The Team
The Ranking Team serves as the architect behind the cutting-edge algorithms and systems that power the SmartNews Product. Our scope encompasses a range of surfaces, most notably For You, Push Notifications, Follow Recommendations, Search, ads and so on.
At the core of our mission is the commitment to provide SmartNews users with an unparalleled experience in discovering quality information. Through our intricate algorithms, we curate and present content in a manner that resonates with personalization, fostering engagement and, in turn, bolstering critical business metrics including DAU, revenue, and user engagement.
Our team thrives on the challenge of transforming vast data into actionable insights. We continuously refine and innovate upon our algorithms to ensure that the information presented is not only relevant but also delivered with precision, enriching the user journey and driving SmartNews’ competitive edge.
In collaboration with cross-functional teams, we contribute to the seamless integration of our algorithms into various product facets, each designed to enhance user interactions and overall satisfaction. By blending data science, engineering prowess, and a passion for innovation, our team is committed to shaping SmartNews into a trusted and indispensable source of personalized content for millions of users worldwide.
Responsibilities
- Champion machine learning initiatives that drive business growth, conceptualizing and implementing comprehensive end-to-end machine learning frameworks and solutions to elevate our key performance indicators and metrics.
- Innovate and implement machine learning algorithms, seamlessly integrating rule-based optimization strategies, resulting in tangible enhancements across product metrics for our diverse array of offerings such as ads, feed, push notifications, and follow recommendations.
- Design, develop, and iterate recommendation and ranking algorithms on predictive models for candidate generation and ranking, including but not limited to building real-time data pipelines, feature engineering, model optimization and innovation.
- Write robust and efficient server-side production code, contributing to applications that meet the highest standards of reliability and performance.
- Spearhead the development of tools that empower our machine learning engineers, amplifying their productivity and effectiveness in bringing our solutions to fruition.
- Lead medium/large sized projects to improve ranking
Requirements
- 3+ years of experience in designing and implementing machine learning algorithms, and applying them to real world problems
- Solid Machine Learning background and deep understanding of certain domain of machine learning techniques, especially in recommendation systems, natural language processing
- Strong software development skills with proven record of shipping changes to production that improved product metrics with machine learning technologies
- Able to have deep end-to-end understanding of sophisticated ranking systems and can proactively detect problems and make improvement suggestions
- Good written and spoken communication skills, can work across functional teams
- Expert coding abilities in multiple programming languages (e.g. Java, C++, Python, Scala)
- MS or BS in computer science, mathematics, physics or other quantitative fields
- Fluent in Japanese
Nice to haves
While not specifically required, tell us if you have any of the following.
- Native in Japanese
- Experience relevant to Search/Recommendation/Ads Ranking
- Experience with cloud based architecture (e.g. Amazon Web Services)
- Strong interest in news media and our mission
