Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Ad Platform

OpenKrill; United States; Remote; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

401(k) match

Education reimbursement

Paid time off

Flexible work environment

Job summary

Fetch is hiring a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to act as the technical lead for a high-impact ML team focused on personalization, relevance, and ranking. You’ll own the architecture and execution of ML systems at scale, partnering with product and cross-functional teams while staying deeply hands-on in design and development.

You will mentor engineers, drive end-to-end solutions, and leverage AI tools to accelerate progress, including LLM-based prototyping and testing across real-time serving

Qualifications

• 12+ years of industry experience in machine learning or software engineering with production ML ownership.
• Experience building and scaling ML systems in personalization, relevance, search, or ad tech.
• Strong distributed systems, data pipelines, and ML infrastructure.
• Experience deploying ML models into production at consumer scale.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical lead for a single ML-focused team, setting direction and raising engineering quality.
• Design, build, and scale ML systems for personalization, ranking, search, or ad-related use cases.
• Own end-to-end architecture for your team’s services, including training, evaluation, deployment, and serving.
• Drive clarity in ambiguous problem spaces by translating product needs into scalable technical solutions.
• Lead design reviews and balance latency, reliability, experimentation, and maintainability.
• Partner with product, data, and engineering stakeholders to deliver measurable business impact.
• Mentor engineers through hands-on guidance and feedback.
• Utilize AI tools to accelerate development and improve system design, including prototyping with LLMs, code iteration, and architecture validation.

Skills

Production ML

Distributed systems

Mentoring engineers

Team leadership

LLMs in personalization

Ambiguity tolerance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

ML infrastructure

Job description

What we’re building and why we’re building it.

Fetch helps people live rewarded every day, with a vision to become the rewards destination for everyone. We turn everyday activities into meaningful rewards, whether it’s grocery shopping, grabbing a quick meal, or playing a favorite mobile game. To date, we’ve awarded more than $1 billion in Fetch Points to our users.

Each day, more than 13 million receipts are submitted on Fetch, providing visibility into over $212 billion in gross merchandise value. This creates the largest retail-agnostic, SKU-level view of household spending, powering Fetch as an outcomes-based advertising platform that helps brands acquire and retain lifelong consumers.

The Fetch app is available on the App Store and Google Play, with more than 6 million five-star reviews from a highly engaged and loyal user base.

It’s not just our users who believe in Fetch: with investments from Softbank, ICONIQ, DST, Greycroft, and partnerships ranging from challenger brands to Fortune 500 companies, Fetch is reshaping how brands and consumers connect in the marketplace. When you work at Fetch, you play a vital role in a platform that drives brand loyalty and creates lifelong consumers with the power of Fetch points. User and partner success are at the heart of everything we do, and we extend that same commitment to our employees.

At Fetch, we value curiosity, adaptability, and the confidence to explore new tools, especially AI, to drive smarter, faster work. You don’t need to be an expert, but you should be ready to learn quickly and think critically. We welcome learners who move fast, challenge the status quo, and shape what’s next, with us. Ranked as one of America’s Best Startup Employers by Forbes for two years in a row, Fetch fosters a people-first culture rooted in trust, accountability, and innovation. We encourage our employees to challenge ideas, think bigger, and always bring the fun to Fetch.

About the Role:

Fetch is building the future of personalized consumer experiences. We’re looking for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to serve as the technical lead for a high-impact ML team focused on personalization, relevance, and ranking.

In this role, you will own the technical direction and execution for your team’s ML systems - driving high-quality architecture, guiding implementation, and ensuring models and infrastructure operate reliably at scale. You’ll partner closely with product and cross-functional stakeholders while remaining deeply hands‑on in design and development.

