Senior Manager, Machine Learning Search

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Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3+ years leading ML teams.
• Strong expertise in machine learning, deep learning, information retrieval, and search technologies.
• Proven experience in search ranking, query understanding, and NLP-based search improvements.
• Proficiency in distributed computing frameworks (e.g., Spark, Kubernetes).
• Deep knowledge of deploying scalable ML models in production search systems.
• Exceptional leadership skills with a track record of building and mentoring high-performing engineering teams.
• Experience with cloud-based ML infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Strong collaboration skills with the ability to drive alignment across product, engineering, and data teams.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of machine learning engineers, data scientists, and backend engineers.
• Drive the development and deployment of state-of-the-art ML models for search retrieval, ranking, and personalization.
• Pioneer the integration of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Large Language Models (LLMs) into traditional search systems.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and data teams to enhance Upwork’s search ecosystem.
• Establish technical direction and best practices for ML model training, experimentation, and large-scale deployment.
• Optimize search algorithms to improve user experience, engagement, and conversion rates.
• Foster an experimentation-driven culture, leveraging A/B testing and data insights to refine search and ranking strategies.
• Ensure model explainability, fairness, and ethical AI considerations in search algorithms.
• Develop a roadmap for scaling ML-powered search and stay ahead of industry trends.