Staff Engineer - Recommendations

VRChat; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Work from anywhere

Health Benefits

401K for US Employees

Generous paid holiday schedule

Unlimited vacation time

Paid parental leave benefits

Job summary

VRChat is looking for a skilled data/ML engineer to enhance content discovery through data-driven recommendation systems. You'll develop and maintain scalable data pipelines, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and work with cloud technologies like AWS. The ideal candidate has at least 3 years of experience in data engineering, proficiency in SQL, and knowledge of big data technologies. Enjoy remote work at VRChat with flexible hours and comprehensive health benefits.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in software engineering, focusing on data engineering.
• Experience building and optimizing production-grade data pipelines.
• Experience with cloud providers at scale, such as AWS or Google Cloud.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and optimize scalable data pipelines.
• Collaborate to ensure correct data is captured and processed.
• Implement backend systems including APIs and data processing jobs.

Skills

Data Engineering

Experience with AWS

SQL Proficiency

Big Data Technologies (Spark, Kafka)

Python

JavaScript/Node.js

Machine Learning Systems

Collaborative Mindset

Job description

Job Overview

We’re looking for a data / ML engineer to join our Social Experience team. You will be instrumental in developing and refining the data-driven recommendations systems that help our users connect, interact, and discover content and communities. This role involves working with AWS, Python/FastAPI, Node.js, and Snowflake to build, train, and operationalize personalization systems. You will be instrumental in processing and transforming the large volumes of data generated by our platform to create meaningful user experiences. If you’re passionate about data engineering and leveraging data to enhance content discovery, this role could be the perfect fit.

What You’ll Do

• Work within a full-stack team of engineers to develop, maintain, and optimize scalable data pipelines, backend services, and APIs for data-driven features like recommendations, content discovery, groups, and events in VRChat.
• Design and implement data models and schemas that support both analytical needs and real-time recommendation systems.
• Collaborate with data scientists, product managers, and other engineers to ensure the correct data is captured, processed, and available to power meaningful user experiences.
• Implement and maintain data processing jobs using big data technologies (e.g., Spark, Kafka) to handle large-scale datasets.
• Contribute to the evolution of our technical and product capabilities, helping to progress from simple heuristics to more sophisticated, data-backed personalization for content and experiences.
• Participate in the design and implementation of backend systems including REST and websocket APIs, caching systems, queueing systems, and cloud orchestration.
• Be available to occasionally jump into action to solve an outage.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in software engineering, with a strong focus on data engineering and building scalable backend systems for SaaS products or online platforms.
• Proven experience building and optimizing production-grade data pipelines (ETL/ELT). Strong proficiency in SQL and experience with database optimization for both analytical queries and high-throughput real-time access.
• Experience with big data technologies such as Spark, Hadoop/Beam, or Kafka.
• Experience with cloud providers at scale, such as AWS or Google Cloud.
• Able to work in a variety of languages and technologies, such as Python, JavaScript/Node.js, Mongo, and Redis.
• Experience with Elasticsearch, data warehousing, and machine learning (ML) systems.
• An agile, collaborative mindset and excellent communication skills, capable of working effectively in a remote, cross-functional team environment.

Bonus Points

• Experience building and scaling aspects of content discovery or recommendation systems.
• Demonstrated interest in online communities, VR, or VRChat (as a user or creator). Knowing how our platform and community works will be helpful for this role.
• Experience with social networks, social graphs, or systems dealing with user-generated content.
• Experience working on consumer products, e-commerce, or two-sided marketplaces.

Benefits

• Work from anywhere! VRChat is a 100% remote company offering flexible working hours in combination with core hours supporting real-time collaboration
• Health Benefits
• 401K for US & Group RRSP for Canadian Employees
• Stock Options
• Generous paid holiday schedule
• Unlimited/flexible vacation time
• Paid parental leave benefits

VRChat is an equal‑opportunity employer, and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. VRChat fosters a diverse, creative, and collaborative environment where anyone can contribute to any of the ongoing projects or direction of the roadmap at any time. All job offers are subject to satisfactory referencing and background checks.