Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Ads (San Francisco)

DoorDash connects customers with local businesses for delivery, from restaurants to grocery, retail and its own DashMart stores. The Ads & Promos Delivery team powers the last-mile delivery of ads and promotions, two marketing products offered to merchants, connecting merchant intent with consumer demand across search and discovery experiences. As a Senior Staff Engineer, you will lead the technical direction for AI-first experiences, including ranking and relevance systems that sit at the core of our ad

Key responsibilities

• Apply state-of-the-art machine learning and LLM techniques to problems across personalization, query understanding, user and content understanding
• Rigorously evaluate ML and LLM models using a combination of offline analysis and online experimentation, designing metrics
• Own the full model lifecycle from research to production, including data analysis, model development, evaluation, offline and online A/B testing
• Partner closely with product managers, data scientists, and designers to ensure AI-driven systems deliver meaningful, user-facing improvements
• Stay at the forefront of ML and AI innovation by assessing emerging research and translating promising approaches into scalable
• Build and improve models that directly have a large impact on top and bottom line financials

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience building, deploying, and scaling ML and AI models for large-scale, user-facing or data-intensive products
• Proficiency in using AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Cursor) in the full software development lifecycle, including designing
• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Deep expertise in one or more of the following areas: deep learning, large language models, information retrieval, ranking and relevance
• Strong programming skills in Python, Java, or C++, with hands-on experience using ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or XGBoost
• Extensive experience across the full ML lifecycle, including data analysis, feature engineering, iterative model development, rigorous offline

Location and schedule

• Onsite in San Francisco, California

Salary and benefits

US base salary $242,800 to $357,000 a year. DoorDash also offers benefits; the full list is on the posting.

How to apply

Apply on the company's own site.