Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Summary

Join Niche as our first Staff Machine Learning Engineer and lead our machine learning initiatives. This foundational role allows you to shape the future of data science and ML at Niche, identifying high-impact opportunities and building models to drive business growth and enhance user experience. You will collaborate with stakeholders, design and build ML models, deploy and integrate them into Niche’s products, and continuously measure and iterate for improvement. You will also champion the use of machine learning across the organization, lead and mentor other engineers, and stay abreast of the latest advancements in the field. This is a hands-on role requiring expertise in Python, ML libraries, SQL, and ML deployment patterns. The ideal candidate has 8+ years of experience in software development or data science, with at least 5 years focused on building and deploying ML models.

Requirements

• Experience: 8+ years of professional experience in software development or data science, with at least 5+ years specifically focused on building and deploying machine learning models in a production environment
• Proven Impact: Demonstrable track record of successfully shipping multiple machine learning models that resulted in measurable business growth (e.g., increased user engagement, conversion rates, operational efficiency, revenue). You can clearly articulate the business problem, the ML solution, and the quantitative impact achieved
• Expertise in Python and common ML libraries/frameworks (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras, XGBoost)
• Deep understanding of core ML concepts (e.g., classification, regression, clustering, recommendation systems, NLP, time series analysis, experimentation, model evaluation)
• Strong SQL skills and experience working with large datasets and data processing tools (e.g., Pandas, Spark)
• Experience with ML deployment patterns and MLOps principles (e.g., model serving, monitoring, CI/CD for ML, feature stores)
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) is essential
• Strong ability to understand business needs, translate them into well-defined ML problems, and connect technical work back to strategic objectives. You prioritize work based on potential business impact
• Experience or a strong aptitude for leading technical projects, defining technical direction, and mentoring others. Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field, OR equivalent practical experience demonstrating deep expertise in machine learning

Responsibilities

• Identify & Prioritize: Collaborate closely with product, engineering, data analytics, and business stakeholders to identify and prioritize the most impactful ML opportunities that align with Niche's strategic goals. Our first area of focus is our Recommendations, which includes matching students with the right schools
• Design & Build: Lead the end-to-end development of machine learning models – from data collection and feature engineering to algorithm selection, training, tuning, and validation. This is a hands-on coding role
• Deploy & Integrate: Develop production-grade code and systems to deploy, serve, and monitor ML models at scale, ensuring reliability and performance. Integrate models effectively into Niche’s products and internal systems
• Measure & Iterate: Define key performance metrics, establish robust monitoring frameworks, analyze model performance in production, and drive continuous improvement through iteration and experimentation
• Champion & Evangelize: Clearly communicate complex ML concepts, model behaviors, and results to both technical and non-technical audiences. Champion the use of machine learning & data science across the organization
• Lead & Mentor: Establish ML development best practices, coding standards, and documentation. As the function grows you will guide and mentor other ML engineers
• Innovate: Stay abreast of the latest advancements in machine learning, data science, and MLOps, evaluating and potentially adopting new technologies and techniques relevant to Niche
• Learn about Niche by meeting with various team members to learn more about our company through our Onboarding meetings
• Deep-dive into Niche’s platform, data architecture, and recommendation systems
• Align with product and engineering teams on business goals and ML impact areas
• Begin shaping a roadmap for high-impact ML opportunities
• Deploy your first machine learning model into production with robust monitoring and feedback loops
• Collaborate with product and engineering to define success metrics and integration strategies
• Establish early ML development workflows, documentation, and performance monitoring
• Contribute production-ready code for feature engineering and model experimentation
• Drive measurable improvements through experimentation and model iteration
• Introduce scalable MLOps practices to support deployment, retraining, and governance
• Serve as a mentor and set engineering best practices for a growing ML function
• Lead ML efforts across multiple product areas, driving business impact at scale
• Influence company-wide strategy through technical leadership and ML evangelism
• Develop internal tooling, reusable frameworks, and scalable ML systems
• Help grow the team through hiring, mentorship, and a culture of innovation

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building ML capabilities from the ground up
• Experience with recommendation systems, search ranking algorithms, or NLP applied to user-generated content
• Experience in the EdTech or consumer-facing platform space
• Familiarity with golang, express, Postgres, Snowflake, DBT, and Tableau
• Contributions to open-source ML projects or publications in relevant conferences/journals

Benefits

• Our national target base salary range is $152,320-$190,400, plus participation in our Annual Bonus and Stock Option Program. Base compensation will be commensurate with experience and skills
• Best-in-class 100% paid employee health plan, including vision and dental and supplemental coverage
• Flexible Paid Time Off Policy
• Stipend that allows you to build your work from home office in a style and function that suits your personal preferences
• Parental leave for all employees (12 weeks fully paid) in addition to short term disability for birthing parents
• Meaningful 401(k) wit h employer match
• We are a fully flexible workforce empowering our employees to choose to work remotely, in our Pittsburgh office or whatever combination suits you