Software Engineer, Applied Machine Learning (News Ranking)

About SmartNews

News should be for everyone. But not when it’s buried under cat videos—or when your internet is spotty—or when it’s in a filter bubble. That’s why we created SmartNews.

Our mission is to discover and deliver quality stories to the world. To accomplish this:

We are a machine learning company. News should be impartial, trending and trustworthy. Our algorithms evaluate millions of articles, social signals and human interactions to deliver the top 0.01% of stories that matter most, right now.

We love content. News should be sustainable. We support quality journalism and respect publishers by sharing article traffic and revenue.

Please note that we will only consider you for one application at a time.

Position

Machine learning on news ranking is crucial for analyzing millions of articles everyday to deliver the most engaging high quality information in near-real-time while providing Personalized Discovery experience to our users.

About Our Engineering Culture

Our global teams of engineers come from a variety of professional backgrounds from large, well-established companies to small ventures. We believe that employees with diverse skill sets and life experience make for strong, cohesive teams.

Visit the People page on our careers site to read interviews of our engineering leaders!

Applied Machine Learning Engineer Responsibilities

Machine Learning engineers are responsible for tackling complex problems related to recommendation and optimization (search ranking, collaborative filtering, personalized recommendation, diversification, and more)

• Plan and execute engineering development of state-of-the-art core-ranking system to provide a "Personalized Discovery" experience to millions of users
• Develop algorithms and model architecture to deepen understanding of article contents as well as user behaviors
• Collaborate with global cross-functional teams to support new product feature development
• Work closely with software engineers to enhance systems related to news features (articles, pages, channels, search, etc.) using Machine Learning technology, providing high quality user experience and increasing user engagement
• Proactively contribute to system improvements that result in direct user impact through innovation and creative thinking

Your qualification

• 1+ years of experience in designing and implementing machine learning algorithms and applying them to real world problems (will consider research and internship)
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams globally with a "team player" mindset

At least one of the following:

• MS, Ph.D or BS in computer science, mathematics, physics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or other quantitative fields
• 3 years of software development experience in any programming languages (e.g. Java, Python, C++, Scala)
• Solid Machine Learning background and deep understanding of certain domain of machine learning techniques, especially in natural language processing, recommendation systems, and/or computer visions

Will be a plus

• Experience working as a software engineer and/or machine learning/AI engineer in a technology company
• Experience working as an Applied Scientist, Researcher, Data Scientist in relevant fields with hands-on software engineering experience
• Familiarity with one or more of the following Machine Learning libraries: Tensorflow, xgboost, Keras, PyTorch, scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, etc.
• Knowledge of developing and debugging in Java and Spring-boot
• Experience with Hadoop/Hive/Spark/AWS

What we offer

• Support program for employee’s self-development and well-being
• Healthy lunches are prepared on-site daily in our SmartKitchen, located in our West Office building. You can even see the cooks at work!
• Need a pick-me-up? Stop by ChikyuCoffee, our in-house coffee shop located in both the East and West Office buildings, and get a cup of gourmet coffee, espresso-based beverage, or other seasonal drink!
• SmartNews provides all healthcare and social insurance benefits required by Japanese labor law

Visa Sponsorship and Relocation Support

For candidates who meet eligibility requirements, SmartNews can sponsor visas.

To support a smooth transition for candidates who are moving to Japan from overseas, SmartNews partners with a travel service provider.