Senior Software Engineer I, Machine Learning, ML Enablement

Etsy is a global marketplace for unique and creative goods that builds technology connecting entrepreneurs and buyers. The company is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to architect, build, operate, and improve infrastructure for training and serving machine learning models, including open-source and internally hosted large language models. The role partners with Applied Scientists and engineers to deliver scalable, reliable, observable, and high-performance ML serving systems.

Responsibilities:

• Write high-quality, production-grade Python code (additional languages a plus); participate in code reviews and pair programming; contribute to and help drive architectural decisions
• Build, operate, and improve infrastructure for training and serving ML models on GCP and Kubernetes, with a focus on scalability, reliability, and observability
• Design and maintain serving infrastructure for open-source and internally hosted LLMs, including model deployment, resource management, and performance tuning
• Apply working knowledge of ML fundamentals — including neural network deep learning as well as latest transformer architectures along with prediction and inference systems — to make sound infrastructure and design decisions
• Partner cross-functionally with Applied Scientists to understand model training and serving needs, and translate that understanding into infrastructure that removes friction from their workflows
• Contribute to system design discussions, weighing tradeoffs across performance, cost, and reliability for infrastructure serving 100M+ users
• Thoughtfully use generative AI and other productivity tools to work efficiently, with a focus on learning and intentional contribution
• Of course, this is just a sample of the kinds of work this role will require! You should assume that your role will encompass other tasks, too, and that your job duties and responsibilities may change from time to time at Etsy's discretion, or otherwise applicable with local law

Requirements:

• • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Applied Statistics, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent professional experience
• • 5+ years of professional experience building, iterating on, and troubleshooting complex backend and infrastructure systems
• • Strong software engineering fundamentals, including solid command of algorithms and data structures, with the ability to write production-ready code in Python
• • Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure (Google Cloud preferred) and Kubernetes, including deploying and operating production workloads
• • Familiarity with observability tooling (metrics, logging, tracing) for monitoring and debugging distributed systems
• • Working knowledge of machine learning fundamentals and concepts, with awareness of LLM serving infrastructure and hosting open-source models
• • Basic understanding of transformer architectures, predictors, and how model design choices affect serving infrastructure
• • Comfort with system design for large-scale, high-availability infrastructure
• We prioritize candidates based within commutable distance of Etsy's Brooklyn Office
• Remote candidates outside commutable distance may be considered on a case-by-case basis, with the expectation of occasional travel to the office