Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Recommendation Systems

Launch Potato; Quebec; Remote; CAD 179,000 - 236,000; Full time

Job summary

A digital media company is seeking a Director of Machine Learning to establish a technical vision for personalization. In this role, you will solve complex ML challenges and craft a company-wide personalization strategy that enhances business KPIs. The ideal candidate has over 10 years of experience in deploying large-scale ML systems and possesses a deep understanding of personalization techniques. This full-time position is remote-friendly with a focus on innovative practices.

Qualifications

• 10+ years designing, developing, and deploying large-scale machine learning systems.
• Recognized industry expertise through patents or publications.

Responsibilities

• Establish the technical vision for personalization at Launch Potato.
• Define the company-wide personalization strategy and architecture.

Skills

Expertise building ML systems with deep expertise in large-scale personalization

Mastery across multiple ML domains including deep learning and causal inference

Proven success architecting ML platforms

Job description

Overview

Launch Potato is a profitable digital media company that reaches over 30M+ monthly visitors through brands such as FinanceBuzz, All About Cookies, and OnlyInYourState. As The Discovery and Conversion Company, our mission is to connect consumers with the world’s leading brands through data-driven content and technology. Headquartered in South Florida with a remote-first team spanning over 15 countries, we’ve built a high-growth, high-performance culture where speed, ownership, and measurable impact drive success.

Must Have

• Expertise building ML systems with deep expertise in large-scale personalization
• Recognized industry expertise through patents, publications, or significant product impact
• Proven success architecting ML platforms serving billions of predictions in production
• Demonstrated track record of 0→1 innovation in personalization or recommender systems
• Mastery across multiple ML domains including deep learning, causal inference, multi-armed bandits, and graph-based models

Experience

10+ years designing, developing, and deploying large-scale machine learning systems with a focus on personalization

Your Role

Establish the technical vision for personalization at Launch Potato, solving the company’s most complex ML challenges and influencing strategy, architecture, and innovation across teams.

Outcomes

• Define company-wide personalization strategy and architecture, driving alignment across all ML teams
• Solve critical technical challenges such as cold start, real-time learning, and exploration / exploitation tradeoffs
• Design and implement advanced ML solutions using cutting-edge techniques (e.g., graph neural networks, causal models, bandit algorithms)
• Create and enforce ML architecture patterns, design standards, and reusable infrastructure across teams
• Lead multi-quarter, cross-functional initiatives that redefine how personalization impacts business KPIs
• Act as technical mentor to senior ML engineers, guiding complex decision-making and scaling team capability
• Represent Launch Potato’s technical brand externally through speaking engagements, open source contributions, or publications
• Champion privacy-preserving personalization, responsible AI practices, and adaptive learning systems

Competencies

• Visionary Thinking: Defines the future state of ML infrastructure and personalization strategy. Balances deep technical rigor with a strong understanding of product impact.
• Architectural Excellence: Designs scalable, modular systems that support billions of predictions and enable rapid experimentation. Sets high standards for maintainability and performance.
• Technical Influence: Drives decision-making and builds consensus across teams and stakeholders without direct authority. Provides trusted guidance in ambiguous situations.
• Expert-Level Execution: Navigates deep technical complexity while maintaining execution velocity. Translates research insights into production-ready solutions.
• Mentorship & Leadership: Coaches senior engineers, facilitates technical reviews, and raises the technical bar for the entire organization.
• External Thought Leadership: Represents LP in the ML community and contributes to growing its reputation as a leader in ML innovation.
• Curious & Forward-Looking: Constantly explores new approaches to personalization and actively prototypes cutting-edge methodologies.

We are committed to having a diverse, inclusive team and culture and are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity company. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Job Details

• Seniority level: Director
• Employment type: Full-time
• Job function: Engineering and Information Technology
• Industries: Advertising Services