The Trade Desk, a leading global advertising technology company, announced that Dave Pickles—company co-founder who previously served as CTO and stepped down in 2023—is returning to the company in a newly expanded technology leadership capacity.

In this role, Pickles will establish and lead a new CTO Council, partnering with The Trade Desk’s world-class engineering and product teams to provide direct guidance on the company’s core technology and product development roadmap. Leveraging his deep history as co-founder and former CTO, Pickles will help shape the next generation of The Trade Desk platform, with a sharp focus on aligning technology strategy, architectural direction, operational excellence, and key engineering investments—including agentic capabilities and advanced AI-powered advertising workflows.

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“I’m so excited Dave is back. I’ve missed working with him,” said Jeff Green, founder and CEO, The Trade Desk. “We’ve had so many successes together over the years, and I’m energized to take all of that history and point it toward the future. This is a pivotal crossroads for our company and the industry.”

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As a widely respected pioneer in the ad tech space, Pickles’ renewed engagement adds proven leadership strength at an exciting time of growth and technological evolution for The Trade Desk, amplifying the company’s engineering rigor as the platform tackles its next wave of scale.

“I’m thrilled by all the progress our engineering and product teams have made in recent years,” said Pickles. “The foundation here is strong, and I’m excited to support the team and help guide them through a new era of rapid change and opportunity.”