Staff Backend Engineer, ML Operations

Quizlet (View all Jobs)

Denver, CO; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA

Please mention No Whiteboard if you apply!
I'm a one-man team looking to improve tech interviews, and could use any support! 😄


Interview Process

1. Preliminary screen 2. Role-specific applied exercises where candidates create new projects/apps or make improvements to pre-existing code

Salary

$141,000 - $210,000

Programming Languages Mentioned

Python


About Quizlet:

Inspired by our belief that anyone can learn anything and powered by our own curiosity, we build the smartest tools we can imagine to help students learn.  

Quizlet is the popular, global learning platform and app that millions of students, teachers and everyday people use to study any subject imaginable for school, work or as part of their personal interests -- including two-thirds of high school students and half of all college students in the US. Combining cognitive science and machine learning, Quizlet guides students through adaptive study activities to confidently reach their learning goals. We’re on track to become the undisputed leader in user-generated learning content and engagement, at the scale of YouTube.  

Valued at $1 billion, Quizlet has raised over $60 million in venture capital from investors including Icon Ventures, Union Square Ventures, General Atlantic, Costanoa Ventures, Owl Ventures, and Altos Ventures.  

To serve our global community of learners, our teams tackle lofty technical challenges and design for use cases across cultures and languages. We work hard, act like owners, and collaborate every chance we get. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.


About the Team:

Quizlet’s Data Engineering team covers a lot of ground, from application data stores to machine learning pipelines. The 8 of us own data quality, experimentation, and data stores.

We're passionate about quality at scale, performance engineering, high availability, robust distributed architecture, and clean code. We work with a variety of programming languages and data platforms to create the right technological solution for each project.

About the Role:

Quizlet product teams rely on all sorts of machine learning models to improve studiers’ experience, from question generation, to ranking search results, to optimizing the ads bidding process. 

The team aims to accelerate and amplify the impact of ML/AI at Quizlet throughout the model lifecycle: development, deployment, and measurement. We work closely with data scientists, product engineers, and product managers, to make machine learning at Quizlet faster, more accurate, cheaper, and more reliable.

This is a hybrid role. While you are currently permitted to work remotely in Denver, New York, and the San Francisco Bay Area, you must remain able to work in the office as business needs dictate and as identified by your manager.
In this role, you will:
  • Help bring ML intelligence to millions of students’ learning journey
  • Work on services at a massive scale
  • Help ensure adherence to SLOs through attention to code quality, observability, and cloud native best practices
  • What you bring to the table:
  • 4+ years of experience scaling distributed systems in a cloud-native environment (GCP, AWS, Azure)
  • You’re an expert in Python, but aren’t afraid to dip your toes in other languages as needs arise
  • You’re a stickler for observability and monitoring throughout the stack
  • You’re eager to engage authentically and frequently with a range of stakeholders (data scientists, product engineers, product managers) to build a holistic understanding of ML engineering requirements
  • You’re equally keen to lead high level cross-functional design discussions as you are to roll up your sleeves and write production platform code independently
  • You have a bias towards humility and openness when building new things
  • Bonus points if you have:
  • 4+ years of hands-on experience building (or refining) the ML ops practice to support an ML/AI-centric product
  • Familiarity with common ML frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and sklearn
  • Practical knowledge of the best practices and pitfalls in operationalizing them 
  • Compensation, Benefits & Perks:
  • Quizlet is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Salary transparency helps to mitigate unfair hiring practices when it comes to discrimination and pay gaps.  Total compensation for this role is market competitive, including a starting base salary of $141,000 - $210,000, depending on location and experience, as well as company stock options
  • Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
  • 20 vacation days (and we expect you to take them!)
  • Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, HMO, VSP Choice)
  • Employer-sponsored 401k plan with company match
  • Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
  • Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, Wellness benefits
  • 40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice


  • We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome! 
    We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership.
    We provide a transparent setting, that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!  


    In Closing:

    We hope you are excited about everything you read so far. We highly encourage you to apply for this position, even if you feel you do not meet all the requirements. Quizlet is always looking for amazing folks that believe in our mission and can contribute to our team in various ways - not merely candidates that fit a certain mold.

    We have a bias for action, take initiative, and take pride in delivering results. We make informed decisions whenever possible but are unafraid to take calculated risks on great ideas to promote learning. We embrace challenges and see effort as the path to mastery. We’re constantly seeking opportunities to learn and we embrace curiosity. Quality matters at Quizlet, and we hold the bar high on everything we do.
     
    We treat each other with honesty and respect, encourage vigorous debate, and seek critical feedback. We value diversity, humility, transparency, and collaboration as the best paths to our success — as individuals, as a team, and as a company.

    Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are actively working to build a team that is representative of the diverse communities we serve, and an open, inclusive work environment where all employees can thrive. As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Come join us!

    To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies:
    At this time Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles. 
    Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.

    Please mention No Whiteboard if you apply!
    I'm a one-man team looking to improve tech interviews, and could use any support! 😄


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