Snap Inc

Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Content ML, Level 7

Snap Inc$276K — $414K *
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 9+ years of machine learning experience; or a Master's degree in a technical field + 8+ years of post-grad ML experience; or a PhD in a related technical field + 5+ years of post-grad ML experience
  • 2+ years of experience with technical leadership or as a domain expert
  • Experience developing and shipping scalable ML models for recommendation or ranking use cases
  • Deep understanding of recommendation systems architectures applied to real-world production
  • Strong programming skills with emphasis on production-ready software design
  • Ability to rapidly learn and apply new technologies in complex environments
  • Effective in solving technical challenges and driving execution in multi-stakeholder situations
  • Exceptional communication, collaboration and mentorship skills

Responsibilities

  • Lead the vision and roadmap for Snap's recommendation systems
  • Technically guide teams to scale existing recommender systems
  • Collaborate on designing the next-gen recommender system with cross-functional partners
  • Align ML strategies with product and engineering teams to support company priorities
  • Enhance the ML tech stack for improved system performance
  • Stay abreast of trends in recommendation systems to leverage opportunities
  • Implement best practices for availability, scalability, and cost management

Benefits

  • Paid parental leave
  • Comprehensive medical coverage
  • Emotional and mental health support programs
  • Compensation packages that include equity options in the form of RSUs
  • Support for personal happiness and well-being needs
Full Job Description

We’re looking for a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to join the Content ML team at Snap! We build large-scale recommender systems for all of Snap’s video content products.

What you’ll do
  • Lead the vision and roadmap for Snap’s large-scale recommendation systems, elevating content discovery and personalization across Spotlight, Discover, and Friend Stories.

  • Technically lead a group of talented engineers from Content ML and Platform teams to operate and scale the existing recommender system.

  • Work with cross-team ML, Infra, and Research partners to design the next-gen recommender system and incorporate SOTA industry research in recommendation systems, foundation models, multimodal signal understanding, deep user understanding, and related areas. We actively participate in and publish at top-tier conferences.

  • Partner with engineers, product managers, research scientists, data science, and leadership to align on ML strategy and ensure technical investments support long-term company priorities.

  • Advance the ML tech stack for recommendations, improving scalability, efficiency, reliability, and overall system performance.

  • Stay up to date on emerging trends and advancements in the RecSys landscape and proactively identify opportunities to leverage these developments to further enhance Snap’s content capabilities.

  • Advocate for and implement best practices in availability, scalability, experimentation rigor, operational excellence, and cost management.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
  • Deep understanding of RecSys architectures and experience applying them to real-world production systems.

  • Strong foundation in machine learning, deep learning, and large-scale recommendation/ranking systems.

  • Experience leading teams or roadmaps focused on recommendations and/or personalization.

  • Ability to design, train, deploy, and optimize state-of-the-art machine learning models for performance, reliability, and scale.

  • Excellent programming and software engineering skills, with an emphasis on clean design and production-readiness.

  • Ability to quickly learn new technologies and apply them effectively in ambiguous problem spaces.

  • Skilled at solving complex technical challenges, influencing architecture decisions, and driving execution across multi-stakeholder environments.

  • Strong collaboration, communication, and mentorship abilities.

Minimum Qualifications
  • 9+ years of post-Bachelor’s machine learning experience; or a Master’s degree in a technical field + 8+ years of post-grad ML experience; or a PhD in a related technical field + 5+ years of post-grad ML experience

  • 2+ years of experience with technical leadership or acting as the domain-expert to a technical organization

  • Experience developing and shipping performant and scalable machine learning models for recommendation or ranking use cases

Preferred Qualifications
  • Advanced degree in a related field such as machine learning, computer vision, or mathematics

  • Experience with large-scale recommendation/ranking systems, multimodal modeling, or retrieval architectures

  • Experience with TensorFlow, PyTorch, or related deep learning frameworks

  • Background in integrating recommendation models into production pipelines

  • Experience partnering with cross-functional executives and management across a globally distributed organization and exercising sound judgment

  • Experience contributing to AI publications

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don’t be shy and provide us some .

"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. 

: Snap Inc. is its own community, so we’ve 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 Snap’s 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 candidate’s 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.

:

The base salary range for this position is $276,000-$414,000 annually.

Zone B:

The base salary range for this position is $262,000-$393,000 annually.

Zone C:

The base salary range for this position is $235,000-$352,000 annually.

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

About Snap Inc

Snap Inc. is a camera and social media company. It was founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. The company is known for its Snapchat app, which allows users to send photos and videos that disappear after being viewed. Snap Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and has offices around the world. The company went public in 2017 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Learn more about Snap Inc
Size
5,661 employees
Market Cap
$13.9 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$944.8 million
Founded
2016
5 Year Trend
+59.1%
Revenue
$2.5 billion
NASDAQ

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