Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Recommendation Systems - Quora (Remote)

EducationPals; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Quora is seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to define the technical future of its recommendation ecosystem. You will own the direction for feed ranking and retrieval, lead high-impact modeling bets, and pioneer the integration of LLMs and generative models to redefine how we understand and rank content.

Beyond the home feed, you will scale recommendation surfaces like notifications and digest emails, while architecting the underlying tools and abs

Qualifications

• Availability during coordination hours Mon-Fri 9am-3pm PT.
• Multiple years of professional ML software development experience.
• Experience building Home Feed recommendation systems for social platforms.
• Deep knowledge of the full recommender stack: candidate generation, retrieval, ranking, re-ranking, embeddings, and multi-objective optimization.
• Deep understanding of mathematical foundations of ML algorithms.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical direction for feed ranking and retrieval.
• Lead modeling bets and integration of LLMs and generative models.
• Scale recommendation surfaces such as notifications and digest emails.
• Architect underlying tools and data pipelines for the ecosystem.
• Collaborate with teams during coordination hours.

Skills

ML engineering

Feed ranking

Embeddings

Retrieval systems

LLMs

Math foundations

Leadership

Experimentation

Tools

Vector databases

Job description

We are looking for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to define the technical future of Quora’s recommendation ecosystem. In this role, you will own the technical direction for feed ranking and retrieval, lead our highest-impact modeling bets, and pioneer the integration of LLMs and generative models to redefine how we understand and rank content. Beyond the home feed, you will also scale recommendation surfaces like notifications and digest emails, while architecting the underlying tools and abs

• Availability for meetings and impromptu communication during Quora's “coordination hours" (Mon-Fri: 9am-3pm Pacific Time)
• + years of professional software development experience in machine learning
• + years of professional experience building and optimizing Home Feed recommendation systems for social media and user-generated content platforms.
• Deep knowledge of the full recommender stack: candidate generation, retrieval, ranking, re-ranking, embeddings, and multi-objective optimization.
• Deep understanding of mathematical foundations of machine learning algorithms

Courses relevant to this posting

Relevance is based on skills and concepts, not a guarantee that you qualify.

Covered skills: AI fundamentals Machine learning Experimentation

Skills to close: None listed

Build the skills for this job

Coming-soon courses matched to this posting: outline, waitlist, and skill path.

1. Text Representation and Semantic Search

Convert human language into computational representations using embeddings and build semantic search systems with vector databases.

2. Retrieval-Augmented Generation Pipelines

Build systems that ground model outputs in retrieved context rather than relying on memorized training data.

3. Evaluation Frameworks for Production NLP

Design test suites that measure accuracy, safety, robustness, and bias before and after deployment.

4. Safe Input Handling and Guardrails

Protect systems from ambiguous, adversarial, and risky user inputs with validation and fallback strategies.

5. Monitoring and Debugging NLP in Production

Instrument systems to detect failures, track performance drift, and build feedback loops for continuous improvement.

6. Cost Control and Latency Optimization

Optimize NLP systems for speed and budget without sacrificing reliability or user experience.

7. Domain-Specific NLP Applications

Apply production NLP patterns to customer operations, compliance, knowledge work, and field applications.

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