Applied Scientist III

At Zappos, we look for people who will show up as their whole self because we value diversity and inclusion, as well as people who enjoy fun and maybe even a little weirdness. So be sure to check on whether you’re aligned with our company values and culture. If you think you can see yourself delivering WOW as a member of the Zappos family, then check out the job description below!

Company Culture is at Our Core

Our 10 Core Values are more than just words, they're a way of life. We know that companies with a strong culture & a higher purpose perform better in the long run. Do our values speak to you?

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Company Perks: Quick Reference

• Zappos pays 100% of every employee’s medical, dental, and vision benefits.
• Zappos pays 100% of 12 therapy, mental health, or coaching session annually.
• A multitude of benefits and incentives to stay mentally and physically healthy and fit.
• Meaningful assistance programs like professional development, mentoring, and 401k with employer contribution.
• Paid time off for life, vacations, staycations, and rest.
• A generous Zapponian discount program.
• Make an impact through volunteer adventures and other community programs.
• Want to have some fun, too? Yes, please! Enjoy team building, family spirit, and plenty of room to recharge!

Zapponian [noun| employee of Zappos]. You are self-motivated. You think like an entrepreneur, constantly innovating and driving positive change, but more importantly, you consistently deliver mind-boggling results.

Bold [adjective| not afraid of anything]. A role at Zappos is an opportunity to be a part of something different. To go bold. We’re a company that isn’t afraid to take risks and question the status quo. Oh yeah, we like to have fun too.

Perks [noun| the good stuff you get for working hard]. Zappos pays 100% of your medical, dental and vision premiums. Primary care visits, dental exams, eye exams and generic prescriptions are all free. Plus matching 401k, life coaches, orthodontic benefits, and more. And don’t forget, an unlimited 40% Zappos.com discount.

1990s [noun| a decade we love, but no longer live in]. Old school cover letters are so 1990. Want to show us who you really are? Create a video cover letter. A flash mob, a comedic monologue… whatever showcases your passion for Zappos and the work you’d be doing! Videos are not required, but if you create it, we’ll watch it.

Scout [noun| you're a recruiter, too]. As a Zapponian, we’ll ask that you always keep your eye out for great talent to join our family. Consider yourself an extension of the recruiting team, scouting for the best people to grow our company.

Summary

We are looking for experienced Applied Scientists in the Zappos Machine Learning team that work at the cross section of search and personalization to help understand customer shopping journey, personalize content, guide customer decisions and rank the most relevant products for our customers.

Our team of scientists, engineers, and data analysts work as a multi-functional team in a primarily remote setting to build, improve, and maintain numerous machine learning models serving a variety of problems. We are a team passionate about building ML innovations in areas such as: Natural Language Processing, Deep Learning, Ranking, and Optimization to improve the customer experience as well as serve our internal partners to make key decisions.

As an Applied Scientist, you will work closely with the team to build custom large-scale ML solutions in production to build meaningful and memorable experiences for our customers.

What you will be doing

• Find opportunities to improve our customers’ website experience and propose a project plan backed up with data analysis.
• Scope projects with functional requirements and collaborate with internal & external teammates on Data, Modeling, ML Infrastructure, and path to production.
• Lead the design, implementation, and successful delivery of large, critical, or difficult scientific solutions.
• Research and implement novel ML models to improve the customer experience on the Zappos website.
• Invent, design, build and maintain innovative large-scale ML software systems that are stable and performant in production.
• Lead high code quality and engineering standards in the team, maintain and improve core ML pipeline.
• Sharing your knowledge base with others and mentoring more junior team members.
• Going beyond your existing toolkit to deliver a solution catering to multiple stakeholders and influence product roadmap using data backed analysis.

What you bring to the table

• PhD in Computer Science, ML or related field and at least five (5) years of related work experience or MS in Computer Science, ML or related field and at least ten (10) years of experience.
• At least four (4) years of experience in areas related to Search, Recommendation Systems, Personalization, and Applied ML.
• A previous track record of publications in one of the following fields: information retrieval, recommendation systems, and natural language processing.
• Proficiency in writing high quality production code, demonstrating strong software engineering and coding skills.
• Proficiency in neural frameworks such as Tensorflow and PyTorch.
• Experience with web-scale data preprocessing and ML workflow such as Apache Spark, Pipelines, etc.
• Experience working with cloud computing services, such as AWS.
• A product focus and passion for using machine learning to address real-world problems. Knowledge of various machine learning techniques and key parameters that affect their performance.
• Strong verbal and written communications skills and comfort working in a remote team.
• Self-motivated, flexible, and strong sense of ownership.

What really excites us

Experience in the retail and/or e-commerce industries.

The base pay range for this position is $205,000 to $240,000 per year; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition, a full range of medical and other benefits is offered.

The Fine Print

The Zappos Family of Companies is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity regardless of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, veteran status, disability, history of disability or perceived disability. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may email us at recruiting@zappos.com or call us at 1.702.943.7777.