Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Coupang; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 152,000 - 277,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life insurance

401K Plan with Company Match

Paid Time Off and Holidays

Parental leave

Job summary

Coupang is seeking a seasoned machine learning engineer to advance search and discovery, handling billions of user interactions and petabytes of data. You will design features and scalable ML systems for ranking, retrieval, and personalized product discovery.

You will work with transformer-based models, vector search, and advanced ML frameworks to deliver real-time recommendations. Join a fast-growing team shaping the future of e-commerce search.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, EE, Math, Statistics or closely related fields.
• 4+ years of professional experience in applied machine learning.
• Experience in machine learning, deep learning, and statistical modeling.
• Proficiency in Python and/or Java, with experience in building production grade ML systems.

Responsibilities

• Design features and build large-scale machine learning models and systems to improve ad targeting, relevance, ranking, and engagement
• Design and implement large-scale ML systems for search ranking, semantic retrieval, query understanding, and personalized product discovery using state-of-the-art techniques such as transformer-based models, contrastive learning, and vector search
• Drive innovation in search relevance and user intent modeling using large language models (LLMs), embedding-based retrieval, and multi-modal learning
• Build and optimize ML pipelines using tools such as Apache Spark, Airflow, Kubeflow, and MLflow, ensuring reproducibility, scalability, and operational excellence
• Define and track key performance metrics to evaluate model impact and identify leverage opportunities for improvement
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, engineering, and data science teams to align technical solutions with business goals and customer experience
• Mentor and grow engineering talent, fostering a culture of technical excellence, experimentation and continuous learning

Skills

Machine learning

Python

Java

Production ML

Statistical modeling

Big data processing

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/Math

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Scikit-learn

Keras

XGBoost

MLflow

Kubeflow

Weights & Biases

SageMaker

Job description

Company Introduction

We exist to wow our customers. We know we’re doing the right thing when we hear our customers say, “How did I ever live without Coupang?” Born out of an obsession to make shopping, eating, and living easier than ever, we are collectively disrupting the multi-billion-dollar commerce industry from the ground up and establishing an unparalleled reputation for being leading and reliable force in South Korean commerce. We are proud to have the best of both worlds — a startup culture with the resources of a large global public company. This fuels us to continue our growth and launch new services at the speed we have been since our inception. We are all entrepreneurs surrounded by opportunities to drive new initiatives and innovations. At our core, we are bold and ambitious people that like to get our hands dirty and make a hands‑on impact. At Coupang, you will see yourself, your colleagues, your team, and the company grow every day. Our mission to build the future of commerce is real. We push the boundaries of what’s possible to solve problems and break traditional tradeoffs. Join Coupang now to create an epic experience in this always‑on, high‑tech, and hyper‑connected world.

Role Overview

The Search & Discovery organization is responsible for optimizing customers’ navigation experience and driving long‑term growth. Every week millions of customers use search in our app or on coupang.com, more than one third of them make purchases. Over half of the Coupang sales are directly attributed to search and recommendation. Many business initiatives and growth strategies are driven or boosted by ranking and recommendation. This role is an opportunity to build scalable offline and online ML platforms to support ranking and recommendation, and business decision making. You will be handling billions of records of user interaction data, and petabytes of raw log files, and transforming them into data objects that can be easily consumed by engineers and scientists. You will also be responsible for serving complex ML models in real time to help millions of Coupang customers search and discover products. If you are passionate about big data engineering and scalable serving systems, you want to make real business impact, and you are a true problem solver, this is the right job for you.

What You Will do

• Design features and build large‑scale machine learning models and systems to improve ad targeting, relevance, ranking, and engagement
• Design and implement large‑scale ML systems for search ranking, semantic retrieval, query understanding, and personalized product discovery using state‑of‑the‑art techniques such as transformer‑based models, contrastive learning, and vector search
• Drive innovation in search relevance and user intent modeling using large language models (LLMs), embedding‑based retrieval, and multi‑modal learning
• Build and optimize ML pipelines using tools such as Apache Spark, Airflow, Kubeflow, and MLflow, ensuring reproducibility, scalability, and operational excellence
• Define and track key performance metrics to evaluate model impact and identify high[1]leverage opportunities for improvement
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with product, engineering, and data science teams to align technical solutions with business goals and customer experience
• Mentor and grow engineering talent, fostering a culture of technical excellence, experimentation and continuous learning

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, statistics or closely related fields
• 4+ years of professional experience in applied machine learning
• Experience in machine learning, deep learning, and statistical modeling
• Proficiency in Python and/or Java, with experience in building production grade ML systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in relevant technical fields
• Experience with search systems, information retrieval or recommendation engines
• Experience with LLMs, embeddings, and vector search technologies
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform including services like Vertex AI, BigQuery or SageMaker
• Experience working in startup or high‑growth environments
• Proven ability to lead‑cross‑functional teams and deliver results in a multicultural, global organization
• Hands‑on experience with modern ML frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit[1]learn, Keras, XGBoost, LightGMB, and H2o.ai
• Experience with ML lifecycle tools such as MLflow, Kubeflow, Weights & Biases, or Amazon SageMaker
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and manage ambiguity in fast‑paced environments

Pay & Benefits

Our compensation reflects the cost of living across several US geographic markets. At Coupang, your base pay is one part of your total compensation. The base pay for this position ranges from $152,000/year in our lowest geographic market to $277,000/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on several factors including market location and may vary depending on job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience.

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life, AD&D insurance
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) & Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Long‑term/Short‑term Disability
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) program
• 401K Plan with Company Match
• 18‑21 days of the Paid Time Off (PTO) a year based on the tenure
• 12 Paid Holidays
• XX weeks of Paid Parental leave
• Pre‑tax commuter benefits
• MTV - [Free] Electric Car Charging Station

General Description of Other Compensation “Other Compensation” includes, but is not limited to, bonuses, equity, or other forms of compensation that would be offered to