Director of Machine Learning Science - AI Automation & Optimization

System1 is looking for an experienced data science leader to join our team as the Director of Machine Learning Science for AI Automation & Optimization.  In this role, you will be responsible for leading a talented team of machine learning scientists focused on driving research and development of new cutting-edge machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms that power automation and optimization capabilities for one of the biggest real-time acquisition marketing platforms in the world - reaching 100s of millions of users every month.

 

The ideal candidate will have experience leading efforts researching, developing, and deploying cutting-edge machine learning algorithms to automate and optimize planning and decisioning for extremely complex dynamic systems with imperfect information.  You should keep up with the latest academic research and developments in reinforcement learning (e.g. MuZero, growing-tree counterfactual regret minimization, etc) and stochastic black box optimization and intuitively understand how these algorithms can be applied to automate and optimize execution of large-scale advertising campaigns to balance both performance and portfolio risk.

 

With billions of data points ingested daily and the ability to impact and automate millions of critical decisions that drive the core of our business, this is a unique opportunity to build new advanced ML and AI capabilities at a company that still innovates at the pace of a startup but has the data and scale of a successful billion dollar company!

The Role You Will Have

• Lead a team focused on developing an automated and intelligent advertising system by advancing the state-of-the-art in machine/reinforcement learning techniques to support large-scale optimization of media/channel mix, ad selection, bidding and overall campaign performance, etc
• Leverage knowledge of software engineering principles to guide development and deployment of production machine learning solutions making decisions that impact millions of dollars of ad spend and revenue per day
• Keep abreast of relevant research in online ad auction design, computational advertising, and computational economics
• Work with cross-functional teams of engineers, scientists, and analysts, to devise implementation and experimentation strategies
• Utilize broad and deep knowledge of machine learning to contribute to the development of System1’s roadmap for core machine learning capabilities
• Coach and mentor data scientists to elevate the talent bar across System1

What You Will Bring

• Bachelor's degree (Master's or PhD preferred) in a highly quantitative field (e.g. Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Math, Operations Research, etc) or equivalent work experience
• 5+ years of experience researching & developing algorithms for intelligent automation and optimization systems
• Previous experience leading a highly technical machine learning / data science team
• Strong machine learning and algorithmic background with a deep understanding of advanced reinforcement learning, stochastic optimization, and deep learning techniques
• Hands-on experience building ML driven products
• Experience leading technical research and production grade development efforts/teams
• Fluency with at least one data science/analytics programming language (e.g. Python, R, Julia) 
• Solid software design and implementation skills with a general-purpose programming language (e.g. Rust, Scala, C++/C#, Java, Haskell, etc) (preferred)
• Strong functional programming development skills (preferred)
• Ability to effectively communicate technical information to a wide spectrum of cross-functional team members
• Experience mentoring and coaching junior team members

What We Have to Offer

• Competitive salary + bonus + equity
• Generous PTO + 11 company holidays
• Open sick time
• 100% covered Medical, Dental, Vision for employees
• 401k with match
• Health & Dependent Care Flex Spending Account 
• Paid professional development
• Leadership & growth opportunities
• Virtual company and team building events 
• #BI-Remote
• #LI-Remote
• #BI-Hybrid
• #LI-Hybrid

The U.S. base salary range for this full-time position is $213,000 - $352,900 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process. Please note that the compensation details listed in U.S. role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits.

 

System1 offers flexible work arrangements for most employees (unless they hold positions which are identified as having to be 100% onsite in Marina del Rey, CA, Bellevue, WA or Guelph, ON Canada). Most System1 full-time employees choose to work in a hybrid environment, splitting their time between working in our offices and working remotely.  System1 allows fully-remote work in the following approved locations: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Prospective U.S. employees who live outside of any of these states will need to establish residency in one of the approved states prior to employment.