Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Thrive Market is an online, membership-based market focused on making healthy and sustainable living easy and affordable. The Principal Machine Learning Engineer will lead work spanning MLOps, machine learning research, infrastructure, search and discovery, and business impact, from implementing research papers through production deployment and executive presentation.

Responsibilities:

• Build new ML systems from the ground up, close data gaps as they arise, and maintain and improve the existing ML pipeline
• Read and implement ML papers on alternative model architectures, then run training experiments to benchmark results against current production models. From your scopehelp define the long-term search vision, especially given how LLMs have shifted what's possible
• Stand up and manage infrastructure, such as a Redis cluster, to support ML workloads
• Weigh in on and help drive architecture decisions and statistical methodology alongside the broader engineering team
• Help shape Thrive Market's long-term vision for search and discovery, informed by how large language models have changed what's possible to build. From your scopehelp define the long-term search vision, especially given how LLMs have shifted what's possible
• Present model results and roadmap, including business and revenue impact

Requirements:

• 8+ years of machine learning engineering spanning both MLOps and research-oriented work, with demonstrated principal-level impact across the full loop from research paper to production implementation to business impact presentation
• Hands-on experience reading and implementing ML papers, and running comparative training experiments to evaluate new model architectures against production baselines
• Experience building and operating ML infrastructure and pipelines, such as standing up a Redis cluster
• Experience with, or an informed perspective on, search and discovery systems, particularly how large language models have changed what's feasible to build in house versus buy
• Comfortable operating as a cross-functional driver, not just an individual contributor, able to debate architecture and statistical methodology across teams
• Experience presenting technical results and roadmaps, including business and revenue impact, to broad or executive audiences
• Employment with Thrive Market requires that employees be based in the United States. This is a condition of employment and must be maintained throughout the duration of employment
• This position requires traveling to our HQ office in Los Angeles, California, twice a year for all-company summits; once in the summer and once in the winter
• Hands-on experience with search, personalization, recommendations, ranking, or lifecycle modeling
• Experience with MLOps best practices, including model versioning, CI/CD for ML, monitoring, and operating models in containerized and orchestrated environments (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Experience in e-commerce, marketplace, or subscription-based businesses
• Familiarity with working in environments with moderate technical debt or evolving data foundations
• Experience defining and owning metrics, experimentation frameworks, or model performance monitoring in production
• Demonstrated ability to influence beyond immediate project scope, shaping best practices, standards, or strategy across teams