Unsung Heroes – the solutions engineer: Antoine Jacquemin, Rubicon Project

Why is your job important?

As a solution engineer, I am the main technical point of contact across Japan and Asia Pacific for Rubicon Project on both on the demand and seller side.

I lead the technical integration with new publishers but also customise our product by developing new features to support the Asian market requirements.

I am also the liaison between the sales team here and the product engineering team based in US.

What is the hardest and stressful part of your job?

Advertising is in a permanent state of evolution and changes are fast. I need to keep up to date with the last trends of the market, the new languages and any important release deployed by the US team.

In the last three months alone, I have gained skills in GDPR, Blockchain, ServerSide, Prebid SDK, CTV ad stitching and more!

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

I am a full-stack engineer, which means I am comfortable working with the full range of technologies required to get projects completed.

The advertising industry is the perfect space to for me to work as is uses so many different languages and has a great range of projects and I get to work with a big range of teams across the including DSP, DMP, publishers and buyers.

I also find it super motivating being part of new customer integrations and creating new tools as I get to see first-hand the efficiency gains they offer our clients and Rubicon alike.

First thing that comes to people’s minds when you tell them your job?

Oh you are just helping publisher to flood my content with banner ads!

How would you correct / explain to them what you do then?

That could not be further from the truth.

I am lucky enough to work with a great company that works closely with our clients to deliver a quality product that uses the correct integration, formats and data available to improve the user's experience.

It also means that publishers can increase their revenues, so it is a win for all.

Is there anything you want to change in your job?

I would often receive questions or emails that could be easily answered by a quick Google search! I sometimes think I should set up a "GIYF" auto response. (“Google is your friend”)

Which was the campaign that you worked on, that you are most proud of?

About two years ago, the Japan Rubicon team asked me to help finish the integration for a major PMP campaign that a DSP was about to commence. I had to work swiftly with the team to complete the

Integration and make sure the pipe was ready. It was a huge success and the DSP is now one of our top buyers in Japan.

Who is someone you want to emulate in your industry?

Neals Ritcher, now chief technology officer of Rakuten, but formerly Rubicon Chief Scientist is the man. He has worked in our industry for years, has great knowledge, is an excellent developer and data scientist, well respected and always ahead of his time.

He has just been named a winner of an IAB Tech Lab Service Excellence Award for his significant contributions in developing trustworthy supply chain specifications (OpenRTB 3.0 and ads.txt). I was lucky enough to work under his team for a few months at Rubicon and I am still relying on many of his internal wiki documentations in my role!

If you weren’t a senior solutions engineer what would you be?

I would be a shark specialist and diving somewhere in the planet.

If you think of someone who deserves to be part of this series, please get in touch with Shawn Lim and nominate them. You can read the previous feature on the the sales advocate, here.