Sr. Director, Search AI - Production Engineering

Coupang; Mountain View (WY); On-site; USD 184,000 - 376,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, and AD&D insurance

401K Plan with Company Match

18–21 days of Paid Time Off (PTO)

Paid Parental Leave

Free Electric Car Charging Station

Job summary

Coupang is seeking a Senior Director to lead the evolution of its core search experience using AI and machine learning. This role involves shaping how millions of customers find products, driving innovation, and leading a world-class team.

The position requires over 10 years of experience in software engineering and/or machine learning, with a strong product mindset and leadership of multi-team organizations.

Compensation ranges from $184,000 to $376,000 based on geographical market and experience.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering and/or machine learning.
• Strong experience owning user-facing ML products such as search and recommendation systems.
• Proven experience leading large, multi-team organizations.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Coupang’s search experience end-to-end.
• Define and execute the product and technical roadmap for search.
• Drive measurable impact on key business metrics.

Skills

Software engineering

Machine learning

Product mindset

User-facing ML products

Leadership of multi-team organizations

Job description

About the Role

We are looking for a Senior Director to lead and evolve Coupang’s core search experience, powered by cutting-edge AI and machine learning.

Search is at the heart of Coupang’s customer experience—shaping how millions of customers discover products every day. Improvements in search directly translate into better discovery, higher engagement, and meaningful business impact.

In this role, you will own the end-to-end search experience—from product direction to ML systems to business outcomes. You will shape how millions of customers find what they need, lead innovation in AI‑powered search at scale, and drive some of the most important metrics in the company.

This is a high‑impact leadership role where you will drive innovation at scale, influence company‑wide metrics, and lead a world‑class team across engineering and machine learning.

What You Will Do

• Own and evolve Coupang’s search experience end‑to‑end
• Define and execute the product and technical roadmap for search
• Drive measurable impact on key business metrics
• Lead and scale a multi‑layer organization across teams
• Partner closely with Product, Design, and Business leaders to deliver best‑in‑class customer experiences
• Build and launch new search capabilities (0→1) while continuously improving existing systems

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering and/or machine learning
• Strong product mindset with the ability to connect technical decisions to customer experience and business outcomes
• Strong experience owning user‑facing ML products such as search, recommendation systems, ads ranking, and marketplace discovery
• Demonstrated track record of driving measurable business impact (engagement, conversion, revenue)
• Deep understanding of search and recommendation systems, including ranking and retrieval; relevance and personalization; system tradeoffs (latency, recall, precision)
• Proven experience leading large, multi‑team organizations (including managers of managers)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in e‑commerce or marketplace environments
• Experience leading global or multi‑region teams
• Experience building 0→1 products or new product surfaces
• Background in fast‑scaling consumer technology companies

Pay & Benefits

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor 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 $184,000/year in our lowest geographic market to $376,000/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.

Benefits

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

Other Compensation

Other Compensation includes, but is not limited to, bonuses, equity, or other forms of compensation that would be offered to the hired applicant in addition to their established salary range or wage scale.

Equal Opportunities

Coupang is an equal opportunity employer. Our unprecedented success could not be possible without the valuable inputs of our globally diverse team.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, family status, military or veteran status, political activities, or any other characteristic protected by law in the locations where we operate. Coupang is also committed to providing a safe work environment for its employees and its consumers. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at [e-mail].