Ad Intelligence / Spy Tool Developer (YouTube, Meta, Native Ads)

Looking for an experienced developer to help build ad intelligence (spy) tools used for competitor research across YouTube, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), and native ad networks (Taboola, Outbrain, etc.).

We’re specifically looking for someone who understands the real-world challenges of ad collection, including targeting diversity, browser identities, deduplication, etc.

This tool is for internal competitor research, not resale.

What You’ll Be Working On

Build systems to detect, capture, and catalog ads across:

YouTube (in-stream, skippable, non-skippable)

Meta (FB/IG feed, reels, stories)

Native ads (Taboola, Outbrain, Revcontent, etc.)

Automating browsers using tools like Playwright / Puppeteer / Selenium

Working with multiple profiles, IPs, and environments to surface ad variety

Capturing:

Ad creatives (video/image where possible)

Landing page URLs

Advertiser metadata

First-seen / last-seen timestamps

Implementing deduplication logic (hashing creatives, URLs, etc.)

Structuring data in a database for competitor analysis

Helping design logic to identify scaling signals (ads shown repeatedly over time)

Required Experience (Important)

Please apply only if you have experience with ad spy tools or similar systems.

You should have hands-on experience with some of the following:

Building or maintaining ad spy tools, scrapers, or ad monitoring systems

Browser automation with:

Playwright (preferred)

Puppeteer or Selenium

Handling:

Multiple browser profiles

Proxies (residential / mobile a plus)

Fingerprinting / session persistence

Scraping or monitoring:

YouTube ads


Facebook / Instagram ads

Native ad widgets

Storing and organizing scraped data in a clean, queryable structure

Nice to Have (Big Plus)

Experience working with media buyers or affiliate marketers

Familiarity with:

Meta Ads Library limitations

Native ad ecosystems (Taboola, Outbrain, MGID, Revcontent)

Experience with:

Video handling / stream capture

Creative hashing or fingerprinting

LLMs for creative analysis or classification

Understanding of ad compliance and platform behavior

Tech Stack (Flexible)

Python or Node.js

Playwright / Puppeteer / Selenium

PostgreSQL / MySQL / SQLite

Proxy services (we’ll provide access if needed)

Project Type

Initial build: Project-based

Ongoing improvements & maintenance: Long-term potential

Hours: Flexible

Timezone: Flexible

How to Apply

When applying, please include:

Relevant past work (spy tools, scrapers, ad monitoring systems, etc.)

Platforms you’ve worked with (YouTube, Meta, Native — be specific)

Tools you used (Playwright, Puppeteer, proxies, etc.)

A short explanation of:

How you would approach collecting ads across multiple platforms

Challenges you’ve faced doing similar work

Please only apply if you have experience with this.