Staff Software Engineer, Machine Learning
Location
Department
Job Type: Full Time
Our Mission:
Launched in 2012, Tinder revolutionized how people meet, growing from 1 match to one billion matches in just two years. This rapid growth demonstrates its ability to fulfill a fundamental human need: real connection. Today, the app has been downloaded over 630 million times, leading to over 97 billion matches, serving approximately 50 million users per month in 190 countries and 45+ languages - a scale unmatched by any other app in the category. In 2024, Tinder won four Effie Awards for its first-ever global brand campaign, “It Starts with a Swipe.”
Our Values:
One Team, One Dream
We work hand-in-hand, building Tinder for our members. We succeed together when we work collaboratively across functions, teams, and time zones, and think outside the box to achieve our company vision and mission.
Own It
We take accountability and strive to make a positive impact in all aspects of our business, through ownership, innovation, and a commitment to excellence. We cultivate a culture where it’s safe to take risks. We seek out input, share honest feedback, celebrate our wins, and learn from our mistakes in order to continue improving.
Spark Solutions
We’re problem solvers, focusing on how to best move forward when faced with obstacles. We don’t dwell on the past or on the issues at hand, but instead look at how to stay agile and overcome hurdles to achieve our goals. We are intentional about building a workplace that reflects the rich diversity of our members. By leveraging different perspectives and other ways of thinking, we build better experiences for our members and our team.
The Role:
The Engineering team is responsible for building innovative features and resilient systems that bring people together. We're always experimenting with new features to engage with our members. Although we are a high-scale tech company, the member-to-engineer ratio is very high—making the level of impact each engineer gets to have at Tinder enormous. Our ML team is responsible for developing machine learning algorithms and systems for Tinder recommendations. Recommendation algorithms directly determine potential matches on Tinder and optimize the entire ecosystem to drive critical business metrics. You'll have a unique opportunity to join a company with a global footprint while working on a team small enough for you to feel the impact each day.
As a Staff Software Engineer focused on recommendations, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of personalized matchmaking at Tinder. Working closely with our ML team, you'll design, implement, and scale recommendation systems that influence millions of users worldwide. Leveraging cutting-edge machine learning techniques, you'll drive key innovations that enhance user experiences and improve critical business outcomes. Your work will directly contribute to optimizing our recommendation algorithms, ensuring users discover meaningful connections while balancing the ecosystem's health. With Tinder's global scale and impact, you'll be at the forefront of solving some of the most complex challenges in technology.
In this role, you will:
- Lead the modeling efforts of Tinder’s recommendation system.
- Apply state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, including deep learning, reinforcement learning, causal inference, and optimization, to enhance our foundational recommendation models.
- Develop algorithms that optimize our complex ecosystem to meet multiple disparate objectives.
- Lead the research and development of novel algorithms and models, staying at the forefront of advancements in recommendation systems and ML technologies.
- Work with big data to improve the accuracy and relevance of recommendations.
- Collaborate with other machine learning engineers, backend software engineers, and product managers to integrate ML models into our systems, improving user experience and driving business objectives.
- Mentor and guide team members, fostering their growth and enabling them to reach their full potential.
You’ll need:
- 8+ years of hands-on experience in machine learning, with a proven track record of delivering impactful solutions at scale.
- PhD or MS in machine learning, computer science, statistics, or another highly quantitative field.
- Hands-on experience in designing and building large-scale recommendation systems.
- In-depth knowledge of deep neural networks, particularly in the recommendations domain.
- Proficiency in deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, etc.
- Proficiency in Python, Java, Scala, or similar programming languages.
- Strong decision-making skills with a bias for action and the ability to navigate ambiguity with confidence.
- Proven leadership abilities to inspire and motivate teams to excel and achieve ambitious goals.
Salary Range:
$220,000 - $245,000 a year
Factors such as scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education/training, job-related skills, internal peer equity, as well as market and business considerations may influence base pay offered. This salary will be subject to a geographic adjustment (according to a specific city and state), if an authorization is granted to work outside of the location listed in this posting.
Our hottest benefits for full time employees
- 100% paid parental leave (including for non-birthing parents) and family forming benefits
- 100% 401(k) employer match up to 10%, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
- Mentorship through our MentorMatch program, access to 6,000+ online courses through Udemy, and an annual $3,000 stipend for your professional development
- Time off to volunteer and charitable donations matched up to $15,000 annually
- Access to mental health support via Modern Health, paid concierge medical membership, pet insurance, fitness membership subsidy, and commuter subsidy
- Unlimited PTO with no waiting period and 10 annual wellness days