Like many Hokies, Andrew Merewitz ’12 fell in love with Blacksburg the first time he visited.
“It was an immediate, ‘This is it,’” said Merewitz, an engineering leader in advertising technology for Netflix. “Virginia Tech ended up being the only school I applied to. I applied early decision and I had a few other applications teed up and ready, but I got into Virginia Tech before I submitted any others.”
Merewitz, a Maryland native, got his start in computer engineering — and met his wife — at Bloomberg in New York City, where he wrote financial software applications. Over the last decade, he’s not only transitioned into the advertising technology space, but also moved to managerial roles to have a positive impact on team development.
“I like working with people, helping them do more than they thought they were capable of,” he said. “I like seeing people with wildly different personalities, backgrounds, and approaches to solving problems come together and work really well as a team.”
Merewitz talked about his career journey, ad tech, leadership skills, and his best advice for Hokie engineering students.
Bloomberg to Amazon to Netflix is an amazing career journey. How did you get where you are today?
In fall 2012, I was at the Engineering Expo and Bloomberg was there. At the time, they wanted folks who knew C++. They saw my little computer engineering name tag and came right up to me. I’d never heard of them before as an engineering company, only a news outlet, but next thing you know, they’re flying us up to the headquarters. Then I’m accepting an offer, and three weeks after graduation, I’m moving to New York City. I was there for just about eight years and I loved it. It was a phenomenal place to start my career.
In 2020, I was looking for something new. I considered switching internally because I had a good network, but in my head I was thinking I wanted to go somewhere smaller where as an engineering manager I could have touchpoints on all different parts of the organization.
So I ended up at Amazon, which clearly was not that company size-wise; however, at the time they were just starting their Amazon ads offerings. They were hiring in New York to get that off the ground, and that’s what sold me: It was Amazon, but it was technically a new business line. And while I was there, I got the incredible opportunities to talk directly with customers, hire and grow a team, and work very closely with our sales, finance, and product teams to understand a lot about the advertising industry, what ad tech meant, what it meant to Amazon, etc.
Toward the end of last year, I started to get that itch of wanting to see what else was out there. I talked to a few people across the industry and the role at Netflix came up. Netflix has always been a dream company to work with, so I applied and I’ve been here since December 2024. We’re in the midst of a big transition, but it’s exciting to get in early and help build the ad tech.
What is ad tech?
Companies, from the biggest ones in the world to small mom-and-pop businesses, want to advertise their services on the internet. Twenty to 30 years ago, you’d run an ad in the newspaper, Yellow Pages, or on cable television. There were estimates on viewership and audience demographics. But even then, it was very tricky to tie that back to people actually buying goods and services.
Now, using ad tech, we’re able to do everything from identifying the target customer all the way to managing each aspect of the advertising process. There are companies that exclusively focus on ad tech, while large-scale companies, like Amazon and Netflix, do that work in-house alongside their other business lines.
This is such an interesting industry, one I didn’t know anything about when I joined Amazon five years ago. I’ve learned so much and I enjoy problem solving from both an engineering and business perspective.
Favorite Hokie memory
What always stands out is living in West Ambler Johnston my freshman year, waking up across the street from tailgating every Saturday. The big games at home, the crowds, the atmosphere on campus, it was always pretty special.
Current favorite Netflix show
My wife and I recently finished watching “The Lincoln Lawyer” and “The Four Seasons.” We recommend them both.
You’re not just an engineer, you manage people and teams. How did you develop your leadership skills?
I’ve always naturally gravitated toward leadership positions. When I was at Bloomberg, before I became a manager, I would help new people get up to speed and even mentor them. And when I transitioned into an engineering manager role, I figured out my own style through things I learned from other managers, tech leadership blogs, and just observing leadership at other companies. I collected things that really resonated with me and added them to my toolbox.
What’s your best advice for Hokie engineering students?
If you really want to grow and excel, be proactive in seeking out information, even challenges and their solutions. Build your own network, get connected to others while you’re in college, don’t wait for someone to come tell you what to do. That kind of proactiveness will take you further and faster than others.
By Niki Hazuda