The Trade Desk is a global technology company and the world’s leading independent platform for digital advertising, with nearly 4,000 employees across more than 30 offices. Our technology helps advertisers reach the right audiences across the open internet — from streaming TV and podcasts to mobile apps, news, and more.

Advertising powers the content people love. By making it more transparent, effective, and responsible, we help support trusted journalism, quality entertainment, and creators worldwide. The world’s brands and agencies rely on us to reach their customers and grow their businesses responsibly.

The scale of our platform brings unique technical challenges — from processing massive datasets in real time to building systems that operate reliably on a global scale. When you work here, your impact is worldwide. We welcome diverse perspectives, encourage curiosity, and build teams that learn from one another. If you’re driven to solve meaningful challenges, we’d love to meet you.

As a Technical Sourcer, you'll be a strategic talent advisor who shapes the pipeline behind our next generation of platform and product innovation. You'll partner directly with recruiters, hiring managers, and engineering leaders to identify exceptional technical talent, deliver market intelligence, and influence how The Trade Desk competes for talent in an AI-accelerated hiring landscape.

This role is built for someone who thrives on autonomy, creative problem-solving, data-informed decision-making, and building authentic relationships with hard-to-reach technical talent. You'll be part of a global Talent Acquisition team responsible for top-of-funnel strategy and execution, with the opportunity to drive sourcing approaches, tools, and continuous improvement.

What You'll Do

Develop and execute customized sourcing strategies (by role, level, and location) to identify and engage top technical talent, including software engineers, ML/AI specialists and data engineers
Partner closely with recruiters, coordinators, and hiring managers to deeply understand role requirements, team dynamics, and their impact on the company and product
Become an expert in telling The Trade Desk story — the mission of the open internet, the engineering challenges we solve, and our values-driven culture
Craft thoughtful, personalized outreach that resonates with passive and highly specialized technical talent, cultivating long-term relationships with high-priority prospects
Serve as a strategic talent advisor — providing market insights, calibrating candidate profiles, and recommending adjustments to hiring criteria based on real-time data
Deliver timely pipeline updates, flexing strategy as hiring plans evolve
Conduct talent market research, competitive intelligence, and industry mapping to advise hiring managers and recruiters on market conditions, compensation benchmarks, and talent availability
Leverage AI-enabled research tools, automation workflows, and emerging sourcing technologies to improve pipeline quality and efficiency
Build and maintain talent maps for critical skill areas, tracking emerging talent pools across academia, open-source communities, and industry
Maintain organized candidate data in ATS and CRM systems, ensuring exceptional stakeholder and candidate experience throughout the funnel

Who You Are

5+ years of experience in technical sourcing or technical recruiting for software, product-driven, or AI/ML companies — or equivalent agency recruiting experience focused on engineering talent
Demonstrable success sourcing and engaging highly specialized technical talent at a premier tech company, high-growth startup, or leading SaaS organization
Deep proficiency with sourcing platforms and tools — LinkedIn Recruiter, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Boolean search, ATS/CRM systems (e.g., Greenhouse, Lever, Workday), and AI-assisted sourcing tools
Ability to understand technical concepts (e.g., distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, machine learning, full-stack development) and translate hiring needs into talent market strategies
A data-driven mindset — comfortable tracking KPIs, analyzing funnel metrics, and using insights to refine strategy
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a talent for crafting compelling candidate messaging
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex searches in parallel while maintaining a high quality bar
Strong sense of ownership, adaptability, and a bias for action in a fast-moving environment
High level of integrity and discretion in handling confidential information
Passionate about people, inclusive hiring practices, and building diverse teams

Preferred Experience:

Experience sourcing AI/ML researchers, data scientists, or adjacent specializations
Familiarity with The Trade Desk, ad tech, or the programmatic advertising ecosystem

#LI-JK1

In accordance with various US state laws, the range provided is the Trade Desk's reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role. The actual amount may differ based on non-discriminatory factors such as experience, knowledge, skills, and location. All employees may be eligible to become The Trade Desk shareholders through eligibility for stock-based compensation grants, which are awarded to employees based on company and individual performance. The Trade Desk also offers other compensation depending on the role such as variable compensation-based incentives and commissions. Plus, expected benefits for this role include comprehensive healthcare (medical, dental, and vision) with premiums paid in full for employees and dependents, retirement benefits such as a 401k plan and company match, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, well-being benefits, reimbursement for certain tuition expenses, parental leave, sick time of 1 hour per 30 hours worked, vacation time for full-time employees up to 120 hours thru the first year and 160 hours thereafter, and around 13 paid holidays per year. Employees can also purchase The Trade Desk stock at a discount through The Trade Desk’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

The Trade Desk also offers a competitive benefits package. Click here to learn more.

Note: Interns are not eligible for variable incentive awards such as stock-based compensation, retirement plan, vacation, tuition reimbursement or parental leave

At the Trade Desk, Base Salary is one part of our competitive total compensation and benefits package and is determined using a salary range. The base salary range for this role is

$70,500—$129,300 USD

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, The Trade Desk is committed to creating an inclusive hiring experience where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Please reach out to us at accommodations@thetradedesk.com to request an accommodation or discuss any accessibility needs you may require to access our Company Website or navigate any part of the hiring process.

When you contact us, please include your preferred contact details and specify the nature of your accommodation request or questions. Any information you share will be handled confidentially and will not impact our hiring decisions.

Technical Sourcer (Contract)

Key skills

About this role