Director, Agentic Shopping

eBay; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 241,000 - 322,000; Full time

Job summary

eBay seeks a Director, Agentic Shopping to spearhead AI-powered shopping experiences. You will define strategy, drive execution, and collaborate with product and executives to build world-class, intelligent shopping interactions that help customers discover, compare, and decide with confidence.

Located in San Jose, you will lead cross-functional teams across product, design, and engineering, shaping experimentation, evaluation, and platform capabilities.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in applied research, machine learning, NLP, or related technical leadership roles.
• Led senior individual contributors and/or managers in complex organizations.
• Demonstrated success delivering AI- or ML-powered customer experiences at scale.
• Deep expertise in two of: conversational search/retrieval/relevance, NLP/intent understanding/LLM-based interaction, recommendation/personalization, ML platform engineering.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the applied research strategy for agentic shopping and conversational search.
• Lead teams developing capabilities like shopping intent understanding, conversational retrieval, response generation, and ranking optimization.
• Partner with product and engineering to turn AI capabilities into customer-facing experiences with business value.
• Develop high-performing teams with strong execution and inclusive leadership.

Skills

Applied research

Machine learning

NLP

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering or related

MS/PhD in CS/ML/NLP (preferred)

Job description

At eBay, we're more than a global ecommerce leader — we’re changing the way the world shops and sells. Our platform empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world. We’re committed to pushing boundaries and leaving our mark as we reinvent the future of ecommerce for enthusiasts. Our customers are our compass, authenticity thrives, bold ideas are welcome, and everyone can bring their unique selves to work — every day. We're in this together, sustaining the future of our customers, our company, and our planet. Join a team of passionate thinkers, innovators, and dreamers — and help us connect people and build communities to create economic opportunity for all.

About The Team And The Role

Join us as the Director, Agentic Shopping, and lead the charge in transforming the future of ecommerce! This role is pivotal in crafting intelligent shopping experiences that help customers discover, evaluate, and make confident decisions through AI-powered interactions.

Located in San Jose, you will collaborate closely with product, design, and cross-functional executives to define strategy, drive execution, and build world-class shopping experiences.

What You Will Accomplish

• Define and drive the applied research strategy for agentic shopping and conversational search at eBay
• Lead teams developing core capabilities such as shopping intent understanding, conversational retrieval, response generation, multi-turn refinement, ranking optimization, and evaluation
• Partner with product and engineering leaders to turn emerging AI capabilities into customer-facing experiences with clear business value
• Build systems that improve how buyers explore inventory, compare options, refine intent, and complete high-confidence shopping decisions
• Establish robust experimentation and measurement frameworks for conversational quality, relevance, customer happiness, and downstream marketplace outcomes
• Guide architecture and technical tradeoffs across model choice, latency, reliability, cost, and trustworthiness in production systems
• Help define the operating model for scaling new conversational and agentic experiences from pilot programs into durable platform capabilities
• Develop a high-performing team culture grounded in technical excellence, inclusive leadership, and strong execution

Leadership Proficiencies And Operating Principles

• Customer-centric approach. You treat relevance and discovery as customer problems first, building systems that better understand intent and improve quality continuously.
• Platform thinking and leverage. You build reusable capabilities, infrastructure, and APIs that enable multiple teams to build on shared foundations rather than reinventing solutions independently.
• Data-informed execution at scale. You operate with rigor across the full lifecycle from hypothesis and offline validation through experimentation, rollout, monitoring, and iteration.
• Multi-year strategy with pragmatic sequencing. You can place thoughtful long-term bets while delivering near-term outcomes and maintaining operational excellence.
• Leader-of-leaders capability. You build organizations intentionally, develop senior talent, compose clarity in ambiguity, and scale culture across teams and geographies.

What You Will Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or comparable hands‑on experience.
• 12+ years of experience in applied research, machine learning, search, NLP, or related technical leadership roles. You have led senior individual contributors and/or managers in complex organizations.
• Demonstrated success delivering AI- or ML-powered customer experiences at scale.
• Deep expertise in at least two of the following areas:
  • Conversational search, information retrieval, or relevance systems
  • NLP, intent understanding, query reformulation, or LLM-based interaction development
  • Recommendation systems, personalization, or shopping intelligence
  • ML platform engineering, experimentation, model serving, or embedding infrastructure
• Strong technical credibility with the ability to direct architecture, assess tradeoffs, and affect implementation in high-scale production environments.
• Excellent executive communication and cross-functional leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Holding an advanced academic degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, NLP, Information Retrieval, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related specialty; or demonstrated equivalent experience recognized within the field.
• Experience shipping conversational AI, assistant, or agentic product experiences in consumer technology, ecommerce, or adjacent domains.
• Demonstrated success improving business outcomes through measurable gains in relevance, engagement, conversion, or customer happiness.
• Experience building internal capabilities or platforms as products, including self-service workflows, operational rigor, and reliability standards.
• Strong narrative and executive presence, with the ability to explain technical and scientific tradeoffs to diverse collaborator groups.

Location and Ways of Working

This role is based in San Jose, California. It will partner across globally distributed teams and collaborators, and requires strong cross-site operating rhythms to work effectively across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Periodic travel to key sites may be required for planning, leadership alignment, team development, and execution reviews.

Why This Role Matters

This is an opportunity to help define how the future of shopping works at eBay. You will build intelligent experiences that make discovery more natural, shopping more efficient, and decision-making more confident for millions of customers worldwide!

Additional Details

The base pay range for this position is expected in the range below:

$240,800 - $321,500

Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including location, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a target bonus and restricted stock units (as applicable) in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits (including 401(k) eligibility and various paid time off benefits, such as PTO and parental leave). Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

If hired, employees will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

Remote roles are not eligible for U.S. visa sponsorship.

eBay is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please contact us at [e-mail]. We will make every effort to respond to your request for accommodation as soon as possible. View our accessibility statement to learn more about eBay's commitment to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

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