Staff Machine Learning Engineer, CustomerLake (ML/LLM)

Cacheflow; New York (NY); On-site; USD 192,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits package

Annual performance bonus

Equity options

Job summary

Databricks is looking for an experienced engineer to join their NYC team, focusing on building CustomerLake, their Customer Data Platform. The role involves leveraging machine learning for personalization and optimizing business outcomes for customers. Ideal candidates will have over 10 years of experience, a strong background in ML/AI, and a product-focused mindset.

With a commitment to diversity and inclusion, Databricks offers comprehensive benefits and a competitive salary range of $192,000 to $260,000, depending on experience and skills.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building and evaluating ML models.
• Strong foundation in shipping and improving ML/AI products.
• Ability to translate ambiguous customer problems into MVPs.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate ML and LLM approaches for CustomerLake.
• Understand how models behave in production.
• Optimize platform for real business value.

Skills

Machine Learning Expertise

Python Proficiency

Personalization Techniques

Hands-on ML/AI Experience

Data Analysis

Education

10+ years of engineering experience

Tools

PyTorch

ML frameworks

Job description

At Databricks, we are passionate about enabling data teams to solve the world's toughest problems — from making the next mode of transportation a reality to accelerating the development of medical breakthroughs. We do this by building and running the world's best Data Intelligence Platform so our customers can use deep data insights to improve their business. We are founded by engineers who are obsessed with customers, and we leap at every opportunity to tackle technical challenges, from designing next‑gen UI/UX for interfacing with data to scaling our services and infrastructure across millions of virtual machines.

As one of the first engineers in the NYC Engineering office, you’ll join a small, nimble team building new products from the ground up. We’re building CustomerLake, the Customer Data Platform on Databricks, to bring enterprise‑grade ML and AI personalization to every company whose data already lives on Databricks. The goal is to deliver that same capability to companies that don’t have an in‑house team but already have their data in order on Databricks. This is a true 0‑to‑1 environment that combines the excitement of a startup with the resources of a tech leader like Databricks.

Impact you’ll have

• Evaluate ML and LLM approaches for CustomerLake’s personalization use cases, push the models and algorithms forward, and continuously improve quality over time
• Go deep on how models behave in production: inspect individual traces, understand how the models reason, and tune and improve from there
• Build the platform and evaluation framework that lets CustomerLake customers optimize for real business value such as purchases, retention, and product usage, not vanity metrics like email opens and clicks
• Push the team toward new directions and novel methods worth tackling, not just optimizing what already exists
• Partner closely with product management, engineering, and design to turn ambiguous customer problems into scalable, trustworthy solutions
• Set the technical foundation and best practices for our ML/AI personalization work as we grow this into several roles across our products over the next 1‑2 years

What we look for

• 10+ years of engineering experience, with a strong foundation across the full loop of shipping and improving ML/AI products
• Hands‑on experience building and evaluating ML models and/or LLM systems for real product or business use cases; your understanding is practical, not purely academic, and you can make models work well inside a product
• Experience with personalization based on customer behavior (ideal) or transactions (acceptable), such as recommendations, targeting, churn, or lifetime‑value modeling
• Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch), with hands‑on experience in model evaluation and monitoring AI quality in production
• Familiarity with LLMs and generative AI, including techniques like retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), prompt design, fine‑tuning, and evaluation
• A demonstrated product mindset, with the ability to translate ambiguous customer problems into scrappy MVPs and iterate quickly based on data and user feedback
• High ownership and bias for action in 0‑to‑1 environments: comfortable making pragmatic trade‑offs, operating with incomplete information, and driving projects from idea through launch and adoption

Nice to have

• Experience in martech, ideally a go‑to‑market or business use case with an analytical (rather than purely transactional) angle
• An academic or research background that can help us innovate and develop novel methods

Pay Range Transparency

Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non‑commissionable roles or on‑target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job‑related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above.

Local Pay Range: $192,000 – $260,000 USD

Benefits

At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region, click here.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio‑economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.

Compliance

If access to export‑controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.

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