Engineering Manager, ML Recommendations

Company Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. We build tools that connect millions of entrepreneurs with buyers worldwide. Role Summary Engineering Manager – Recommendations Retrieval. You will lead a team of engineers and applied scientists to build and operate systems that generate high‑quality, personalized candidate items for Etsy’s recommendation models. The role reports to the Director of Engineering, Recommendations. Key Responsibilities Build and maintain candidate generation and retrieval systems that power Etsy’s homepage feed, listing‑page recommendations, and cross‑sell surfaces. Develop and scale models that capture buyer behavior, preferences, and context to advance user understanding and personalization. Leverage LLMs and generative AI to transform retrieval into a discovery engine and deliver serendipitous, intent‑aware discovery experiences. Define and execute the technical strategy for recommendations retrieval, balancing innovation, reliability, and performance. Oversee the evolution of retrieval infrastructure, ensuring healthy data pipelines, index quality, and system performance across recommendation surfaces. Collaborate with Ranking, Recs Systems, ML Platform, Data Engineering, Analytics, and Product to shape the direction of the recommendations stack. Foster a culture of technical excellence, mentorship, and continuous learning through regular design reviews, code reviews, and structured performance feedback. Establish clear technical goals, monitor system health, and proactively identify and resolve performance and reliability bottlenecks. Key Qualifications Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field. Proven experience in large‑scale retrieval, recommendation, or search systems, with a strong background in candidate generation, ANN/vector search, or ML‑powered personalization. 2+ years of experience leading engineering teams, ideally in real‑time recommendation, search, or ads systems. Familiarity with modern retrieval and ranking techniques, including neural retrieval, two‑tower models, and transformer‑based embeddings and architectures. Experience with system performance optimization, caching strategies, and scaling high‑throughput, low‑latency services. Strong communication and collaboration skills; capable of bridging technical and non‑technical stakeholders. Track record of driving complex technical projects from conception to launch while maintaining a high bar for quality and reliability. Proven people leadership in high‑stakes, fast‑moving environments, remaining steady and solutions‑oriented through shifting priorities and ambiguous direction. Benefits & Compensation Salary Range: $226,000.00 – $294,000.00. Eligible for equity, an annual performance bonus, and competitive benefits that support you and your family. EEO Statement Etsy is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We encourage people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experiences to apply. Etsy is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. #J-18808-Ljbffr Etsy, Inc.