Senior/Staff Machine Learning Engineer

About SmartNews

SmartNews is a global leader in redefining information and news discovery, committed to providing users with accurate, timely information and supporting quality journalism. We combine the power of our unique machine-learning technology with the expertise of our first-rate editorial team to bring news that matters to millions of users from our over 3,000 global publishing partners.

Founded in 2012 in Tokyo, Japan, SmartNews has offices in Tokyo, Palo Alto, New York, and Singapore.

The Team:

The Core Machine Learning Team serves as the architect behind the cutting-edge ML algorithm that powers the SmartNews Product. Our scope encompasses a range of surfaces, most notably Feed, Push Notifications, Search, Follow Recommendations and ads core models and so on.

At the core of our mission is the commitment to provide SmartNews users with an unparalleled experience in discovering quality information. Through our intricate algorithms, we curate and present content in a manner that resonates with quality, personalization, fostering engagement and, in turn, bolstering critical business metrics including DAU, revenue, and user engagement.

Our team thrives on the challenge of transforming vast data into actionable insights. We continuously refine and innovate upon our algorithms to ensure that the information presented is not only relevant but also delivered with precision, enriching the user journey and driving SmartNews' competitive edge.

In collaboration with cross-functional teams, we contribute to the seamless integration of our algorithms into various product facets, each designed to enhance user experiences and overall satisfaction. By blending data science, engineering prowess, and a passion for innovation, our team is committed to shaping SmartNews into a trusted and indispensable source of quality content for millions of users worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the ranking experience on key SmartNews surfaces such as the For You feed, Search, and Push, helping users discover high-quality and relevant news.
• Lead and contribute to end-to-end machine learning projects — from problem definition, data analysis, implementation, and iteration — with a focus on driving sustainable growth and business impact.
• Design and optimize ranking and retrieval algorithms across key stages — including candidate generation, ranking, and post-ranking etc.
• Drive innovation by applying the cutting edge ML, AI and improving system performance, scalability, and user experience.
• Lead cross-functional teams projects, collaborating with Product, Engineering, Business and Content Operation teams

Requirements

Required Experience

• Strong coding skills with a solid foundation in data structures and algorithms; familiarity with platforms/tools such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, Flink, Trino etc.
• Relevant experience in at least one of the following areas is preferred: recommendation systems, advertising, search, or general machine learning.
• Familiarity with algorithms in large-scale data mining, machine learning, reinforcement learning, distributed computing, information retrieval, operations research and optimization, computer vision (CV), natural language processing (NLP), and multimodal systems, with hands-on industry experience.
• Excellent logical thinking skills, capable of analyzing and solving problems; highly responsible, passionate, eager to learn and think critically, and proactive in tackling challenging issues.
• Strong technical leadership, capable of pioneering new technical directions and driving the planning and development of such directions; team player with good collaboration skills.

Nice to Have Experience

• Strong interest in news media and our mission 
• Experience with cloud based architecture (e.g. Amazon Web Services)

Working Condition

• Office Location: Tokyo

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Benefits

• All healthcare and social insurance required by the Japanese labor law, plus annual health check 

• Visa sponsorship and overseas relocation support available for eligible candidates

• Click here or visit our careers site for more info about our benefits.