Were looking for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to join Snap Inc! We are looking for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to lead the development of next-generation Search ranking systems. In this role, you will design, build, and improve machine learning models that determine the relevance, quality, personalization, and utility of search results at scale.

What Youll Do

Lead the design and development of machine learning models for Search ranking, including relevance ranking, personalization, result quality, intent understanding, and engagement optimization
Own major ranking initiatives from problem definition through experimentation, launch, and iteration
Develop and improve ranking models using techniques such as learning-to-rank, deep retrieval, neural ranking, sequence models, embeddings, multi-task learning, calibrated prediction, and large-scale feature engineering
Build ranking systems that balance multiple objectives, such as relevance, user satisfaction, freshness, diversity, fairness, safety, latency, and business goals
Partner with product managers, data scientists, and engineers to define success metrics, experimentation strategy, and long-term ranking roadmap
Analyze user behavior, search logs, query-result interactions, and model performance to identify opportunities for improvement
Design robust offline evaluation, online experimentation, and model monitoring frameworks
Improve feature pipelines, training infrastructure, serving systems, and model iteration velocity
Provide technical leadership across teams, influence architecture decisions, and mentor engineers working on ML ranking systems
Stay current with advances in search, recommendation systems, ads ranking, generative AI, LLM-based ranking, and retrieval-augmented systems

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Strong machine learning fundamentals, including supervised learning, ranking models, embeddings, deep learning, optimization, evaluation, and experimentation
Strong programming skills in Python, C++, Java, Scala, or similar languages
Experience with large-scale data processing and ML infrastructure, such as Spark, Flink, Beam, TensorFlow, PyTorch, JAX, or similar tools
Ability to take ML models from research or prototyping into large-scale production systems
Strong understanding of online experimentation, A/B testing, metric design, model debugging, and tradeoff analysis
Proven ability to lead complex technical projects across multiple teams
Excellent communication skills and ability to explain complex ML concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelors Degree in a relevant technical field such as computer science or equivalent years of practical work experience
8+ years of post-Bachelors machine learning experience; or Masters degree in a technical field + 7+ year of post-grad machine learning experience; or PhD in a relevant technical field + 4 years of post-grad machine learning experience
Experience developing machine learning models for relevance ranking, personalization, intent understanding, and/or engagement optimization
Experience with large-scale data processing and ML infrastructure, such as Spark, Flink, Beam, TensorFlow, PyTorch, JAX, or similar tools

Preferred Qualifications

Advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, Information Retrieval, or a related field
Direct experience building Search ranking systems, including query understanding, retrieval, ranking, re-ranking, relevance modeling, or result blending
Experience with ads ranking, recommendation ranking, feed ranking, marketplace ranking, or content discovery systems
Experience with learning-to-rank methods such as LambdaMART, pairwise/listwise ranking losses, neural ranking models, or transformer-based rankers
Experience with candidate generation, retrieval models, ANN search, embeddings, vector search, or two-stage ranking architectures
Experience optimizing ranking systems for multiple objectives, including relevance, engagement, quality, diversity, freshness, long-term user value, and monetization
Experience with LLMs, foundation models, semantic search, natural language understanding, or retrieval-augmented generation
Experience building low-latency ML serving systems and improving production model reliability
Track record of publishing, patenting, or otherwise advancing the state of the art in search, ranking, recommendations, ads, or applied ML

"Default Together" Policy at Snap: At Snap Inc. we believe that being together in person helps us build our culture faster, reinforce our values, and serve our community, customers and partners better through dynamic collaboration. To reflect this, we practice a "default together" approach and expect our team members to work in an office 4+ days per week.

Our Benefits: Snap Inc. is its own community, so weve got your back! We do our best to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to be happy and healthy, on your own terms. Our benefits are built around your needs and include paid parental leave, comprehensive medical coverage, emotional and mental health support programs, and compensation packages that let you share in Snaps long-term success!

Compensation

In the United States, work locations are assigned a pay zone which determines the salary range for the position. The successful candidates starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. The starting pay may be negotiable within the salary range for the position.These pay zones may be modified in the future.

Zone A (CA, WA, NYC):
The base salary range for this position is $229,000-$343,000 annually.

Zone B:
The base salary range for this position is $218,000-$326,000 annually.

Zone C:
The base salary range for this position is $195,000-$292,000 annually.

This position is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.

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Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Search Ranking