Careers at Rubicon Project

Mission

Rubicon Project’s mission is to keep the Internet free and open and fuel its growth by making it easy and safe to buy and sell advertising.

Founding story

Frank Addante, Duc Chau, Craig Roah, and Julie Mattern had all worked together at online ad network L90. Addante had been monitoring the industry closely and realized two things. One, that websites did not have the technology to monetize their advertising inventory. Two, that there were numerous ad networks (over 150) and advertisers were spending their funds with all of them.

Addante believed this situation made things harder for publishers, who could only utilize so many networks (likely three at most) due to their capacities. This meant they could only reach so much of the market. So he decided to create a solution enabling them to automatically target the networks that were most relevant based on factors such as demographics, geography, and context.

The purpose of the solution would be to ensure that publishers reached the most appropriate audience, helping them to improve their advertising effectiveness. Addante partnered with Chau, Roah, and Mattern to launch a company to develop the product in 2007. Called Rubicon Project, the firm would automate the purchase and sale of ad inventory for buyers and sellers.

In its first few years the company was able to raise significant amounts of funding, including $4 million in a Series A round led by Clearstone Venture Partners in 2007; $15 million in a round led by Mayfield Fund in 2008; and $18 million in a round held in 2010. It used these investments to introduce new capabilities, such as real-time bidding and private marketplace orders.

It also acquired several firms, including Site Scout and Fox Audience Network; OthersOnline, an audience profiling tech firm; and Mobsmith, a mobile tech firm. In 2012 it was named the top-ranked online ad company in terms of reach by Comscore, placing ahead of Google for the first time, as well as AT&T and AOL. In April 2014 it completed an initial public offering and was listed on the NYSE.

Benefits at Rubicon Project

Health insurance Dental insurance Vision insurance Life insurance Disability insurance Equity incentive plan 401k Plan Employee stock purchase plan Stock options Maternity & Paternity leave Family medical leave Vacation & Paid time off Paid holidays Company mobile phone Company social events Free lunch or snacks Gym membership

Our team

Frank Addante,
Founder and Chairman

info: Frank studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He previously served as the Founder of StrongMail Systems, Inc. and as Chief Technology Officer and Technology Founder of L90.

Michael Barrett,
President and CEO

info: Michael studied Economics at The College of the Holy Cross. He previously served as President and CEO of Millennial Media, as Founder and President of Ichabod Farm Ventures LLC, as EVP and Chief Revenue Officer of Yahoo, and as CEO of Admeld, Inc.

Tom Kershaw,
Chief Technology Officer

info: Tom earned a B.A. in Economics at New York University and Master‘s degrees from the University of London and the London School of Economics. He previously served as Director of Product Management for Google Ads and Commerce in Asia-Pacific, where he oversaw the company’s advertising product portfolio for the region.

David Day,
Chief Financial Officer

info: David earned a B.S. degree at Brigham Young University. He previously served as Chief Accounting Officer of Rubicon Project, as Chief Accounting Officer of ReachLocal, and as Senior Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller at Overture Services.