Engineering Manager, Machine Learning (Safety)

Discord; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 272,000 - 306,000; Full time

Job summary

Discord is seeking a highly technical Engineering Manager to lead the Safety ML team in San Francisco. You will own detection systems spanning real-time and batch models for content understanding, account integrity, and platform abuse.

You will hire, coach, and empower a team of ML engineers, shaping the technical vision and roadmap in collaboration with Trust & Safety, Product, Policy, Legal, and Data Science. A proven track record shipping ML at scale is required.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in machine learning, data science, or applied science.
• 3+ years as an Engineering Manager leading 5+ engineers.
• Hands-on depth in abuse/fraud detection, content classification, or related modeling.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Proven track record shipping ML systems to production at scale.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a team of ML engineers with ownership and impact.
• Drive the technical vision and roadmap for Safety ML across partners.
• Own end-to-end lifecycle of production safety models and monitor health.
• Raise the bar through structured processes and technical leadership.
• Collaborate with Trust & Safety, Product, Policy, Legal, and Data Science.

Skills

5+ years in ML

Engineering Manager

ML systems production

cross-functional collaboration

coaching engineers

first principles thinking

Job description

Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does: play video games. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to hang out before, during, and after playing games.

Discord's Safety ML team builds the machine learning systems that protect 200M+ users. The team's mission is to make Discord a place where people can build genuine friendships without exposure to harm, at a scale where manual review alone can never keep up.

We're looking for a highly technical, hands-on, and mission-driven Engineering Manager to lead our Safety ML team. As the manager responsible for Safety ML, you will own the detection systems that sit between attackers and our users; real-time and batch models for content understanding, account integrity, and platform abuse.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Build and lead an exceptional team of highly-engaged ML engineers by hiring, coaching, and instilling a sense of ownership and impact.
• Drive the technical vision and roadmap for Safety ML by collaborating with your team and partners across Trust & Safety, Product, Policy, Legal, and Data Science.
• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of production safety models: defining new capabilities, measuring performance, and monitoring the operational health of systems that make millions of enforcement decisions per day.
• Manage processes and leverage your technical expertise to continually raise the bar and ensure your team delivers extraordinary results.
• Partner with Trust & Safety on label quality, golden sets, and automating manual investigations.
• Work with other Engineering Managers to continuously improve the Engineering organization and uphold our workplace philosophy.

What you should have

• You have 5+ years of experience as a Machine Learning Engineer, Data Scientist, or Applied Scientist.
• You have 3+ years of experience as an Engineering Manager and successfully managed a team of 5+ engineers.
• You have hands-on depth in at least one of: abuse/fraud detection, content classification, behavioral modeling, graph-based modeling, or LLM-based classification systems.
• You have strong communication skills and the ability to work well cross-functionally.
• You thrive in ambiguous environments and get excited about figuring out solutions to complex problems, and then executing on them.
• You are a first principles thinker that can work with others to come up with pragmatic solutions.
• You have a proven record of shipping ML systems to production at scale.
• You are passionate about coaching and leading other engineers, but can roll up your sleeves and get elbow deep in code when needed.
• You keep up with the industry trends and continuously identify new technologies to leverage to solve technical problems

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $272,000 to $306,000 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity, or benefits.

Why Discord?

Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We're a multiplatform, multigenerational and multiplayer platform that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests, and helps developers build and grow their businesses. We believe games give us a way to have fun with our favorite people, whether listening to music together or grinding in competitive matches for diamond rank. Join us in our mission! Your future is just a click away!

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We want you to feel set up for success, so if you are in need of reasonable accommodations, please let your recruiter know.

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