Job Details

Overview

Join to apply for the Senior Machine Learning Engineer role at Scribd, Inc.

About The Company: At Scribd (pronounced “scribbed”), our mission is to spark human curiosity. We create a world of stories and knowledge, democratize the exchange of ideas and information, and empower collective expertise through our products: Everand, Scribd, and Slideshare. We support a culture where employees can be real and bold, debate and commit, and prioritize the customer. Scribd Flex lets employees choose their daily work-style in partnership with their manager, with occasional in-person attendance required for all employees.

We hire for “GRIT”: setting and achieving Goals, achieving Results, contributing Innovative ideas, and positively influencing the Team through collaboration and attitude.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to lead the design, architecture, and optimization of high-impact ML systems that serve millions of users in near real time. In this role, you will:

• Drive technical direction for both platform and product-facing ML initiatives.
• Lead complex, cross-team projects from conception to production deployment.
• Mentor other engineers and establish best practices for building scalable, reliable ML systems.
• Influence the roadmap and architecture of our ML Platform.

Tech Stack

Our Machine Learning team builds and operates large-scale ML systems across Scribd, Slideshare, and Everand. The ML Platform includes a feature store, model registry, model inference systems, and embedding-based retrieval (EBR). The team collaborates with Product to deliver ML into user-facing features such as recommendations, near real-time personalization, and AskAI LLM-powered experiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and architecture of ML pipelines from data ingestion and feature engineering to model training, deployment, and monitoring.
• Own the technical direction of core ML Platform components (feature store, model registry, EBR).
• Collaborate with product software engineers to deliver ML models that enhance recommendations and personalization.
• Guide experimentation strategy, A/B testing design, and performance analysis to inform production decisions.
• Optimize systems for performance, scalability, and reliability across large datasets and high-throughput services.
• Establish and uphold engineering best practices, including code quality, reviews, and operational excellence.
• Mentor and coach ML engineers, fostering technical growth and cross-team collaboration.
• Work with leadership to align technical initiatives with long-term ML strategy.

Requirements

Must Have

• 6+ years of experience as a professional ML or software engineer, delivering production ML systems at scale.
• Proficiency in at least one key programming language (preferably Python or Golang; Scala or Ruby also considered).
• Experience designing and architecting large-scale ML pipelines and distributed systems.
• Deep experience with distributed data processing frameworks (Spark, Databricks, or similar).
• Strong cloud expertise (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and experience with deployment platforms (ECS, EKS, Lambda).
• Proven ability to optimize system performance and make informed trade-offs in ML model and system design.
• Experience leading technical projects and mentoring engineers.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or equivalent professional experience.

Nice to Have

• Experience with embedding-based retrieval, large language models, advanced recommendation or ranking systems.
• Experience building or leading development of feature stores, model serving & monitoring platforms, and experimentation systems.
• Expertise in experimentation design, causal inference, or ML evaluation methodologies.
• Contributions to open-source ML/AI tooling or infrastructure.

Why Join Us

As a Senior ML Engineer at Scribd, you will shape the future of our ML systems, from foundational platform capabilities to cutting-edge AI applications. You'll work with rich multimodal data and partner with a cross-functional team to deliver personalized, impactful experiences for millions of users.

Compensation: The base pay ranges vary by location. California ranges: $146,500 to $228,000; outside California: $120,000 to $217,000; Canada: $153,000 CAD to $202,000 CAD. The position is eligible for equity and a comprehensive benefits package. This description is subject to adjustments based on experience and location.

Locations & Eligibility

Are you based in a location where Scribd can employ you? Primary residence should be in or near listed cities (US, Canada, Mexico) with reasonable commuting distance. See original wording for city lists.

Benefits, Perks, And Wellbeing At Scribd

• Benefits/perks may vary by employment type and location.
• Health insurance (medical/dental/vision): 100% paid for employees
• 12 weeks paid parental leave
• Short-term/long-term disability plans
• 401k/RSP matching
• Onboarding stipend for home office peripherals
• Learning & Development allowance
• Quarterly wellness, WiFi, etc. stipends
• Mental Health resources
• Free Scribd subscription
• Referral Bonuses
• Book Benefit
• Sabbaticals
• Company-wide events and team budgets
• Vacation, personal days, holidays, and flexible sick time
• Volunteer Day and inclusive workplace programs
• Access to AI tools for productivity

Want to learn more about life at Scribd? www.linkedin.com/company/scribd/life

Accommodations: We welcome reasonable adjustments during the interview process. Email ...@scribd.com for adjustments. Scribd is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds.