got a recruiter reach-out for a senior data engineer position on their ads/monetization team. first screen is next week. trying to calibrate before i go in.
a few things i'm specifically trying to figure out: how heavy is the SQL portion vs actual data engineering (spark, kafka, pipeline design)? do they care about gaming domain knowledge for the ads side, or is it more about the technical fundamentals? is it a take-home or a live coding situation? and honestly, how is the ads team culture compared to the core engine teams? i've worked at a few companies where the ads org felt like a different company.
anyone who's gone through Unity data loops recently, especially 2025-2026: drop your experience. even partial data helps. thanks
3 replies
ds_dmitri
interviewed there about 8 months ago for a data scientist role on ads, not pure DE but adjacent. they definitely leaned SQL hard in the first technical round, like 45 minutes of it. the second technical was more about systems and had some spark questions. gaming domain knowledge didn't seem required but they did ask about experience with event stream data which is very games-specific.
numbers_only
Unity ads org has a reputation for being more metrics-driven and a little faster-paced than the engine teams. different PM style too. from what i've heard, the data infra is in decent shape post-ironSource integration, but there was some chaos during the merger. probably worth asking your recruiter which team exactly you'd land on.
de_derek
yeah the ironSource history is what made me a little cautious. good to hear infra is in better shape. i'll ask the recruiter which sub-team specifically. thanks