Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Roku; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 230,000 - 360,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

health insurance

equity awards

life insurance

disability benefits

parental leave

wellness benefits

paid time off

Job summary

Roku is looking for a Machine Learning Platform Engineer to design, build, and scale robust distributed systems powering personalized content recommendations for millions of users.

You will develop end-to-end ML platforms and infrastructure, ensuring deployment, monitoring, and optimization of algorithms and workflows at scale. The role emphasizes collaboration with cross-functional teams in New York and a strong emphasis on pioneering platform engineering.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building software solutions to concrete problems.
• Strong CS fundamentals and ability to write algorithms.
• Fluency in one of Java, Scala, Kotlin, or Python.
• Experience with big data systems (e.g., Spark, Kafka, Flink, S3, Airflow).
• Familiar with ML frameworks and tools (e.g., PyTorch, HuggingFace, SageMaker).
• AI literacy and curiosity about GenAI and automation.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain scalable platform services serving millions of transactions per second.
• Run and monitor online AB tests via platform services, analyzing metrics to optimize performance.
• Collaborate with US-based engineers and cross-functional teams to translate requirements into modular components and APIs.
• Evolve the ML platform to support developer velocity and scalability.
• Mentor new team members on platform engineering best practices.

Skills

5+ years experience

Strong CS fundamentals

Java/Scala/Kotlin/Python

Big data experience

ML frameworks

AI literacy

Education

MS in Computer Science

Tools

Spark/Kafka/Flink

S3/Airflow

Ray

PyTorch/HuggingFace

SageMaker

Job description

Teamwork makes the stream work.Roku is changing how the world watches TV

Roku is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and we've set our sights on powering every television in the world. Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. Our mission is to be the TV streaming platform that connects the entire TV ecosystem. We connect consumers to the content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers unique capabilities to engage consumers.

From your first day at Roku, you'll make a valuable - and valued - contribution. We're a fast-growing public company where no one is a bystander. We offer you the opportunity to delight millions of TV streamers around the world while gaining meaningful experience across a variety of disciplines.

About the Team

The Recommendations team drives personalized experiences across our platform by leveraging state-of-the-art machine learning. Our mission is to deliver meaningful, context-aware recommendations that adapt to each user's preferences in real time. We believe that true innovation in personalization requires more than great models—it depends on a robust, flexible ML platform built for experimentation and scale. To that end, we design and build the underlying ML infrastructure, ensuring our systems remain fast, reliable, and at the forefront of technology. Our work blends innovation, engineering excellence, and a deep commitment to understanding our users, shaping how they discover and engage with content every day.

About the Role

We seek an outstanding, creative, and passionate Machine Learning Platform Engineer to join Roku's Recommendation team. In this role, you will design, build, and scale robust distributed systems that power the next generation of personalized content recommendations for millions of Roku users. You will focus on developing end-to-end machine learning platforms and infrastructure, ensuring seamless deployment, monitoring, and optimization of algorithms and operational workflows that deliver unique experiences at scale.

For New York Only - The estimated annual salary for this position is between $229,500 - $360,000 annually. Compensation packages are based on factors unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, certifications, and specific geographical location.

This role is eligible for

• health insurance
• equity awards
• life insurance
• disability benefits
• parental leave
• wellness benefits
• paid time off

How will I use AI at Roku?

At Roku, we don’t just use AI, we work with it. AI agents and smart tools help power drafts, analysis, and repetitive workflows, while our people bring direction, judgment, and accountability. We’re looking for curious, adaptable builders who can show how they’ve used AI or automation to move faster, raise the bar, and scale their impact.

We value your AI skills if you have built fluency across the agentic engineering toolchain — coding harnesses like Claude Code or Cursor, MCP servers, custom skills, or agent frameworks. And you can describe projects where you shipped real work with these tools. You know how to drive an agent, verify its output, and ramp on an unfamiliar codebase with an agent helping you.

What You'll Be Doing

• Design, build, and maintain scalable platform services: feature store, real-time inference services, vector DBs, etc., that serve millions of transactions per second
• Run and monitor online AB tests via robust platform services, analyzing platform metrics and business KPIs to optimize recommendation system performance
• Collaborate closely with US-based engineering and cross-functional teams to translate business requirements into modular platform components and APIs
• Enhance and evolve the ML platform ecosystem to support high developer velocity, system scalability, and adaptability to future business needs
• Contribute to onboarding, training, and mentoring new team members on emerging platform engineering best practices and technologies

We’re Excited If You Have

• 5+ years of experience building software solutions to concrete problems
• Strong CS fundamentals. Should be able to write an algorithm with ease
• You are fluent with one of the high-level programming languages like Java, Scala, Kotlin, or Python
• We’d love to see that you’ve worked with big data systems (Spark, Kafka, Flink, S3, AirFlow)
• Familiar with model ML frameworks and tools: Ray, PyTorch, HuggingFace, AWS SageMaker
• AI literacy and curiosity. You have either tried Gen AI in your previous work or outside of work, or are curious about Gen AI and have explored it.
• MS in Computer Science or related field

What's Roku's approach to hybrid working?

Roku fosters an inclusive and collaborative environment where teams generally work in the office Monday through Thursday. Fridays are generally flexible for remote work, except for employees whose specific roles or assigned office location require five days' a week attendance.

What are some of the benefits?

• global access to mental health and financial wellness support and resources
• statutory and voluntary benefits which may include healthcare (medical, dental, and vision)
• life
• accident
• disability
• commuter
• retirement options (401(k)/pension)

Accommodations

Roku welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and provides reasonable accommodations and adjustments in accordance with applicable law. If you require reasonable accommodation at any point in the hiring process, please direct your inquiries to [e-mail].

What should I know about Roku's culture?

Roku is a great place for people who want to work in a fast-paced environment where everyone is focused on the company's success rather than their own. We try to surround ourselves with people who are great at their jobs, who are easy to work with, and who keep their egos in check. We appreciate a sense of humor. We believe a fewer number of very talented folks can do more for less cost than a larger number of less talented teams. We're independent thinkers with big ideas who act boldly, move fast and accomplish extraordinary things through collaboration and trust. In short, at Roku you'll be part of a company that's changing how the world watches TV.

We have a unique culture that we are proud of. We think of ourselves primarily as problem-solvers, which itself is a two-part idea. We come up with the solution, but the solution isn't real until it is built and delivered to the customer. That penchant for action gives us a pragmatic approach to innovation, one that has served us well since 2002.

To learn more about Roku, our global footprint, and how we've grown, visit https://www.weareroku.com/factsheet.