About the role
About NewsBreak
Local life runs on local information. What happened down the street? Who can fix this? Where should we go tonight? NewsBreak started in 2015 to answer these questions, and today more than 40 million people a month rely on us to follow what’s going on in their zip code.
Three platforms with one vision: powering local life. Led by founder and CEO Jeff Zheng, NewsBreak is our local life and news platform; Nearby AI connects people with local businesses; and NDot AI helps publishers and creators grow and earn.
Building for the long term. A $115 million Series C made us a unicorn in 2021, and we keep investing in our people. We’re Great Place to Work® certified and named to Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators (2025) and Fortune’s Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™ (2026).
Everyone makes an impact. Whether you write code, shape products, tell our story, or run the business, we want people who own projects end to end, stay curious, and speak up. Join us.
Learn more at: NewsBreak, Nearby AI, NDot AI
About the Role
We are seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to provide technical leadership for our recommendation systems and AI initiatives.
In this role, you will define technical direction for large-scale personalization systems, lead complex projects across teams, and drive the adoption of AI / LLM technologies in both product capabilities and engineering workflows.
This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy system-level thinking, mentoring others, and turning ambiguous problems into scalable solutions.
What You’ll Work On
Technical Leadership & Architecture
- Lead the design of next-generation recommendation system architectures at scale.
- Drive best practices for model lifecycle management, experimentation, and system reliability.
- Partner with product, infra, and data teams to align technical strategy with business goals.
Advanced Recommendation & AI Systems
- Own complex initiatives across retrieval, ranking, re-ranking, and multi-objective optimization.
- Lead the application of LLMs and foundation models in recommendation, content intelligence, and user modeling.
- Evaluate emerging AI technologies and guide their adoption into production systems.
AI-Native Engineering
- Champion AI-native development practices, including LLM-assisted coding, experimentation, and analysis.
- Help establish standards and shared tooling for AI-driven engineering.
0 → 1 Innovation & Scaling
- Lead 0–1 AI initiatives, from ideation and technical validation to production rollout and scaling.
- Ensure successful prototypes evolve into maintainable, scalable platforms.
What We’re Looking For
Minimum Qualifications - 8+ years of industry experience building large-scale ML or recommendation systems. - Deep expertise in recommendation systems and applied machine learning in production environments. - Strong system design skills and the ability to influence architecture across teams. - Proven track record of technical leadership and cross-team collaboration.
Bonus / Plus Qualifications - Demonstrated success applying LLMs or foundation models to recommendation or content systems in production. - Experience leading 0 → 1 AI platform or product initiatives. - Passion for improving engineering velocity through AI-assisted development workflows.
Benefits
We offer a competitive benefits package:
- Health, dental, and vision care for you and your family
- Top-tier 401(K) plan with company matching
- Paid time off and paid holidays
- Paid parental leave
- FSA and commuter benefits programs
- Team activity budget
The US base salary range for this full-time position is listed below. Pay may vary based on a number of factors including job-related skills, level, experience, geographic location and relevant education or training. At NewsBreak, we design our overall rewards package to attract top talents. Depending on the position, the role may also be eligible for discretionary bonus and options. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.
Annual Base Pay Range
$230,000—$300,000 USD
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