Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Yahoo Mail is the ultimate consumer inbox with hundreds of millions of users. It’s the best way to access your email and stay organized from a computer, phone or tablet. With its beautiful design and lightning fast speed, Yahoo Mail makes reading, organizing, and sending emails easier than ever.

Yahoo Mail is the ultimate consumer inbox with hundreds of millions of users. It’s the best way to access your email and stay organized from a computer, phone or tablet. With its beautiful design and lightning fast speed, Yahoo Mail makes reading, organizing, and sending emails easier than ever.

A little about Us

As a global email provider, Yahoo Mail is the ultimate Consumer Inbox with over 220 million monthly active users. It is the best way to access your email and stay organized from a computer, phone or tablet. We create technology that changes the internet while handling billions of inbound connections per day to manage trillions of messages requiring petabytes of efficient storage.

Yahoo Mail's vision: Be the best consumer email platform to help users run the business of their life.

The Yahoo Mail engineering team develops solutions powering our mail brands, including a next-generation infrastructure that we are 100% moving to a native public cloud architecture.

About the team:

The Mail Intelligence AI/ML platform is dedicated to developing scalable, intelligent capabilities that uncover user interests, reveal habits, and personalize journeys within Yahoo Mail and the broader Yahoo ecosystem. We seek innovative, entrepreneurial engineers who are passionate about delivering top-tier solutions. Your passion and ownership mindset are as vital as the high engineering standards, code quality, and architectural excellence we uphold.

We leverage cutting-edge algorithms, including natural language processing, generative AI, large language models, and machine learning, to process billions of mail messages. This enables us to extract information, build mail content, enhance user knowledge, and connect diverse data sources to highlight and amplify key insights.

Our work presents rewarding technical challenges for high-caliber engineers eager to tackle impactful problems. You will develop tools and workflows to efficiently manage and utilize vast data, work on AI-based infrastructure, support new functionalities, and mine data for analytics insights and product features.

Sounds Exciting? Then, come join us!! 

Responsibilities: 

• Contribute to Mail Intelligence Mission: Support the development of AI/ML capabilities that enhance user personalization and insights within Yahoo Mail and the broader Yahoo ecosystem.

• Innovate and Personalize: Assist in building scalable AI/ML solutions that identify user interests and habits, contributing to personalized user experiences.

• Technical Leadership: Guide and mentor a team of passionate engineers, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence. Your leadership will ensure the delivery of high-quality, user-centric solutions.

• Collaborative Development: Work with cross-functional teams to integrate new AI/ML features and improve existing platforms, ensuring smooth user interactions.

• Data-Driven Insights: Apply machine learning techniques and big data processing to derive insights from mail data, enhancing content and user knowledge.

• Tool and Workflow Development: Develop AI/ML tools and workflows to manage and utilize large datasets, supporting AI-based infrastructure and analytics.

• A/B Testing and Analysis: Run regular A/B tests, gather data, and draw conclusions on the impact of your models.

• Commitment to Excellence: Maintain high engineering standards, focusing on code quality and architectural skills, while delivering optimal user experiences.

• Feedback and Recovery: Implement feedback loops and recovery paths to handle AI failures gracefully, ensuring user satisfaction.

• Balance Tradeoffs: Manage cost, quality, and speed tradeoffs in AI/ML solutions to optimize performance.

A lot about YOU

• Educational Background: You have a strong foundation in computer science, data science, or a related field, with a focus on machine learning and AI technologies.

• Technical Skills: Proficient in programming languages such as Python or Java and machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Scikit-learn. Skilled with AI tools such as Cursor, Copilot, and Claude.

• AI Skills: Advanced AI skills, including experience with AI development tools and frameworks.

• Problem-Solving Ability: You possess strong analytical skills and a knack for solving complex problems using data-driven approaches.

• Collaboration: You are a team player who can work effectively with cross-functional teams, including tech leads and architects, to deliver high-quality solutions.

• Passion for Innovation: You are enthusiastic about leveraging AI/ML to drive innovation and enhance user experiences across Yahoo Mail and the broader ecosystem.

• Attention to Detail: You maintain high standards for code quality and are committed to delivering robust, scalable solutions.

