Machine Learning Engineer, Search, Ads & Recommendations

Company Description Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. We build, power, and evolve the tools and technologies that connect millions of entrepreneurs with millions of buyers around the world. As an Etsy employee, you will tackle unique, meaningful, and large-scale problems alongside passionate coworkers, all the while making a rewarding impact and Keeping Commerce Human. We believe exceptional companies are built by exceptional teams, and we're intentional about it. That means hiring great people, setting them up for success from day one, and giving them real reasons to grow their careers here. We invest in development that goes beyond promotions, and we foster the trust and relationships that help people do their best work together.

What's the role? We're hiring Machine Learning Engineers at the Senior and Staff levels to join one of our Search and Discovery teams: Search Ads, Recommendations Ranking, or Search Retrieval. You will build user-centric ML systems for a two-sided marketplace with 90+ million buyers, 6+ million sellers, and hundreds of millions of unique, handmade, and vintage listings. We're looking for people who are product- and delivery-driven and passionate about applying ML innovations (ranking, retrieval, deep learning, reinforcement learning, LLMs, and more) to improve the Etsy buyer and seller experience. You'll own models end-to-end, from data and feature pipelines through training, evaluation, and production serving, and validate their impact through live A/B experiments on Etsy.com and the Etsy app. Team placement is based on your background, level, and interests, and will be discussed during the interview process. This is a full-time position reporting to the Engineering Manager of the team you join.

What’s this team like at Etsy?

• Search Ads: Builds the ML systems behind our sponsored search product, including retrieval, ranking, ad allocation, and user engagement modeling. We ensure the right ads reach the right buyers, personalise the ad experience to each buyer’s journey, and help sellers get the most from their advertising budgets, all on a pipeline that scales to our 90+ million buyers and sellers.
• Recommendations Ranking: Develops ML models that understand buyers, personalise, and rank recommendations across Etsy.com and the Etsy app. Work includes user modeling, personalised ranking, multi-objective optimization, intent and lifecycle prediction, and keeping feeds fresh and reactive to user actions, emerging trends, and seasonal shifts.
• Search Retrieval: Builds efficient, scalable, and intelligent retrieval systems that surface the most relevant listings from a catalog of over a hundred million unique items. We combine lexical matching, semantic retrieval, and hybrid models to power the first step inEtsy's search stack, using techniques such as dual-encoder models, vector similarity search, and query expansion.

What does the day-to-day look like?

• Work cross-functionally with software engineers, applied scientists, data scientists, product managers, designers, and analytics partners, and communicate your ideas and model capabilities clearly to each.
• Apply the latest advances in machine learning and information retrieval to improve relevance, personalization, and buyer and seller engagement.
• Prototype, optimize, and productionize large-scale ML models, owning the path from data and feature pipelines through training, evaluation, serving, and monitoring.
• Design and run A/B experiments (online and offline) to validate the effectiveness, efficiency, latency, and buyer impact of ML models and pipelines.
• Investigate and resolve nuanced issues in model and system behavior, and measure and improve our products with product and analytics partners.
• Depending on your team, work on problems such as retrieval and ranking for sponsored search, ad allocation, user modeling, personalized ranking, multi-objective optimization, intent prediction, dual-encoder and hybrid retrieval, and large-scale indexing and serving.
• Of course, this is just a sample of the kinds of work this role will require! You should assume that your role will encompass other tasks, too, and that your job duties and responsibilities may change from time to time at Etsy's discretion, or otherwise applicable with local law.

Qualities that will help you thrive in this role are:

• A track record of applying statistical and machine learning techniques to real-world problems.
• Expertise or experience in one or more of: information retrieval, search, recommendations, ads, natural language processing, deep learning, multi-modal learning, or reinforcement learning.
• Hands‑on experience training, deploying, monitoring, debugging, and iterating on production ML systems in search, recommendation, and/or ads.
• Production experience building large-scale ML systems in Python, Java, Scala, or similar languages, with modern ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow/TFX.
• The ability to write and manipulate data at large scale, and to write understandable, testable, maintainable code.
• The ability to create requirements and lead your team from design through delivery.
• A collaborative, empathetic approach, with clear and constructive communication across disciplines.
• Care about the implications of your work on end users.
• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science or a related engineering field with at least two years of practical machine learning experience, or equivalent experience.

Compensation & Benefits

In addition to salary, you'll be eligible for an equity package, an annual performance bonus, and our competitive benefits that support you and your family. Base salary is determined by your location, skills, and experience. Etsy uses two geographic pay zones to reflect the labor markets where we compete for talent: one called Geo-1, covering the New York City metropolitan area, San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle metropolitan area, and one called Geo-2, covering all other U.S. locations. Salary ranges for this role vary by zone and are listed below.

• Geo-1: 182,000.00 - 246,000.00 USD Annual
• Geo-2: 164,000.00 - 222,000.00 USD Annual

Location We prioritize candidates based within commutable distance of Etsy’s Brooklyn Office. Depending on proximity, we ask team members to come in once or twice per week. Remote candidates outside commutable distance may be considered on a case-by-case basis, with the expectation of occasional travel to the office. Learn more details about our work modes and workplace safety policies here.

Our Promise

We’re a place that values individuality and variety. We don’t want you to be like everyone else – we want you to be like you! So tell us what you’re all about. Our Promise At Etsy, we believe that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace furthers relevance, resilience, and longevity. We encourage people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experiences to apply. Etsy is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion or creed, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, citizenship or immigration status, marital or familial status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. If, due to a disability, you need an accommodation during any part of the interview or hiring process, please let your recruiter know and we will work with you to meet your needs. While Etsy supports visa sponsorship, sponsorship opportunities may be limited to certain roles and skills.

Etsy, Inc., founded in 2005, is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. Our mission is to keep commerce human, and we’re committed to using the power of business to strengthen communities and empower people. We connect millions of buyers and sellers from nearly every country in the world. Buyers come to Etsy to be inspired and delighted by items that are crafted and curated by creative entrepreneurs. For sellers, we offer a range of tools and services that address key business needs. Let’s keep in touch! We’ll share #LifeAtEtsy updates catered to your location and experience. We also encourage you to sign up for job alerts: