Senior Software Engineer, 1

Dotdash Meredith; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

People Inc. is seeking a Senior Software Engineer 1 to join the AI/ML Engineering Platform team. You will design and build scalable backend systems, enable ML pipelines, and contribute to the technical roadmap across data processing and model serving.

You will collaborate with product owners, data scientists, and platform teams to deliver high-impact ML features with robust observability and low-latency APIs. This hybrid role offers in-office collaboration with up to two remote days per week.

Qualifications

• Our candidate has 6+ years building scalable backend systems and services.
• 5+ years with Python, Node.js, and TypeScript in production.
• Hands-on experience with Kafka for real-time pipelines.
• Strong understanding of Git and Bitbucket workflows.
• Experience with observability tools like Grafana, Kibana, or APM.
• Familiarity with AWS and GCP, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Exposure to ML infrastructure, MLOps, and Vertex AI is a plus.
• Ability to design data pipelines with Beam and Airflow.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable distributed systems and backend platforms for AI/ML use cases.
• Develop and maintain data pipelines for feature generation and model training.
• Implement model serving with KServe and APIs with FastAPI for low latency.
• Build observability, monitor performance, drift, and data quality.
• Collaborate with data scientists and product teams to deliver ML features.
• Investigate production issues and improve reliability and performance.
• Create documentation for pipelines, models, and APIs.
• Develop internal tools and dashboards for visibility into data processing.

Skills

Backend development

Python

Node.js

TypeScript

RESTful APIs

GraphQL APIs

ML/AI systems

Distributed systems

Observability

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Kafka

Elasticsearch

Milvus

KServe

Vertex AI Pipelines

FastAPI

Docker

Kubernetes

TensorFlow/PyTorch

Job description

Senior Software Engineer, 1

Job Description

About The Team:

People Inc. is looking for a Senior Software Engineer 1 to join our AI/ML Engineering Platform team. As part of the AI/ML Engineering Platform team, you'll be working on widely used components that help users find ways to consume content on our sites. This includes using technologies such as Vertex AI pipeline, KServe, Kafka, Elasticsearch and Vector Database to leverage the power of AI and ML use cases and build capabilities to recommend related articles, and much more!

As a Senior Software Engineer 1, you will collaborate with product owners, Data Science, Platform teams, project managers, and software engineers to create service applications and contribute to the technical roadmap

Schedule Requirements:Hybrid 3x a week

In-office Expectations: This position is hybrid in-office in NYC, Des Moines, LA, Seattle, or Chicago, with the ability to work remotely for up to 2 days per week.

About The Positions Contributions:

Accountabilities, Actions and Expected Measurable Results (70%)

You understand how to design and build scalable distributed systems, backend platforms, compatible with AI/ML infrastructure for search, retrieval, ranking, recommendation, and personalization use cases

You will:

• Design and build systems, manage scalable ML pipelines using Vertex AI Pipelines for training, evaluation and deployment to support ranking, retrieval, and recommendation personalization use cases
• Develop and maintain data pipelines that support feature generation, model training, and analytics workflows. Own vector generation via Milvus, storage, and retrieval workflows
• Implement model serving solutions using KServe and build APIs using FastAPI for low latency inference
• Build observability and monitoring for models and pipelines. Track performance, drift, failures, and data quality issues
• Collaborate with data scientists, product managers, and platform teams to define and deliver ML driven features
• Investigate production issues across data pipelines, models, and services. Identify bottlenecks and improve reliability and performance
• Create and maintain clear documentation for pipelines, models, APIs, and operational processes
• Develop internal tools and dashboards to provide visibility into data processing and model behavior for stakeholders
• Contribute to engineering standards, code quality, and best practices across Python-based services and ML systems
• Stay current with ML infrastructure, MLOps practices, and relevant tools. Bring in improvements where they add clear value

Collaborate with product, data science, and frontend teams to deliver high quality search and feed experiences (30%)

• Own production systems. Debug issues across indexing, retrieval, ranking, and serving layers
• Create clear documentation for pipelines, models, APIs, and system design
• Contribute to best practices for Python based ML systems, API design, and scalable infrastructure
• Stay current with advancements in search, ranking, and recommendation systems. Apply them where they make practical impact

The Role's Minimum Qualifications and Job Requirements

Education:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field

Experience:

You have a strong foundation in modern backend and ML engineering practices and continue to learn and evolve. You bring:

• 6+ years of experience building scalable backend systems and services
• 5+ years of experience developing software using object oriented languages, with strong proficiency in Python, Node.js, and TypeScript
• Hands on experience with ES for search, indexing, and relevance tuning
• Experience with event driven systems using Apache Kafka for real time data pipelines and processing
• Strong understanding of version control systems including Git and platforms like Bitbucket
• Experience with observability and monitoring tools such as Grafana, Kibana, and APM
• Familiarity with cloud platforms including AWS and GCP, along with containerization using Docker and orchestration with Kubernetes
• Comfortable deploying, versioning, and monitoring models in production
• Curiosity to learn new technologies, especially in AI, LLMs, and modern search and recommendation systems, with a focus on applying them in real production use cases.
• Experience designing and building data pipelines using Apache Beam and Apache Airflow for ingestion, transformation, and feature pipelines
• Familiarity with experimentation and analytics tools such as Jupyter Notebook and Apache Spark to track and reproduce experiments
• Strong experience designing and consuming RESTful and GraphQL APIs, including versioning, documentation, and security practices like OAuth and JWT
• Good understanding of machine learning concepts including supervised learning, unsupervised learning, deep learning, and natural language processing, with practical application in ranking, retrieval, and personalization
• Beginner level experience managing ML pipelines using Vertex AI Pipelines for training, evaluation, and deployment workflows
• Ability to review code, provide clear feedback, and improve overall engineering quality
• Strong communication skills. Able to explain technical concepts clearly to both technical and non technical stakeholders
• Solid problem solving skills with a data driven approach

Specific Knowledge, Skills, Certifications and Abilities:

Core Tech Stack

• Backend and API development using Python, FastAPI, Node.js, and TypeScript
• Search and indexing using Elasticsearch for relevance, retrieval, and query optimization
• Event driven architecture and streaming using Apache Kafka
• Vector search and embeddings infrastructure using vector databases such as Milvus or Pinecone
• Cloud and infrastructure using Google Cloud Platform or Amazon Web Services with containerization via Docker and orchestration through Kubernetes

% Travel Required (Approximate) : 0 %

Pay Range

Salary: Remote: $125,000.00 - $150,000.00

The pay range above represents the anticipated low and high end of the pay range for this position and may change in the future. Actual pay may vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to work location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of People Inc's total compensation package for employees. Other compensation may include annual bonuses, and short- and long-term incentives.

The Company participates in the federal E-Verify program to confirm the identity and employment authorization of all newly hired employees. For further information about the E-Verify program, https://www.e-verify.gov/employees.

It is the policy of People Inc. to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, the Company will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. Accommodation requests can be made by emailing [e-mail].