Senior II Applied Scientist, Growth

Company Description
Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. We build, power, and evolve the tools and technologies that connect millions of entrepreneurs with millions of buyers around the world. As an Etsy Inc. employee, whether a team member of Etsy, Reverb, or Depop, you will tackle unique, meaningful, and large-scale problems alongside passionate coworkers, all the while making a rewarding impact and Keeping Commerce Human.

Salary Range:

What’s the role?

Etsy is looking for a Senior II Applied Scientist to join our Growth team. This team focuses on improving the buyer experience and increasing the number of visits that turn into purchases (aka driving conversion!). You'll help us build systems and tools that personalize the shopping journey, ensuring buyers find relevant information at the right time, ultimately helping them discover the perfect handmade or vintage item.

We’re building a new machine learning team to support our product engineering squads, where you’ll play a key role in shaping how we understand our buyers and tailor their experiences. You'll work hands-on with a cross-disciplinary team to deliver robust, scalable production models and tools that will be A/B tested live on Etsy.com. Staying at the forefront of ML research, you’ll bring its best ideas to life for millions of Etsy shoppers.

Does using the latest machine learning techniques to help people find the perfect item sound exciting to you? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

This is a full-time position reporting to the Engineering Manager, Growth. In addition to salary, you will also be eligible for an equity package, an annual performance bonus, and our competitive benefits that support you and your family as part of your total rewards package at Etsy. 

For this role, we are considering candidates based in the United States. Candidates living within commutable distance of Etsy’s Brooklyn Office Hub or in the San Francisco Bay Area may be the first to be considered. For candidates within commutable distance, Etsy requires in-office attendance once or twice per week depending on your proximity to the office. Etsy offers different work modes to meet the variety of needs and preferences of our team. Learn more details about our  work modes and workplace safety policies here.

What’s this team like at Etsy?

• Historically, our full-stack engineers have relied on enablement teams for features requiring machine learning solutions. With this new squad, you and your teammates will directly support several product squads (spanning web and mobile) to apply machine learning techniques that align with our broader goal of increasing sales.

• Increase personalized engagement: use machine learning to identify the most effective moments and methods to engage buyers, tailoring their journey to inspire confidence and increase the likelihood of a purchase.

• Leverage generative AI to differentiate the experience: Use the latest developments in LLMs to enhance the customer experience across buyer touchpoints, making the shopping journey more intuitive and efficient.

• Build scalable and modular systems across our mobile app and web platforms, ensuring seamless integration and event logging

What does the day-to-day look like?

• Collaborate cross-functionally to plan, prioritize and execute projects that align with our product goals. You’ll partner closely with ML engineers, full-stack engineers, applied scientists, and product managers to develop and test large-scale experiments.

• Take solutions from 0 to 1: You’ll work comfortably in ambiguous problem spaces, experimenting and driving projects from an initial idea to a fully operational ML product. You will be able to quickly prototype ideas and also establish long-term, scalable solutions.

• Drive business growth through ML: Build and iterate on models by applying cutting-edge research and industry practices that will improve the buyer experience while  simultaneously driving growth for Etsy. 

• Leverage experimentation and data: Use insights from previous experiments and research to ideate and implement efficient ML solutions.

• Stay current with research: Regularly read cutting-edge ML and AI papers and bring innovative, impactful techniques to solve real-world problems.

• Productionize ML solutions: Develop robust systems for training, deploying, and monitoring ML models at scale.

• Optimize ML models to meet latency SLAs at Etsy’s scale and launch live A/B tests to validate hypotheses.

• ETL and data analysis: Own critical data pipelines, perform exploratory analysis, and ensure data quality and reliability.

• 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.

Qualities that will help you thrive in this role are:

• Proven track record in ML: You have 5+ industry years of experience building and deploying impactful ML solutions. You’re familiar with modern ML frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or similar, distributed computing, and cloud environments.

• Advanced degree in ML, Computer Science, or a related field is preferred but not required. We recognize that relevant industry experience can be just as valuable.

• Strong coding skills: You write robust, production-quality code (Python, Scala, Java, PHP, or equivalent) and have experience with tools like Spark, Kubeflow, Airflow, or GCP.

• Comfort with ambiguity: You excel in situations where the scope is not fully defined, proactively finding clarity and driving solutions forward.

• You have the ability to translate the unique business challenges — including growth, buyer engagement, and  personalization experiences — into actionable, data-driven solutions.

• You enjoy coding and love to raise the bar on engineering standards by championing best practices, clean code, and robust testing.

• You are passionate about experimentation and measurement, continuously iterating based on data to improve model and product performance.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills: You can articulate complex concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences and thrive in a highly collaborative environment.

Additional Information
 

What's Next
If you're interested in joining the team at Etsy, please share your resume with us and feel free to include a cover letter if you'd like. As we hope you've seen already, Etsy is a place that values individuality and variety. We don't want you to be like everyone else -- we want you to be like you! So tell us what you're all about.
 
Our Promise
At Etsy, we believe that a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace furthers relevance, resilience, and longevity. We encourage people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experiences to apply. Etsy is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If, due to a disability, you need an accommodation during any part of the application or interview process, please let your recruiter know. While Etsy supports visa sponsorship, sponsorship opportunities may be limited to certain roles and skills.