---
title: 'Senior Software Engineer at Zefr'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-zefr-marina-del-rey-qdwwcya28356'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-04'
---

# Senior Software Engineer at Zefr

- **Company:** Zefr
- **Location:** Marina Del Rey, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-07-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-04
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/zefr/adae4f6d-d3ac-41e7-a3e6-08966e6ae2d4

## Job description

## WHAT WE DO:

Zefr is the leader in AI-powered content classifications for brands and advertisers. Zefr's platform is purpose built for multi-modal content understanding on open platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Meta and Snap, with pre-bid activation and verification solutions. Our products safeguard media and AI investments, while maximizing performance and efficacy on those channels.

Headquartered in Los Angeles with global offices across New York, Chicago, London, Toronto, Singapore, and more, Zefr is redefining what trust and transparency means for social media in the age of AI.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO:

We are hiring a Senior Software Engineer to own the design, implementation, and operation of microservices running in Kubernetes and other cloud-scalable, highly available environments. In this role you will build and run the production systems that power Zefr's platform at scale, and you will use AI fluently — for coding, research, and problem-solving — as a core part of how you work. Success in this position looks like a self-starter who takes ambiguous problems from design through production, operates what they build, and raises the engineering bar for the team through strong collaboration and clear communication.

- Own the design and implementation of microservices, and run and operate them in Kubernetes and other cloud-scalable, highly available environments.
- Design systems for scale, reliability, and high availability, and take accountability for the operational health of owned services, including observability, alerting, and incident response.
- Use AI tools for coding and research as a daily part of the engineering workflow, and help the team adopt effective AI-assisted development practices.
- Collaborate with product, ML, and infrastructure teams to translate requirements into robust technical designs.
- Contribute to architectural decisions, design reviews, and engineering standards across the platform.
- Mentor other engineers and communicate technical direction clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Languages: Python Data stores: Snowflake, Elastic Search, PostgreSQL Data processing: Apache Kafka, Dask, Pandas DevOps: Github Actions, Docker, Terraform, Kubernetes, ArgoCD, AWS/GCP

## WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR:

- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or related field with 5+ years of professional software engineering experience
- Deep hands-on experience designing, building, running, and operating microservices in Kubernetes and cloud environments (GCP, AWS, or Azure)
- Proficiency using AI for coding and research as a daily productivity multiplier (e.g., Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor)
- Strong foundation in distributed systems, API design, data structures, algorithms, and software design
- Thorough testing and code review standards/practices
- Self-starter who identifies problems, proposes solutions, and drives them to completion with minimal direction
- Strong collaboration skills and strong verbal and written communication skills
- Big plus: proficiency with LLMs, MCP (Model Context Protocol), agent-gateway, and agentic infrastructure

## BENEFITS (FOR US BASED EMPLOYEES):

- Flexible PTO
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance with FSA options
- Company-paid life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- 401(k) with company match
- Professional development opportunities
- 10+ paid holidays off
- Summer Fridays (we leave early)
- Hybrid work: 2 days in our Marina del Rey office, 3 days remote
- In-office lunches and lots of free food
- Optional in-person and virtual events (we like to celebrate!)

## COMPENSATION (FOR US BASED EMPLOYEES):

The anticipated salary for this position is between $180K and $200K. Within the range, individual pay is determined by factors such as job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. If your compensation expectations fall outside of this range, it may still be worth having a conversation.

Zefr is an equal opportunity employer that embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, skills, and perspectives because we know this only makes us better. We strongly encourage women, persons of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, persons with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply even if you do not meet 100% of the qualifications.

## About Zefr

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Zefr provides AI-powered brand safety, suitability, and viewability technology for social media platforms, enabling advertisers to navigate content risk and unlock performance across the feed.
- **Entity Type**: Private (growth-stage, backed by venture capital)
- **Headquarters**: Los Angeles, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2008
- **Founders**: Rich Raddon and Zach James

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: AdTech, Marketing Technology, Brand Safety & Suitability, AI/ML Content Classification
- **Target customers**: B2B — Enterprise brands, agencies, and advertisers running campaigns on major social platforms (Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To help marketers move confidently through the chaos of social platforms with technology built to decode the feed — enabling brands to "be fearless in the feed."

## Products & Services
- **Zefr Platform Intelligence**: A multi-modal content classification engine that ingests video, audio, imagery, text, and metadata to provide frame-level accuracy for brand safety, suitability, misappropriation, AI-generated content, and viewability.
- **Activate and Verify**: Programmatic activation and verification for social platforms, available both pre-bid and post-bid, connecting planning data with performance metrics.
- **Custom Policy Moderation**: In-house content policy practitioners define custom brand models and guidelines, with human review for validation and escalation.
- **Zefr Media Services**: A managed media team that runs campaigns end-to-end using Zefr’s proprietary data and technology.
- **Zefr Labs**: An innovation arm building intelligence for emerging platforms, including how brands show up in AI and new media environments.
- **Data Solutions**: Cross-platform data ingestion and classification for deeper video understanding.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not publicly disclosed; revenue is private
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Deep, direct integrations with Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Zefr was selected as the first third-party brand safety partner on both TikTok and Meta.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - First third party to receive MRC accreditation for content-level reporting of brand safety and suitability on YouTube (2026)
  - MRC accreditation for viewability & IVT (2025), offered to advertisers free of charge
  - Expanded capabilities from YouTube (2008) to Facebook/Instagram (2015) to TikTok (2021)
  - Continues to build for AI and emerging platforms via Zefr Labs

## Competitive Advantages
- **Social-first architecture**: Engineered from the ground up to understand nuances of video, audio, and text within complex social feeds — not retrofitted from legacy open-web tools.
- **Platform-native partnerships**: Deep, direct integrations with major platforms ensure data accuracy and privacy compliance.
- **Independent intelligence**: Zefr is not a media owner, so its interests align purely with advertisers, providing unbiased data and insights.
- **Frame-level accuracy**: Multi-modal AI models trained for nuance, not keywords, enabling deep classification at scale.
- **First-mover accreditations**: First third-party MRC accreditation for content-level brand safety on YouTube (2026) and long-standing certifications.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Expanding content-level brand safety and suitability across all major social platforms; leading in viewability and IVT measurement; building intelligence for AI-generated content detection; and developing solutions for how brands show up in emerging AI platforms.
- **Growth direction**: Deepening platform integrations, scaling MRC-accredited metrics, and innovating through Zefr Labs to stay ahead of cultural and technological shifts in the social feed.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: Zefr emphasizes a collaborative, inclusive environment with a focus on responsible marketing. The company values integrity, respect, and transparency — including a commitment to updating candidates at least once per week during the interview process.
- **Remote/hybrid/office policy**: Offers in-office, hybrid, and fully-remote work options.
- **Notable perks**:
  - Flexible Paid Time Off
  - Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance with FSA Options
  - Company-Paid Life Insurance
  - Paid Parental Leave
  - 401(k) with Company Match
  - Professional Development Opportunities
  - 10 Paid Holidays
  - Summer Fridays (shorter work days on select Fridays during summer)
  - In-office lunches and free food
  - Optional in-person and virtual events, quarterly happy hours, team building, volunteer opportunities
- **Interview process**: Typically includes a Recruiter Phone Screen, Hiring Manager Interview, and Team Interview (with a coding challenge for technical roles). Goal is to provide a decision within three weeks or less.

## Sources
1. [zefr.com](https://zefr.com/about/company)
2. [zefr.com](https://zefr.com/)
3. [zefr.com](https://www.zefr.com/about/careers)
4. [zefr.com](https://zefr.com/about-us/culture)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/zefr)

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