ML Applied Science Engineer

At Braze, we have found our people. We’re a genuinely approachable, exceptionally kind, and intensely passionate crew.

We seek to ignite that passion by setting high standards, championing teamwork, and creating work-life harmony as we collectively navigate rapid growth on a global scale while striving for greater equity and opportunity – inside and outside our organization.

To flourish here, you must be prepared to set a high bar for yourself and those around you. There is always a way to contribute: Acting with autonomy, having accountability and being open to new perspectives are essential to our continued success.

Our deep curiosity to learn and our eagerness to share diverse passions with others gives us balance and injects a one-of-a-kind vibrancy into our culture.

If you are driven to solve exhilarating challenges and have a bias toward action in the face of change, you will be empowered to make a real impact here, with a sharp and passionate team at your back. If Braze sounds like a place where you can thrive, we can’t wait to meet you.

Our team is growing! We’re looking for an RL researcher or practitioner who will apply reinforced learning to solve real-world customer communication challenges.  In this role, you'll work to improve sample efficiency, test credit assignment and attribution algorithms, investigate and improve our approach to action space featurization, reward shaping, combining RL with constrained optimization, and other interesting challenges. Currently, we use ensembles of contextual bandits to achieve high sample efficiency and coordination of decisions, and we’re constantly testing and implementing improvements.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

• Improve RL algorithms to increase performance, sample efficiency, and robustness at scale
• Develop and apply advanced diagnostic tools, including off-policy evaluation methods
• Conduct research on state-of-the-art RL techniques and their applicability to marketing optimization
• Implement better monitoring and observability tooling
• Work closely with engineering teams to improve Brazes platform and develop APIs for Braze ML components
• Participate in customer implementations to gain insights into real-world use cases
• Contribute to Braze’s product strategy and roadmap

WHO YOU ARE:

• Exceptional coder: you have experience on writing clean, well-designed, versioned code; you care about good coding practices and terse, testable APIs.
• Problem solver: you thrive on tackling complex, real-world challenges with novel ML approaches
• Impact-driven: you're motivated by seeing your research translate into tangible business outcomes
• Collaborative: You enjoy working closely with a team of driven individuals across multiple teams to get things done. You’re willing to both help and ask for help.
• Structured and organized: you can structure a plan, align stakeholders, and see it through to execution.
• Clear communicator: you are able to express yourself clearly and persuasively, both in writing and speech.
• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field with a focus on Reinforcement Learning. MS with professional experience with RL is fine too.
• Data Science/Back End: Python ML ecosystem, Spark, BigQuery, FastAPI 
• Architecture/DevOps: Kubernetes, Airflow, Terraform, GCP 
• Web [not required for this role] : TypeScript, JavaScript, Vue.js and its ecosystem, Node.js, Strapi, PostgreSQL, HTML5, CSS3 
• We write well-tested, type-hinted, documented, modular code and use pre-commit hooks, CI/CD, and issue tracking for development

WHAT WE OFFER

Braze benefits vary by location, and we encourage you to review our specific benefits offerings for each country here. More details on benefits plans will be provided if you receive an offer of employment.

From offering comprehensive benefits to fostering hybrid ways of working, we’ve got you covered so you can prioritize work-life harmony. Braze offers benefits such as:

• Competitive compensation that may include equity
• Retirement and Employee Stock Purchase Plans
• Flexible paid time off
• Comprehensive benefit plans covering medical, dental, vision, life, and disability
• Family services that include fertility benefits and equal paid parental leave
• Professional development supported by formal career pathing, learning platforms, and a yearly learning stipend
• A curated in-office employee experience, designed to foster community, team connections, and innovation
• Opportunities to give back to your community, including an annual company-wide Volunteer Week and donation matching 
• Employee Resource Groups that provide supportive communities within Braze
• Collaborative, transparent, and fun culture recognized as a Great Place to Work®

ABOUT BRAZE
Braze is the leading customer engagement platform that empowers brands to Be Absolutely Engaging.™ Braze allows any marketer to collect and take action on any amount of data from any source, so they can creatively engage with customers in real time, across channels from one platform. From cross-channel messaging and journey orchestration to Al-powered experimentation and optimization, Braze enables companies to build and maintain absolutely engaging relationships with their customers that foster growth and loyalty.

Braze is proudly certified as a Great Place to Work® in the U.S., the UK, Australia, and Singapore. In 2025, we were recognized as one of Built In’s Best Places to Work. In 2024, we were included in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For (Top 10%) and recognized in Great Place to Work’s Fortune Best Medium Workplaces, Fortune Best Workplaces in Technology, Fortune Best Workplaces for Parents, and Fortune Best Workplaces for Women.
Additionally, we were featured in Great Place to Work UK’s Best Workplaces, Best Workplaces in Europe, Best Workplaces for Development, Best Workplaces for Wellbeing, Best Workplaces for Women, and Best Workplaces in Technology.

You’ll find many of us at headquarters in New York City or around the world in Austin, Berlin, Bucharest, Chicago, Dubai, Jakarta, London, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, São Paulo, Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo – not to mention our employees in nearly 50 remote locations.

At Braze, we strive to create equitable growth and opportunities inside and outside the organization.

Building meaningful connections is at the heart of everything we do, and that includes our recruiting practices. We're committed to offering all candidates a fair, accessible, and inclusive experience – regardless of age, color, disability, gender identity, marital status, maternity, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or status as a protected veteran. When applying and interviewing with Braze, we want you to feel comfortable showcasing what makes you you.

We know that sometimes different circumstances can lead talented people to hesitate to apply for a role unless they meet 100% of the criteria. If this sounds familiar, we encourage you to apply, as we’d love to meet you.