Senior Engineering Manager, Etsy
Search Retrieval
$252-328k
+ Equity package, an annual performance bonus
More information about location
1-2 days a week in office (Brooklyn, NY)
eCommerce platform for handcrafted goods
Job no longer available
eCommerce platform for handcrafted goods
1001+ employees
Job no longer available
$252-328k
+ Equity package, an annual performance bonus
More information about location
1-2 days a week in office (Brooklyn, NY)
1001+ employees
Company mission
To keep human connection at the heart of commerce.
Role
Who you are
- Master’s degree or PhD in computer science, engineering or a related technical field
- Proven experience in software engineering, with a strong background in search, information retrieval, or machine learning
- 2+ years of experience leading engineering teams, ideally experience with real-time large-scale search, ads, or recommendation systems
- Strong knowledge of search algorithms, ranking models, relevance tuning, and natural language processing (NLP) techniques
- Expertise in one or more of the following technologies: Elasticsearch, Solr, Lucene, Vector search, or other search/retrieval frameworks. Familiarity with modern techniques in semantic search, transformers, or larger language models (LLMs)
- Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to manage complex, large-scale technical challenges. Knowledge of performance optimization, caching strategies, etc for high-performance retrieval systems
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to work cross-functionally; explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
- Proven track record to drive product development from concept to delivery while maintaining a high standard of engineering excellence
- Facilitate great technical decision-making across a broad technical stack, having passion for the technical aspects of your work, but a desire to let engineers drive the details
- Support and coach your engineers through the challenges of developing ML and software at scale
- Your enthusiasm and passion for learning and improving are contagious which shows through your experience empowering others to grow!
What the job involves
- We are looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to lead our Search Retrieval team
- You will lead a team of engineers and applied scientists to drive the design, development and optimization of our search retrieval systems, ensuring we deliver the best and relevant search experience for our users
- We develop efficient, state-of-the-art, large-scale search models that sift through a universe of over a hundred million special, extraordinary items to help our buyers find something they will love
- As the engineering manager, you will support and grow our engineers and scientists with expertises spanning across machine learning, deep learning and high-performing retrieval systems
- We closely follow the latest research in information retrieval and implement its best ideas efficiently, at scale for the benefit of our buyers
- Working hands-on with a cross-functional team, we deliver robust production models that will be A/B tested
- This is a full-time position reporting to the Director of Engineering, Search Relevance
- Search Retrieval is a machine learning team under Search Relevance sub-initiative that strives to improve relevancy of search results for Etsy buyers
- We apply the latest techniques from machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and information retrieval research at Etsy’s scale
- Use lexical and neural retrieval models to improve search relevance while also considering cross-border trades, nuances on different markets and query specificity
- Work closely with fellow ML engineers, backend engineers, scientists, and product managers to develop & test large scale experiments to improve relevance
- Optimize ML models to meet latency SLAs at the scale of Etsy production traffic and launch live A/B experiments to test our hypotheses
- Co-organize research/paper-reading group to stay up to date with the latest trends and advancements in search technologies, information retrieval, and machine learning to guide team strategy and innovation
- Work in a cross-functional team to understand user needs and translate them into technical solutions that improve search relevance on our search pages
- Lead and manage a team of engineers and scientists to design, architect, and implement search retrieval models and systems, ensuring high availability, scalability, and low-latency performance
- Foster a collaborative and high-performance engineering culture through mentorship, code reviews, and career development for your team
- Set clear team goals, prioritize projects, and ensure timely delivery of features and improvements; monitor system performance and work proactively to identify and resolve related issues
- 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
- Work with other engineering teams to ensure smooth integration with other services and platforms to best surface our users
Our take
Created as an alternative to more corporate eCommerce sites, Etsy is a peer-to-peer (P2P) website where users buy and sell handmade crafts, vintage items, art, and photography. The online marketplace works similarly to Amazon and eBay, only with an emphasis on unique items rather than mass-produced merchandise.
Since its IPO in 2015, it has managed to hold its own in an increasingly competitive eCommerce industry, including from Amazon's handmade section that launched in 2015. Further, by providing sellers with ownership over pricing and branding, the site is attractive for those wanting to set up a business on an established platform.
However, the seller-side of Etsy is not without problems. The recent hike in transaction fees and the introduction of mandatory marketing fees for artists with high turnovers has created significant discontent amongst sellers. Etsy must reconcile these issues to ensure artists continue to operate on the same scale within the platform. It plans to attract shoppers with its message of extraordinary, handmade and affordable products.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
8% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
May 2012
$40m
LATE VC
Aug 2010
$20m
SERIES E
Total funding: $91.7m
Company benefits
- Equity (offers vary by country)
- Performance bonuses
- Paid gender neutral parental leave
- Adoption and family planning
- Back-up care
- Volunteer time off
- Donation matching
- Employee resource groups
- Global virtual events
- Employer paid health benefits
- Fitness benefits
- Wellness programming
- Mental health benefits
- 401K matching/Pension contributions
Company values
- We commit to our craft - Our work has the power to change lives. That’s why we strive to learn continuously and excel at what we do
- We minimize waste - Time, resources, and energy are precious, so we focus only on what will have the greatest impact
- We embrace differences - Diverse teams are stronger, and inclusive cultures are more resilient. When we seek out different perspectives, we make better decisions and build better products
- We dig deeper - The best solutions to meaningful challenges are rarely easy or obvious. We stay curious, balance our intuition with insights, and decide with confidence
- We lead with optimism - We believe in our mission, and we believe in each other. We see the world as it is, set ambitious goals, and inspire one another with generosity of spirit. Together, we reimagine what is possible
Company HQ
Downtown Brooklyn, NY
Articles
Leadership
Josh Silverman
(CEO)Previously senior executive at eBay, CEO of Shopping.com, CEO of Skype and President of Consumer Products & Services at American Express.
People progressing
Became the Director of International Strategy and Operations after a year and 2 months as a senior manager in the division. After nearly 5 years in that role, they became Director of Marketing and International Strategy & Operations, and six months after that was promoted to Senior Director in that same department.
Salary benchmarks
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Etsy
- Diversity is a priority at Etsy, owned by everyone:
- A diverse workforce is critical to Etsy’s success—it makes us a stronger, better, more resilient and more relevant company. We have an inclusive culture and each of us actively creates opportunities for underrepresented groups to join, thrive and advance at Etsy
- We welcome all perspectives:
- As individuals, we invite a variety of viewpoints and experiences—especially when they conflict with our own. We encourage questions more than statements, and provide a safe environment in which all employees can surface and discuss concerns
- We measure and share openly:
- We contribute to broader progress by evaluating, iterating and transparently communicating our successes and failures internally and externally
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