Distinguished Engineer, Economy ML | Roblox Jobs, San Mateo

The Briefed; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 320,000 - 480,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Full-time benefits

Job summary

Roblox is seeking a Distinguished Engineer / Technical Director to lead strategy and technical direction for Economy ML systems at massive scale, focusing on recommendations, infrastructure, and Generative AI applications. You will shape retrieval, ranking, and LLM-powered personalization across economy surfaces, collaborating with cross-functional teams while maintaining a practical, users-first approach.

This role requires hands-on ML expertise and system design to drive long-term tech

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience delivering and improving large-scale search and recommendation systems.
• Experience building and deploying ML models with billions of parameters into production.
• Ability to drive technical decisions across multiple teams with empathy and consensus-building.
• First-principles thinking focused on user needs, including Roblox users and creators.
• Generalist who can adapt to various languages and technologies.
• Willingness to tackle data or ML problems hands-on as they arise.
• Creative and strategic approach to hard problems, simplifying complexity.
• BS in Computer Science or related discipline.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction for ML solutions behind core economy experiences: personalization, ranking, generative modeling, and more.
• Write specs for new features, define AI strategy, advance recommendation tech, and drive business outcomes.
• Build and evolve infrastructure for training, serving, and evaluating traditional ML and Generative AI models.
• Co-design models and systems at the intersection of architecture and infrastructure with cross-functional teams.
• Lead engineers through technical direction and mentorship to foster engineering excellence.
• Be the tech stack authority ensuring new solutions are built the right way.
• Collaborate with Roblox teams to build community- and company-first products.
• Balance researching new technologies with practical product delivery.
• Represent Roblox in industry and communities.

Skills

Large-scale search

ML infrastructure

Embedding-based retrieval

Transformers

LLM-based workflows

Generative AI

Education

BS in Computer Science

Job description

Roblox’s Economy ML team delivers scalable machine learning systems for personalization, pricing, search, and content understanding across all Economy surfaces: Marketplace, Developer Monetization, Payments, and Avatar. Roblox is looking for a Distinguished Engineer / Technical Director to lead the strategy and technical direction for these ML systems, with a focus on large-scale recommendations, infrastructure, and emerging Generative AI applications. You will help build systems for retrieval, ranking, generative modeling, and LLM-powered personalization at massive scale. The role calls for deep systems thinking, hands-on ML expertise, and a vision for how traditional ML and GenAI come together to power the future of the Roblox economy.

Why Roblox for ML systems

• AI/ML is a top company priority with long-term investment
• Real-world scale: millions of daily economic interactions across ranking, pricing, fraud, and search
• Full-system ownership, from data ingestion to GPU training to live inference
• Complex surfaces and rich signals, including 3D content, UGC, avatar metadata, and behavioral and economic signals
• The chance to shape the Roblox economy while working on frontier ML infrastructure and GenAI workflows

Key Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction and implementation for the ML solutions behind core economy experiences: personalization, ranking, generative modeling, and more
• Write specs for new features and improvements, set the AI strategy, push the frontier of recommendation technology, and drive business outcomes across candidate generation, ranking, objective functions, and value delivery for users and developers
• Build and evolve infrastructure for training, serving, and evaluating both traditional ML models and Generative AI models (e.g., embedding-based retrieval, transformers, LLM-based workflows)
• Co-design models and systems at the intersection of model architecture and infrastructure, partnering with core modelers, data and AI infrastructure engineers, and product teams to push the limits of large-scale training and serving
• Lead other engineers by example and through technical direction as an individual contributor, building a culture of engineering excellence
• Become an authority on the technology stack and make sure new solutions are built the right way
• Work with other Roblox teams to build products with a community-and-company-first attitude
• Balance researching new technologies with a practical approach to turning research into Roblox products
• Engage with industry and communities where applicable, and act as an ambassador for Roblox

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience, with a consistent record of delivering and improving large-scale search and recommendation systems
• Experience building and improving large-scale ML models with billions of parameters and launching them into production, with substantial contributions to ML infrastructure and production systemsAbility to break down long-term product requirements into iterative, deliverable stages
• A record of starting and facilitating challenging technical decisions across multiple teams and organizations, with empathy and a knack for finding common understanding
• A first-principles approach that starts with the needs of the user, whether Roblox users and creators or internal engineers
• A generalist approach, with mastery of several languages and technologies and the ability to adapt to any situation
• Willingness to roll up your sleeves and tackle data or ML problems as they arise
• A creative, strategic approach to hard problems, simplifying complexity and bringing in fresh ideas
• BS in Computer Science or a related discipline

Skills

Technical Skills

• Large-scale search and recommendation systems
• ML model training, serving, and evaluation infrastructure
• Embedding-based retrieval, transformers, and LLM-based workflows
• Generative AI and personalization
• Ranking, candidate generation, and objective function design

Soft Skills

• Technical leadership and influence across teams
• Strategic thinking and simplifying complexity
• Empathy and consensus building
• Mentoring and fostering engineering excellence

Nice to Have

• MS or PhD in Computer Science or a related discipline

Benefits

• Equity compensation for all full-time employees
• Benefits for full-time employees, with details on Roblox’s careers page