Role Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical lead for a single ML-focused team, setting direction and raising the bar on engineering quality and system design.
• Design, build, and scale ML systems supporting personalization, ranking, search, or ad-related use cases.
• Own end-to-end architecture for your team’s services, including model training, evaluation, deployment, and serving.
• Drive clarity in ambiguous problem spaces, translating product needs into scalable technical solutions.
• Lead design reviews and ensure thoughtful tradeoffs around latency, reliability, experimentation, and maintainability.
• Partner closely with product, data, and engineering stakeholders to deliver measurable business impact.
• Mentor engineers through hands‑on technical guidance, feedback, and example.
• Use AI tools to accelerate development and improve system design, including:
  • Prototyping and validating ideas with LLM tools.
  • Leveraging AI for code iteration and experimentation.
  • Using AI assistants for architecture diagramming and design validation.
  • Exploring LLM-powered features where appropriate.

Minimum Requirements

• 12+ years of industry experience in machine learning or software engineering, with demonstrated ownership of production ML systems operating at scale.
• Proven experience building and scaling ML systems in personalization, relevance, search, or ad tech domains.
• Strong hands‑on expertise in distributed systems, data pipelines, and ML infrastructure.
• Experience deploying ML models into production and operating them at consumer scale.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex technical initiatives within a team.
• Strong systems design skills with the ability to clearly articulate tradeoffs and implementation decisions.
• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical standards within a team.
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous environments and drive projects to completion.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.

Preferred Requirements

• Familiarity with LLMs and their application in personalization, feature generation, or search.
• Experience with real-time or streaming ML systems.
• Exposure to experimentation frameworks (A/B testing) and model performance measurement.
• Experience bridging model development with real-time serving systems.

This is a full-time role that can be held from one of our US offices or remotely in the United States or any Canadian province (excluding Quebec), subject to appropriate work authorization. Canadian employment, if applicable, would be through Fetch’s Canadian Employer of Record.

Benefits for Canada-based employees may differ slightly to comply with applicable law(s) (e.g., paid time off, Holidays, etc.).

Fetch may use technology tools that incorporate artificial intelligence ("AI") capabilities to support certain activities within our recruiting and hiring process:

• Reviewing and organizing applications and resumes to help our recruiting team manage high volumes of submissions, including automated review of fraud signals to identify bad actors;
• Identifying candidates whose stated qualifications and experience appear relevant to an open position;
• Scheduling and coordinating interviews with candidates;
• Generating interview summaries or notes to assist recruiters and hiring managers in their review;
• Conducting research on open roles and candidate pools to improve the effectiveness of our recruiting practices.

Fetch does not use AI tools to make hiring decisions. All decisions regarding whether to advance a candidate, extend an offer, or decline an application are made by Fetch employees, who are predominantly members of our Talent Acquisition team and relevant Hiring Managers. AI tools serve only to assist the process of recruiting talent and to inform the human review of candidate information. In no way does Fetch allow AI systems to make, finalize, or override any employment decision

At Fetch, we'll give you the tools to feel healthy, happy and secure through:

• Equity: We offer full-time employees equity in Fetch, so that everyone can benefit from Fetch’s growth.
• 401(k): Fetch will match your contributions dollar for dollar, up to 4% of your eligible pay.
• Benefits for humans and pets: We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans for everyone, including your pets.
• Continuing Education: Fetch provides ten thousand per year in education reimbursement.
• Employee Resource Groups: Take part in employee-led groups that are centered around fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace through events, dialogue, and advocacy. The ERGs participate in our Inclusion Council with members of executive leadership.
• Paid Time Off: On top of our flexible PTO, Fetch observes 9 paid holidays, as well as our year-end week-long break. (Holidays will vary for Canada-based roles)
• Robust Leave Policies: 14 weeks of fully paid parental leave for all employees, plus 6 additional weeks of paid childbirth recovery leave for birthing parents, and a flexible return-to-work schedule.
• Calvin Care Cash: Employees who are welcoming new family members will also receive a one-time $2,000 incentive to assist employees with covering the cost of childcare, clothing, diapers, and much more!
• Flexible Work Environment: Collaborate with your team in one of our stunning offices, or you can work fully remotely from anywhere in the US for US-b