Staff Software Engineer I, ML Systems

Key Skills

Data pipelines, Docker, Effective communication skills, High performance computing- HPC, Infrastructure as code, Java Programming, Kubernetes-K8s, Leadership Skill, Machine learning techniques, Planning and organization, Scala Programming, SPARK Programming, Streaming APIs

Job Description

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer I, ML Systems to build and scale Etsy’s feature store. As the Staff Software Engineer I you will be responsible for building and scaling a centralized Feature Store, with strong emphasis on building a distributed low latency serving layer that is operational under high load, that will support various high visibility Machine Learning teams at Etsy including Search Ranking, Personalized Recommendations, etc.

Do you find joy in sophisticated architectures that involve distributed systems, machine learning and multiple collaborators? If so, this could be the perfect match.

• Build and maintain a centralized Feature Store and a distributed low latency serving layer operational under high load, that will support various high visibility Machine Learning teams at Etsy including Search Ranking, Personalized Recommendations, etc.
• Build scalable and resilient services and APIs for product teams to interact with feature systems and model training and add new Machine Learning features.
• Develop and maintain distributed infrastructure with the containerized environment and optimized storage layer to support Machine Learning feature development and retrieval.
• Coach and train junior team members.
• Actively work with leadership and product teams on the roadmap and new features.
• Lead and coordinate cross-team projects across the organization and actively promote best practices and industry standards to maintain the high quality of the product and services.

This is a full-time position reporting to the Senior Engineering Manager, ML Systems and the base salary range will be $196,000 - $218,000 USD per year. In addition to salary, you will also be eligible for an equity package, an annual performance bonus, and our competitive benefits that support you and your family as part of your total rewards package at Etsy. For this role, we are considering candidates based in United States who are either remote, flex, or office-based. Etsy offers different work modes to meet the variety of needs and preferences of our team. Learn more about our Flex and Office-based work modes and workplace safety policies here.

What’s this team like at Etsy?

The Machine Learning Systems team is part of MIPS (Machine Learning Infrastructure, Platforms and Systems) organization. Our mission is to enable efficient and impactful machine learning across Etsy as a platform. 

What does the day-to-day look like?

• Solid Infrastructure background with 8+ years of industry experience (with at least 1-2 years of experience as a Tech lead) working on distributed systems, ML infrastructure and other high scale applications. 
• Background in Computer science and related fields (equivalent to a B.S. degree or above in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology or related engineering fields).
• Practical experience designing & architecting large-scale distributed systems and machine learning systems.
• Strong engineering and coding skills, with the ability to write high-performance production code. Proficiency in Java, Scala, and/or other equivalent languages.
• You have built distributed services with technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, gRPC, Spark, etc.
• You have strong familiarity with concurrency frameworks and performance tuning that build low latency applications.
• Proficiency with data pipelines in Spark is a plus.
• Experience with streaming data and its application to ML solutions is a plus
• 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.

Qualifications

Qualities that will help you thrive in this role are:

• Growth mindset. You have a strong desire to learn and grow, and aim to drive the most business value for your customers
• Curiosity and humility. We are dedicated to learning and constantly improving. We hope you also value things like blameless postmortems and have a natural drive to figure out how everything works.
• Keeping it real. Etsy’s mission and values are a part of everything we do. We care about how our work affects real people in the community and enjoy opportunities to meet them. We are motivated by this mission every day.
• You have strong analytical and quantitative skills.
• Tight-knit collaboration skills as well as both verbal and written communication skills.
• You are a multiplier in the organization, and enjoy growing other engineers around you in the process.