Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Ads

About the Role

The Ads Machine Learning (Ads ML) team at Uber is responsible for providing relevant ad recommendations to the users across the different applications within the Uber ecosystem. We focus on building a deep understanding of both user and merchant behavior to generate accurate ML signals that enhance the Ads auction system providing accurate pricing for our advertisers. Our goal is to maximize the benefits for both users and merchants within Uber's Ads distribution system.

You will directly impact Uber's Ads systems by defining and executing the Ads ML roadmap, with a focus on enabling and accelerating large-scale improvements to our recommendation and auction systems. Developing relevant, robust, and observable ad recommendations is crucial to Uber's fast growing Ads Business strategy, making this a highly impactful role.

---- What the Candidate Will Do ----

1. Design and implement machine learning models and algorithms to optimize ad recommendations and auction mechanisms.
2. Develop and maintain scalable ML pipelines and data infrastructure to support real-time and batch processing of large-scale datasets.
3. Apply advanced statistical and machine learning techniques to generate insights and improve the effectiveness of ad targeting and delivery.
4. Collaborate with data scientists and engineers to build and refine predictive models that enhance user engagement and merchant benefits.
5. Conduct rigorous experimentation and A/B testing to validate model performance and iterate on improvements.
6. Define success metrics and develop dashboards to monitor and visualize the performance of ML models in production.
7. Work closely with cross-functional teams, including Product, Engineering, and Data Science, to translate business requirements into ML solutions.
8. Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior ML engineers and data scientists.
9. Stay up-to-date with the latest research and advancements in machine learning, recommendation systems, and ad auction techniques.

1. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Data Science, ML, Statistics, or other quantitative fields.
2. Proven experience with designing and implementing machine learning models in production environments.
3. Proficiency in using Python for developing ML models and handling large-scale data sets.
4. Solid understanding of SQL and experience using it in a production environment.
5. Strong grasp of Big Data architecture and experience with ETL frameworks and platforms.
6. Hands-on experience with building batch data pipelines using technologies like Spark or other map-reduce frameworks.
7. Expertise in experimental design and analysis, including A/B testing, exploratory data analysis, and statistical analysis.
8. Experience with data visualization tools and creating insightful dashboards.
9. Proficiency with methodologies such as sampling, statistical estimates, and descriptive statistics.
10. Ability to synthesize complex data analyses into clear and actionable insights to influence product direction.
11. Experience with recommendation systems.
12. Fast learner with a passion for solving complex problems and asking thoughtful questions to ensure effective solutions.
13. Strong communication skills to engage with technical, non-technical, and executive audiences effectively.
14. Commitment to seeking and providing timely feedback to drive continuous improvement.

1. 5 years of industry experience as an ML engineer or equivalent.
2. Expertise in building sophisticated systems and knowledge of Hadoop-related technologies such as HDFS, Kafka, Hive, and Presto.
3. Experience managing projects across large, ambiguous scopes and driving initiatives in a fast-moving, cross-functional environment.
4. Experience with enabling production-scale and maintaining large ML models.
5. Experience in one or more object-oriented programming languages (e.g. Python, Go, Java, C++).
6. Experience with REST APIs and Distributed Messaging / Kafka.
7. Familiarity with recommendation systems and modern ad auction techniques.
8. Experience with ad auctioning systems.
9. Experience with state-of-the-art deep learning techniques.
10. Advanced degree (Ph.D. or M.S.) in Data Science, ML, or related disciplines.