Senior Scientist, Machine Learning

Do you want to be part of a growing machine learning organization that uses the insights gleaned from petabytes of data to create tailored and magical game experiences for millions of players? Niantic, the developer of Pokemon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, is looking for a Machine Learning Scientist with the creativity, leadership, and experience to develop meaningful models and real-time interventions for all our popular titles. You'll work closely with other scientists, engineers, and product managers to design and deploy machine learning models that elevate gameplay in Niantic’s AR driven games where the real world becomes our gameboard.

Responsibilities

• Conceive, design, develop, and bring into production new, end-to-end Machine Learning models for Niantic’s titles.
• Apply a high degree of scientific rigor and real world pragmatism in all your work, particularly to quantify the impact of features on relevant engagement metrics.
• Collaborate with scientists and engineers to find technical solutions to complex problems, and identify and solve relevant problems with elegant machine learning solutions.
• Lead by example: promote deep scientific expertise, constant learning, attention to detail, and an intimate relationship with the data while always being friendly, humble, and open to challenging any assumptions.
• Collaborate with data engineers, product managers, and marketing to coordinate timely deployments from conception to release.
• Translate the latest deep learning literature/techniques into our production pipelines and be a development partner to machine learning infrastructure team.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or a related field.
• Strong command of statistics and the science underpinning machine learning techniques and able to defend choices with math and/or data as well as real-world tradeoffs.
• Proficient in ML models for classification, regression, and clustering; experience with deep learning models.
• Proficient in Python or Java or Scala or Go.
• Experience working with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, Caffe2, PyTorch, MXNet, Spark ML, scikit-learn, or related frameworks.
• Experience with SQL. Experience with large scale data processing pipelines (e.g. Spark, Hive, DataFlow/Beam, Hadoop). Flexible with tools and ability to learn new technologies quickly.
• Familiarity with developing and maintaining deep learning architectures associated with CNNs, GANs and related algorithms.

Plus If...

• Successful senior candidates will have a PhD in Statistics, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related field (or an MS with extensive industry experience) and a minimum of 3 years of real-world experience developing and deploying machine learning models.
• Publications in reputed peer-reviewed conferences in relevant field (ICML, ICLR, NeurIPS, ACL, CVPR, ICCV, JMLR, KDD, WWW).
• Knowledge of multi-armed bandit and/or reinforcement learning algorithms.
• Experience with distributed systems or on-device algorithm development.
• Industry experience developing recommender systems for personalization.
• Experience applying ML models in large scale web applications.
• Experience working with business stakeholders - understanding and proving impact, resourcing, and schedules.

Join the Niantic team!

Niantic is the world’s leading AR technology company, sparking creative and engaging journeys in the real world. Our products inspire outdoor exploration, exercise, and meaningful social interaction.

Originally formed at Google in 2011, we became an independent company in 2015 with a strong group of investors including Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Alsop Louie Partners. Our current titles include pioneering global-control game Ingress, record-breaking AR game Pokémon GO, and recently released third title, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. 

Niantic is an Equal Opportunity employer. We believe that cultivating a workplace where our people are supported and included is essential to creating great products our community will love. Our mission emphasizes seeking and hiring diverse voices, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in the technology industry, and we consider this to be one of the most important values we hold close.

We're a hard-working, fun, and exciting group who value intellectual curiosity and a passion for problem-solving! We have growing offices located in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Bellevue, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Hamburg, and Zurich.