Senior Machine Learning Engineer: Search Quality

Elevating E-commerce Search through Advanced Machine Learning

Constructor, a leading AI-first e-commerce search and discovery platform, is seeking a talented Senior Machine Learning Engineer to join their dedicated Search Quality team. This crucial role offers the opportunity to significantly enhance the online shopping experience for hundreds of millions of users globally. By developing and refining the sophisticated systems that underpin product relevance for major retailers across diverse sectors like fashion, groceries, electronics, and hardware, you will be at the forefront of driving e-commerce innovation. The team's core mission is to meticulously measure search quality, consistently elevate its performance, and proactively identify and resolve any potential issues before they impact the end-user.

Your Impact and Responsibilities

As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer on the Search Quality team, you will be instrumental in shaping the future of e-commerce search. Your work will directly influence how users discover products and how retailers achieve their revenue and conversion goals. Key areas of focus will include:

• **LLM-Based Evaluation:** You will leverage and fine-tune advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) to rigorously assess the relevance of search results. This involves developing sophisticated evaluation frameworks to ensure our search algorithms are performing optimally.
• **Real-time Quality Assurance:** You will be responsible for implementing and managing systems that monitor and enhance search quality in live production environments. This includes optimising reranking algorithms, developing effective filtering mechanisms, and refining signal computation to ensure immediate and accurate results for shoppers.
• **Automated Quality Monitoring and Insights:** A significant part of your role will involve building robust pipelines designed for automated quality monitoring. You will develop intelligent agents capable of detecting performance degradations and identifying patterns of underperformance, providing actionable insights to the team.

What Constructor is Looking For

Constructor is seeking an experienced and driven Machine Learning Engineer with a proven track record in building and deploying production-grade ML systems. Ideal candidates will possess a strong understanding of the challenges and nuances within search, information retrieval, and recommendation systems.

Key qualifications and experience include:

• A minimum of four years of hands-on experience in shipping production machine learning systems.
• Demonstrable experience and a deep understanding of search, information retrieval, or recommendation systems.
• Proficiency in Python and the PyTorch framework for developing and implementing ML models.
• Fluency in SQL for data manipulation and analysis, coupled with experience in data orchestration tools.
• A solid understanding of experimental design, specifically in planning and executing A/B tests to effectively validate the impact of model changes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, enabling clear collaboration and articulation of complex technical concepts.

In South Africa, a Senior Machine Learning Engineer role with these responsibilities typically commands a competitive salary, reflecting the demand for specialised skills in AI and data science. Common employers for such talent include major e-commerce platforms, tech companies with significant online presences, and specialised AI consultancies. The career path often involves opportunities for technical leadership, further specialisation in areas like LLMs or search algorithms, and potentially moving into management roles overseeing ML teams.

• 4+ years shipping production ML systems.
• Experience with search, information retrieval, or recommendation systems.
• Strong Python and PyTorch. Fluency in SQL and data orchestration tools.
• Experience designing and running A/B tests to validate model impact.
• Excellent English communication skills.