Lead Applied Scientist, Search & Information Retrieval

Ladders; United States; Remote; USD 148,000 - 274,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexibility

Career development

Flexible vacation

Mental health days

Inclusive culture

Volunteer days

ESG initiatives

Impact on justice & truth

Job summary

Ladders is seeking a Lead Applied Scientist, Search & Information Retrieval to shape search and retrieval across large-scale content experiences. The role emphasizes ranking quality, relevance, and system performance, with collaboration across engineering teams to design scalable architectures.

The position blends advanced applied science with hands-on production work, including retrieval pipelines, evaluation design, and modern ML techniques. Remote in the US, visa sponsorship not available.

Qualifications

• PhD in CS, IR, AI, ML or NLP preferred.
• 8+ years in production search/IR/ranking/recommendation systems.
• Publications at SIGIR/ACL/EMNLP/NeurIPS/ICLR/KDD/WWW preferred.
• Strong production Python skills with PyTorch & Hugging Face Transformers.
• Expertise in search engine architecture, indexing & ingestion pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy search architectures for large-scale content and enterprise information.
• Build and optimize ingestion pipelines for document retrieval.
• Develop ranking and re-ranking systems using traditional and modern techniques.
• Enhance retrieval quality through semantic and hybrid retrieval methods.
• Create evaluation frameworks for measuring retrieval performance and user outcomes.
• Lead technical decisions on indexing strategies and search infrastructure.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to deliver scalable search services.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

Hugging Face Transformers

Search engine architecture

Indexing systems

Ingestion pipelines

Ranking systems

Education

PhD in Computer Science / Information Retrieval / AI / ML / NLP

Job description

For our client, we are seeking a Lead Applied Scientist, Search & Information Retrieval to join the team of a leader in the Media space.

This role will shape search and retrieval capabilities across large-scale content experiences, with a strong focus on ranking quality, relevance, and system performance. You will partner closely with engineering teams to design scalable search architectures and improve how users discover and access information. The position blends advanced applied science with hands‑on production work, including retrieval pipelines, evaluation design, and modern machine learning techniques. Your work will have direct impact on the quality, efficiency, and trustworthiness of information delivery.

Location: Remote - US based candidates only, no visa sponsorship available

Compensation: $147,600 – $274,200 annually

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy search architectures for large-scale content and enterprise information
• Build and optimize ingestion pipelines for document retrieval
• Develop ranking and re-ranking systems using traditional and modern techniques
• Enhance retrieval quality through semantic and hybrid retrieval methods
• Create evaluation frameworks for measuring retrieval performance and user outcomes
• Lead technical decisions on indexing strategies and search infrastructure
• Collaborate with engineering teams to deliver scalable search services

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Information Retrieval, AI, Machine Learning, NLP, or a related field preferred
• 8+ years of industry experience building production search, information retrieval, ranking, or recommendation systems
• Publications at top-tier conferences like SIGIR, ACL, EMNLP, NeurIPS, ICLR, KDD, or WWW
• Strong production Python skills with experience in PyTorch and Hugging Face Transformers
• Expertise in search engine architecture, indexing systems, and ingestion pipelines

Benefits

• Flexibility and work-life balance with supportive workplace policies
• Career development and growth through continuous learning programs
• Industry-competitive benefits including flexible vacation and mental health days
• An inclusive culture recognized for its commitment to belonging and work-life balance
• Opportunities for social impact through volunteer days and ESG initiatives
• Real-world impact by contributing to justice, truth, and transparency in the legal field

Our client is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every qualification—your background could be exactly what this team needs.