• Continuous Learning: You are eager to stay updated with the latest advancements in AI/ML and apply them to improve Yahoo's products and services.

Qualifications

• Educational Requirement: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field; a Master's degree is a plus.

• Experience: 8+ years of experience in machine learning, data analysis, or a related field.

• Technical Proficiency: Expertise in Python, Java, or C++ and machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Scikit-learn. Skilled with AI tools such as Cursor, Copilot, and Claude.

• Data and Infrastructure: Proficient in big data technologies (Hadoop, Spark) and modern ML infrastructure (Airflow, MLFlow, feature stores, vector databases, CI/CD for ML).

• Generative AI and Optimization: Hands-on experience with LLMs, generative AI (prompt engineering, Agent frameworks, fine-tuning, RAG, LLMOps), and GPU optimizations.

• Observability and Feedback: Familiar with observability, telemetry, and user feedback loops for product improvement.

• Algorithm Knowledge: Solid understanding of machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and data mining techniques.

• Problem-Solving Skills: Demonstrated ability to solve complex problems and implement efficient, scalable solutions.

• Collaboration Skills: Ability to work effectively in a team environment and collaborate with tech leads, architects, and cross-functional teams.

• Communication Skills: Strong verbal and written communication skills to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

• Continuous Improvement: Eagerness to learn and adapt to new technologies and methodologies in the AI/ML domain.

Preferred Qualifications

• Mail Experience: Prior experience working with email systems or related technologies is a plus.

• Personal Attributes: Self-driven and detail-oriented, with a passion for tackling challenges. Strong teamwork spirit, excellent communication skills, and the ability to multitask and manage expectations effectively.

• Cloud Experience: Experience with public cloud platforms, especially Google Cloud Platform (GCP), is preferred.

Yahoo is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, and will not be discriminated against based on age, race, gender, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability or any other protected category. Yahoo is dedicated to providing an accessible environment for all candidates during the application process and for employees during their employment. If you need accessibility assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability, please submit a request via the Accommodation Request Form (www.yahooinc.com/careers/contact-us.html) or call 408-336-1409. Requests and calls received for non-disability related issues, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

At Yahoo, we know that diversity makes us stronger. We are committed to a collaborative, inclusive environment that encourages authenticity and fosters a sense of belonging. We strive for everyone to feel valued, connected, and empowered to reach their potential and contribute their best. Check out our diversity and inclusion (www.yahooinc.com/diversity/) page to learn more.

The material job duties and responsibilities of this role include those listed above as well as adhering to Yahoo policies; exercising sound judgment; working effectively, safely and inclusively with others; exhibiting trustworthiness and meeting expectations; and safeguarding business operations and brand integrity.

At Yahoo, we offer flexible hybrid work options that our employees love! While most roles don’t require regular office attendance, you may occasionally be asked to attend in-person events or team sessions. You’ll always get notice to make arrangements. Your recruiter will let you know if a specific job requires regular attendance at a Yahoo office or facility. If you have any questions about how this applies to the role, just ask the recruiter!

Yahoo is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, and will not be discriminated against based on age, race, gender, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability or any other protected category. Yahoo will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law. Yahoo is dedicated to providing an accessible environment for all candidates during the application process and for employees during their employment. If you need accessibility assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability, please submit a request via the Accommodation Request Form (www.yahooinc.com/careers/contact-us.html) or call +1.866.772.3182. Requests and calls received for non-disability related issues, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

We believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace strengthens Yahoo and deepens our relationships. When you support everyone to be their best selves, they spark discovery, innovation and creativity. Among other efforts, our 11 employee resource groups (ERGs) enhance a culture of belonging with programs, events and fellowship that help educate, support and create a workplace where all feel welcome.

The compensation for this position ranges from $143,625.00 - $299,375.00/yr and will vary depending on factors such as your location, skills and experience.The compensation package may also include incentive compensation opportunities in the form of discretionary annual bonus or commissions. Our comprehensive benefits include healthcare, a great 401k, backup childcare, education stipends and much (much) more.

Currently work for Yahoo? Please apply on our internal career site.