Senior Staff ML Engineer, Search & Recommendation

About the Role

The Search Recommendations & Relevance team is responsible for building the next generation of search, one that goes beyond traditional search results to deliver real answers, perspectives, and conversations from the world's largest corpus of human conversation. With approximately 121 million daily active unique visitors, Reddit is one of the internet's largest sources of information, and its search engine plays a critical role in helping users discover and interact with content.

As a Senior Staff ML Engineer, you will be responsible for driving the vision for the search relevance team and collaborating with cross-functional teams, including product, infrastructure, and data science, to find technical solutions to complex challenges.

What You Will Do

• Contribute to advancing Reddit's Search and Recommendations products by designing AI-driven search experiences that prioritize seamless and delightful user experiences.
• Deeply understand the Reddit search product and drive the vision for the search relevance team.
• Enhance core search retrieval and ranking, design and implement new search engine features, build and scale search indexes, and develop and test new pipeline components.
• Deploy ML models, integrate LLMs, and ensure robust monitoring and smooth product integration throughout the process.
• Collaborate with ML, Product, Infrastructure, and DS teams at Reddit to find technical solutions to complex challenges.
• Mentor and guide senior and staff engineers in the team.
• Influence org-wide technical direction and partner closely with senior leadership to shape the long-term roadmap.
• Work across multiple areas of the stack, including query understanding, retrieval, ranking, features, measurement, and LLM-based answers.
• Partner deeply with product, org leads, and other XFN to deliver reliable, high-quality systems that can help Reddit Search scale to billions of users.

What We Are Looking For

• 10+ years of industry experience with deep expertise in large-scale search and recommendation systems.
• Proven ability to identify key opportunities, define roadmaps, and drive scalable improvement in search relevance.
• Strong experience in building and deploying large-scale ML models using frameworks such as PyTorch or Tensorflow.
• Experience working with LLM in production, including evaluation, tuning, and deployment.
• In-depth knowledge and experience working with lexical and semantic retrieval systems.
• Proficiency in object-oriented programming (Python, Golang).
• Experience working with large-scale data systems and infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of software development principles and practices.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Nice to Have

• Experience building production Agentic AI frameworks.
• Knowledge of natural language processing and computer vision techniques.
• Experience working with cloud-based infrastructure and services.

Benefits and Perks

• Comprehensive healthcare benefits, including medical, dental, and vision.
• Generous paid time off and vacation policy.
• Flexible working hours and remote work options.
• Professional development opportunities, including training and conference attendance.
• Access to cutting-edge technologies and tools.
• Collaborative and dynamic work environment.
• Opportunities for career growth and advancement.
• Competitive salary and equity package.

• Develop a strong understanding of large-scale search and recommendation systems, including query understanding, retrieval, ranking, and LLM-based answers.
• Showcase your experience working with ML models, including building, deploying, and evaluating their performance.
• Highlight your proficiency in programming languages such as Python and Golang, and experience working with data systems and infrastructure.
• Prepare to discuss your experience working with cross-functional teams, including product, infrastructure, and data science, to find technical solutions to complex challenges.
• Emphasize your ability to drive technical direction and partner closely with senior leadership to shape the long-term roadmap.
• Be prepared to provide examples of your experience working with large-scale data systems and infrastructure, and your understanding of software development principles and practices.
• Showcase your excellent communication and collaboration skills, and your ability to mentor and guide senior and staff engineers.