Machine Learning Engineer - Remote

About The Company

Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot! Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe dedicated to enabling users to buy, sell, and discover a wide array of products. Our platform caters to diverse categories including trading cards, fashion, electronics, and live plants, empowering sellers to build authentic and scalable businesses. We are pioneering live commerce at an unprecedented scale in the Western market, shaping a new industry with innovative approaches and a passionate team. Our remote co-located team is spread across hubs in the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Australia, embodying values of agility, user-centricity, and impact-driven work. Recognized as one of the fastest-growing marketplaces, we were recently named the #1 Best Startup Employer in America by Forbes. We continuously update our community through news and engineering blogs, fostering transparency and engagement. At Whatnot, we believe in turning passions into thriving businesses and bringing people together through commerce.

About The Role

We are seeking a talented Machine Learning Engineer to join the Buyer Growth team, which is responsible for driving top-of-funnel growth and ensuring first-time buyer success on Whatnot. This role focuses on accelerating buyer acquisition and engagement through intelligent, data-driven experiences. As the second ML engineer on the team, you will develop and own machine learning personalization models aimed at increasing user retention within our acquisition and engagement channels. Your work will directly impact the growth of our buyer base and improve first-time user conversion rates. You will lead the design, development, and deployment of ML models that optimize user experiences, including ranking systems, targeting algorithms, and uplift modeling. You will manage the entire ML lifecycle—from data pipeline creation and feature engineering to model training, deployment, and real-time experimentation. Collaboration with product, engineering, data, and marketing teams will be essential to identify high-impact opportunities and ensure the successful implementation of ML solutions. This role offers a unique opportunity to influence the technical excellence of our team and set best practices for machine learning applications across the organization.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of industry experience building and deploying scalable ML systems
• Proven success in leading end-to-end machine learning projects that deliver measurable business results
• Deep expertise in personalization, ranking, or user modeling; strong intuition around consumer user behavior
• Advanced proficiency in Python, SQL, and common ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or XGBoost
• Strong communication and leadership skills with the ability to influence cross-functional teams
• Experience working in high-growth environments, particularly in e-commerce or social products (preferred)
• Knowledge of growth domains such as user segmentation, retention modeling, large-scale recommendation systems, and notification ranking (preferred)

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and production deployment of ML models focused on user acquisition, activation, and retention
• Own the full ML lifecycle, including data pipeline creation, feature engineering, model training, deployment, and online experimentation
• Build feedback mechanisms from postbacks, conversions, and downstream revenue signals to continuously improve models
• Identify and prioritize high-impact opportunities where machine learning can unlock growth, collaborating with cross-functional teams
• Establish and promote ML best practices and technical excellence within the Buyer Growth team
• Work closely with product, engineering, data, and marketing stakeholders to align ML initiatives with business goals
• Monitor and optimize ML models in production to ensure high performance and relevance

Benefits

• Flexible time off policy and company-wide holidays, including seasonal breaks
• Comprehensive health insurance options covering medical, dental, and vision
• Support for remote work, including home office setup allowance
• Monthly allowances for cell phone and internet expenses
• Care benefits and wellness allowances to support employee well-being
• Annual childcare assistance and lifetime family planning benefits, including adoption and fertility expenses
• Retirement plans including 401(k) with employer matching in the US and pension plans internationally
• Monthly allowance for product testing ("dogfooding")
• Paid parental leave of 16 weeks, with a gradual return to work period
• Opportunities for professional growth and development within a dynamic, innovative environment