Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Recommendation & AI Applications

NewsBreak

Mountain View (CA)

On-site

USD 195,000 - 230,000

Full time

12 days ago

Get more replies from employers

Send a job-specific resume in minutes.

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision coverage

Top-tier 401(K) with company matching

Paid time off & holidays

FSA / HSA and commuter benefits

Team activity budget

Job summary

NewsBreak in Mountain View, CA is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to advance large-scale recommendation systems and AI-powered features. You’ll own core feed, retrieval, and ranking systems serving tens of millions of users and apply cutting-edge AI methods to production problems.

This role emphasizes strong ownership, hands-on development, and delivering impactful results. Collaboration with DS/ENG teams is encouraged to scale infrastructure and experimentation.

Qualifications

3+ years of industry experience building ML or recommendation systems in production.
Strong understanding of recommendation system fundamentals (ranking, embeddings, user/item modeling, experimentation).
Strong coding skills with Python / Java / Scala, and experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow.
Experience working with large-scale data and ML systems (e.g., Spark, distributed training, real-time inference).
Ability to own features end-to-end and deliver measurable business impact.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and iterate on high-throughput, low-latency recommendation systems powering NewsBreak’s core feeds.
Improve retrieval, ranking, and multi-objective optimization to balance engagement, retention, content quality, and business metrics.
Own systems from offline training → online inference → A/B experimentation → metric analysis.
Identify and resolve issues related to data quality, model drift, and system performance in production.

Skills

Recommendation systems

Python

Java/Scala

ML systems

End-to-end ownership

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Spark

Distributed training

Real-time inference

Job description

About NewsBreak Founded in 2015, NewsBreak is the Content Intelligence platform shaping the future content economy. With over 40 million monthly active users, our flagship platform delivers highly personalized local news and information powered by advanced AI, recommendation systems, and adtech. Recognized by Fast Company as #32 on the Top Workplaces for Innovators, we\'re proud to be Great Place to Work® certified and home to a dynamic team of technologists, product innovators, and business leaders who are passionate about solving meaningful challenges at scale. Together, we reached unicorn status in 2021, and we remain committed to continuing this high-growth trajectory with the right team to fulfill our mission: building the infrastructure layer for content intelligence. If you’re inspired to dream big, innovate fast, and make a difference, we’d love to hear from you! For more information, visit www.newsbreak.com/about

About The Role We are looking for a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to help evolve our large-scale recommendation systems and apply AI / LLM technologies to real-world production problems. You will work on core feed, retrieval, and ranking systems serving tens of millions of users, while also participating in AI-driven innovation projects that explore new ways to improve content discovery, personalization, and developer productivity. This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy strong individual ownership, hands-on development, and translating ideas into reliable systems.

What You’ll Work On
Large-Scale Recommendation Systems

Design, build, and iterate on high-throughput, low-latency recommendation systems powering NewsBreak’s core feeds.
Improve retrieval, ranking, and multi-objective optimization to balance engagement, retention, content quality, and business metrics.
Own systems from offline training → online inference → A/B experimentation → metric analysis.
Identify and resolve issues related to data quality, model drift, and system performance in production.

AI & LLM Applications

Apply LLMs and foundation models to recommendation-related problems such as content understanding, user intent modeling, and feature generation.
Prototype quickly, validate with experiments, and push successful ideas into production.

AI-Driven Development

Embrace AI-assisted development workflows, including LLM-powered coding, debugging, and analysis.
Apply AI across feature ideation, prototyping, and experiment analysis.

0 → 1 Innovation

Contribute to 0–1 AI-powered projects, helping take ideas from early exploration to MVP and production.

What We’re Looking For

Minimum Qualifications - 3+ years of industry experience building machine learning or recommendation systems in production. - Strong understanding of recommendation system fundamentals (ranking, embeddings, user/item modeling, experimentation). - Strong coding skills with Python / Java / Scala, and experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow. - Experience working with large-scale data and ML systems (e.g., Spark, distributed training, real-time inference). - Ability to own features end-to-end and deliver measurable business impact.

Bonus / Plus Qualifications - Production experience applying AI or LLMs to recommendation systems. - Experience contributing to 0 → 1 AI or ML-driven products. - Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools and workflows.

Benefits
We offer a competitive benefits package:

Health, dental, and vision care for you and your family (100% coverage for employee)
Top-tier 401(K) plan with company matching
Paid time off and paid holidays
FSA, HSA and commuter benefits programs
Team activity budget

The US base salary range for this full-time position is listed below. Pay may vary based on a number of factors including job-related skills, level, experience, geographic location and relevant education or training. At NewsBreak, we design our overall rewards package to attract top talents. Depending on the position, the role may also be eligible for discretionary bonus and options. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.

Annual Base Pay Range

$195,000 - $230,000 USD

CPRA Privacy Notice for California Candidates

Get your free, confidential resume review.

or drag and drop your file here.