[Hiring] Senior Machine Learning Engineer @Quora

Role Description

This role will be working on our Quora product.

Our Monetization team works on challenging problems every day. Our Machine Learning Engineers are tasked with optimizing the advertising product at Quora, covering the entire Machine Learning Ads lifecycle from end-to-end, including:

• Ads targeting
• Ranking and auction dynamics
• Quality measurement

Ingrained in our culture is the desire to constantly learn and improve, and our engineers are encouraged to think big and experiment with new ideas. Using continuous deployment, we quickly see our changes in the product and make fast iterations. As a remote-first company, our engineers have a high degree of flexibility and autonomy, and everyone on the engineering team has a huge impact on our product, revenue, and company.

We are looking for an experienced Machine Learning Engineer to join the Ads ML team as an ads ranking specialist. You will:

• Improve CTR and CVR prediction
• Model calibration
• User and ad representations
• User-sequence modeling
• Translate improvements in ranking quality into measurable advertiser value, revenue, and better user experiences

This is a small, close-knit team where you own problems end-to-end — research, data, modeling, deployment, and maintenance — and where your work has a direct line to the company's top line.

Responsibilities

• Develop and improve ads ranking models, including prediction objectives, feature interactions, user-history modeling, and calibration
• Take end-to-end ownership of machine learning systems - from data pipelines, feature engineering, training-data construction and model evaluation, model training, as well as integration into our production systems
• Evaluate and apply advances in deep learning and recommendation modeling to improve ads ranking within production latency, reliability, and cost constraints
• Collaborate with ML platform and product engineers to build scalable and efficient machine learning systems in the production environment
• Partner with product, data science, and engineering teams to define ranking objectives, design A/B experiments, and measure improvements in advertiser performance, revenue, and user relevance
• Identify new opportunities to apply machine learning to different parts of the Ads product to drive value for our users and advertisers

Minimum Requirements

• Availability for meetings and impromptu communication during Quora's “coordination hours” (Mon-Fri: 9am-3pm Pacific Time)
• 4+ years of professional software development experience in machine learning
• Hands-on experience developing and deploying ads ranking models at scale, including CTR or CVR prediction and calibration, with demonstrated ownership of production improvements
• Experience evaluating ranking models through offline analysis and online experiments, including investigating discrepancies between model metrics and business outcomes
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools for coding, testing, debugging, or data analysis, with sound judgment in validating generated code and conclusions
• Hands-on experience building and deploying deep learning models with PyTorch or TensorFlow
• Good understanding of mathematical foundations of machine learning algorithms
• Strong Python programming skills and experience writing maintainable production ML code
• BS, MS or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering or a related technical field

Preferred Requirements

• Experience with modern ranking architectures, such as feature interaction networks, attention-based user-sequence models, and multi-task learning
• Understanding of how ranking predictions and calibration interact with bidding and auctions to affect ad delivery and advertiser outcomes
• Experience with leading large-scale multi-engineer projects
• Experience addressing ranking challenges such as sparse or delayed conversion labels, sampling and exposure bias, cold-start users, or training-serving inconsistencies
• Experience with generative recommender systems
• Effective communicator with strong leadership skills
• Passion for Quora's mission and goals

Benefits

• Medical/dental/vision coverage
• Equity refreshers
• Remote work reimbursement
• Paid time off
• Employee assistance programs
• Benefits are country-specific and may vary

Additional Information

• We are accepting applications on an ongoing basis. This role is a backfill for an existing vacancy.
• There are many factors that will determine the starting pay, including but not limited to experience, location, education, and business needs.
• US candidates only: For US based applicants, the salary range is $189,507 - $274,604 USD + equity + benefits.
• Canada candidates only: For Toronto and Vancouver based applicants, the salary range is $243,330 - $282,076 CAD + equity + benefits. For all other locations in Canada, the salary range is $227,108 - $263,271 CAD + equity + benefits.
• We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
• AI technology may assist in sorting applications and recording interview notes, but all decisions are made by a member of our team.
• To ensure a secure hiring process, all final candidates will undergo identity verification and a comprehensive background check prior to onboarding.