Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Recommendation & AI Platform
- AI
- Machine Learning
- System Design
- Pension
About NewsBreak
Founded in 2015, NewsBreak is the Content Intelligence platform shaping the future content economy. With over 40 million monthly active users, our flagship platform delivers highly personalized local news and information powered by advanced AI, recommendation systems, and adtech.
Recognized by Fast Company as #32 on the Top Workplaces for Innovators, we're proud to be Great Place to Work® certified and home to a dynamic team of technologists, product innovators, and business leaders who are passionate about solving meaningful challenges at scale.
Together, we reached unicorn status in 2021, and we remain committed to continuing this high-growth trajectory with the right team to fulfill our mission: building the infrastructure layer for content intelligence.
If you’re inspired to dream big, innovate fast, and make a difference, we’d love to hear from you! For more information, visit www.newsbreak.com/about
About the Role
We are seeking aStaff Machine Learning Engineer to providetechnical leadership for our recommendation systems and AI initiatives.
In this role, you will define technical direction forlarge-scale personalization systems, lead complex projects across teams, and drive the adoption ofAI / LLM technologies in both product capabilities and engineering workflows.
This role is ideal for engineers who enjoysystem-level thinking, mentoring others, and turning ambiguous problems into scalable solutions.
What You’ll Work On
Technical Leadership & Architecture
- Lead the design ofnext-generation recommendation system architectures at scale.
- Drive best practices formodel lifecycle management, experimentation, and system reliability.
- Partner with product, infra, and data teams to align technical strategy with business goals.
Advanced Recommendation & AI Systems
- Own complex initiatives acrossretrieval, ranking, re-ranking, and multi-objective optimization.
- Lead the application ofLLMs and foundation models in recommendation, content intelligence, and user modeling.
- Evaluate emerging AI technologies and guide their adoption into production systems.
AI-Native Engineering
- ChampionAI-native development practices, including LLM-assisted coding, experimentation, and analysis.
- Help establish standards and shared tooling for AI-driven engineering.
0→ 1 Innovation & Scaling
- Lead0–1 AI initiatives, from ideation and technical validation to production rollout and scaling.
- Ensure successful prototypes evolve into maintainable, scalable platforms.
What We’re Looking For
Minimum Qualifications -8+ years of industry experience building large-scale ML or recommendation systems. - Deep expertise inrecommendation systems and applied machine learning in production environments. - Strong system design skills and the ability to influence architecture across teams. - Proven track record oftechnical leadership and cross-team collaboration.
Bonus / Plus Qualifications - Demonstrated success applyingLLMs or foundation models to recommendation or content systems in production. - Experience leading0 → 1 AI platform or product initiatives. - Passion for improving engineering velocity throughAI-assisted development workflows.
Benefits
We offer a competitive benefits package:
- Health, dental, and vision care for you and your family
- Top-tier 401(K) plan with company matching
- Paid time off and paid holidays
- Paid parental leave
- FSA and commuter benefits programs
- Team activity budget
CPRA Privacy Notice for California Candidates
Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Recommendation & AI Platform · NewsBreak