Senior Applied AI/ML Scientist - Search Ranking

About the role

As a Senior Applied AI/ML Scientist on the Search team, you will help shape the technical vision, machine-learning algorithm strategy, and system design behind one of our most important growth levers: Search (the primary tool used by customers on any e-commerce site). You will advance real-time search and recommendation systems that power next-generation shopping experiences.

You’ll work at the frontier of algorithms, combining query understanding, deep learning, transformer-based sequential modeling, graph neural networks, and structured behavioral data to return hyper-relevant, personalized products and brands for every user query.

This is a rare chance to influence the end-to-end personalized discovery experience at Faire within a high-scale, deeply multi-modal environment, while collaborating closely with a talented team of scientists and engineers.

What you’ll do

• Build our next-generation Search ranking algorithms by integrating the latest advances in deep learning and machine learning to personalize the retailer discovery journey at Faire
• Leverage LLM to extract multimodal signals (text, visual) to better profile users and their intents.
• Partner closely with teams across Faire to experiment and improve the ML models for search ranking and beyond.
• Design and productionize natural-language search and discovery systems so that intelligent agents can generate relevant and personalized collections, explain search results, and assist retailers with browsing, filtering, and evaluation.
• Share best practices regarding deep learning model development, agent-workflow evaluation, and MLOps, and help teammates level up through code reviews and technical guidance.

You’re a great fit if you have…

• 5+ years of industry experience building large-scale ML models with business impact and shipping ML solutions to production, including 3+ years in search, recommendation, or ads ranking
• A Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, or a related STEM field.
• Strong programming skills (Python, Java, or equivalent) and hands-on experience with deep-learning libraries (e.g., PyTorch) and big data technologies (e.g., Spark).
• Deep understanding of machine learning best practices (e.g., training/serving, imbalanced data, A/B testing, feature engineering, and feature/model selection) and algorithms (e.g., user modeling, deep learning, and reinforcement learning) with applications in search, recommendation, and advertising domains.
• A product-focused mindset and a bias toward execution—moving quickly from research papers to prototypes and production.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and strong cross-functional influence that raise the technical bar beyond your immediate team.

Bonus points for…

• Contributions to open-source ML libraries or peer-reviewed publications in ML/AI.
• Industry experience developing and productizing LLM-based applications and systems in the search domain.
• Industry experience building search and recommendation systems for e-commerce or two-sided marketplaces.
• Experience using AI tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Codex) for code development and daily productivity.
• Familiarity with Kotlin

Salary Range

San Francisco: the pay range for this role is $211,000 to $290,500 per year.