platform Overview
4. [linkedin.com/company/sambatv](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sambatv) — LinkedIn Profile (Company Details, Size, Financials)
5. [jobs.lever.co/sambatv](https://jobs.lever.co/sambatv) — Lever Careers Page (Open Roles)

## Other roles at Samba

- [Information Assistant](https://feeny.ai/job/information-assistant-samba-warsaw-c6peh4za13n5) — Warsaw, Poland
- [Content Ingestion Assistant – Night Shift](https://feeny.ai/job/content-ingestion-assistant-night-shift-samba-warsaw-hzcr04x2ay5n) — Warsaw, Poland
- [Associate Measurement Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/associate-measurement-partner-samba-los-angeles-fx1j10b9dztj) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Marketing Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/marketing-scientist-samba-san-francisco-sf2ccb60qkyh) — San Francisco, CA
- [Associate Measurement Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/associate-measurement-partner-samba-new-york-smx7k346q2hh) — New York, NY
- [Principal Client Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-client-partner-samba-new-york-565kn49m9712) — New York, NY
- [Account Executive ANZ](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-anz-samba-sydney-yy77z9k0nq8t) — Sydney, Australia
- [Platforms Engineering Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/platforms-engineering-manager-samba-warsaw-56ydac4ebchg) — Warsaw, Poland
- [Sales Director - India](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-director-india-samba-india-qtgdtzss6gfz) — India
- [Partner Manager, Platform Partnerships](https://feeny.ai/job/partner-manager-platform-partnerships-samba-new-york-z95zb9cnn1bz) — New York, NY