Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Recommendations

About Quora

Quora is a privately held company that operates remotely by design. The role can be carried out from a range of countries worldwide, subject to country-by-country employment eligibility. Quora’s mission is to expand the world’s collective intelligence through its two products: Quora, a global knowledge-sharing platform used by more than 300 million monthly unique visitors, and Poe, a platform that lets millions of users chat with, explore, and build using a broad set of AI language models.

The company’s teams are distributed globally and work in an environment that emphasizes openness, collaboration, experimentation, and shared learning. This position supports the Quora product and contributes directly to the company’s impact and growth.

Team and Role Overview

You will join a compact engineering group that tackles difficult technical problems and is encouraged to learn continuously, test new ideas, and own meaningful outcomes. Because the company is remote-first, engineers work with considerable independence while still having a strong organizational impact.

The focus of this role is recommendation systems, including feed ranking, notifications, digest emails, and A2A. Machine learning is deeply embedded across the product, and recommendation quality is central to helping users discover relevant content. In this position, you will improve ranking systems, identify new opportunities to apply machine learning across the product, and help create tools and abstractions that other engineers can build upon.

Responsibilities

• Strengthen existing machine learning solutions by applying solid engineering practices and machine learning expertise.
• Spot additional opportunities to introduce machine learning into different areas of the Quora product.
• Collaborate with other ML engineers to design and implement algorithms and systems efficiently.
• Own machine learning systems end to end, including data pipelines, candidate generation, feature engineering, model training, and production integration.

Requirements

• You must be available for meetings and ad hoc communication during Quora’s coordination window, Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM Pacific Time.
• At least 5 years of professional software development experience focused on machine learning.
• At least 3 years of hands-on experience with recommendation systems.
• Strong understanding of the mathematical principles behind machine learning algorithms.
• Prior experience delivering full machine learning systems from start to finish.
• Strong communication and interpersonal abilities.
• A BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.
• Experience using Python or C++ for at least 3 years is preferred.
• Experience leading large-scale projects involving multiple engineers is preferred.
• A flexible, upbeat, team-oriented mindset with excellent people skills is preferred.
• Interest in Quora’s mission and objectives is preferred.

Additional Information

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis, and this position is filling an existing vacancy.

Quora provides benefits that may include medical, dental, and vision coverage, equity refreshers, remote work reimbursement, paid time off, employee assistance programs, and other offerings. Benefits depend on the country and may differ by location.

Starting compensation is influenced by several factors, including experience, location, education, and business requirements. For US-based applicants, the salary range is USD 219,989 to USD 320,613 plus equity and benefits. For candidates based in Toronto or Vancouver, the salary range is CAD 288,502 to CAD 336,370 plus equity and benefits. For all other locations in Canada, the salary range is CAD 269,269 to CAD 313,946 plus equity and benefits.

Quora is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. The company may use AI tools to help sort applications and capture interview notes, but hiring decisions are made by people.

Before onboarding, final candidates will need to complete identity verification and a full background check. A separate applicant privacy notice is referenced in the original posting.

Eligibility and Work Arrangement

This is a remote-first position that can be performed from multiple countries, provided the applicant is eligible for employment in that country. Quora welcomes applicants from all backgrounds, including people from marginalized and underrepresented groups in tech, and encourages candidates to apply even if they do not meet every preferred qualification.