Staff Software Engineer - Search Platform
Databricks
Salary undisclosed
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Description
P-375
The Search team at Databricks sits at the forefront of advancing AI/ML-powered products. Databricks’ customers are continuously creating new assets (tables, notebooks, dashboards, datarooms, pipelines, sql queries, ml models etc.) on the platform. Finding an asset is a critical user journey for Databricks’ customers which helps them accomplish their tasks.
As our Search product continues to evolve, we are seeking a Staff Engineer to lead enhancements to our Search Quality. We are focusing on enhancing search ranking, improving query understanding, building robust evals and growing the coverage of assets to enable seamless search at scale.
Key Responsibilities
- Drive the development and deployment of ML based search and discovery relevance models and systems integrated with Databricks' products and services.
- Design and implement automated ML and NLP pipelines for data preprocessing, query understanding and rewrite, ranking and retrieval, and model evaluation, enabling rapid experimentation and iteration.
- Collaborate with product managers and cross-functional teams to drive technology-first initiatives that enable novel business strategies and product roadmaps for the search and discovery experience.
- Contribute to building a robust framework for evaluating search ranking improvements - both offline and online.
What We’re Looking For
- BS+ (M.S. or PhD preferred) in Computer Science, or a related field.
- 10+ years experience developing search relevance systems at scale in production or in high-impact research environments.
- Experience applying LLM to search relevance
- Experience in one or more of the following:
- Query understanding
- NLP
- Text mining
- Recommendations
- Personalization
- Discovery
- Conversational AI
- Strong understanding of computer science fundamentals.
- Contributions to well-used open-source projects.
Why Join Us?
At Databricks, we are building state-of-the-art AI solutions that redefine how users interact with data and our products. You’ll have the opportunity to shape the future of AI-driven products at Databricks, work with cutting-edge models, and collaborate with a world-class team of AI and ML experts.
If you're excited about pushing the boundaries of AI in real-world applications, we’d love to hear from you!
About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.
Benefits
At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.
Compliance
If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.
About this role
Databricks' Search team is building ML-powered discovery systems that help customers find critical assets across the platform—tables, notebooks, dashboards, models, and more. As a Staff Engineer, you would lead the technical strategy for improving search quality at scale, owning everything from ranking models and query understanding to evaluation frameworks. This is a leadership role focused on designing and deploying production ML and NLP pipelines, collaborating with product teams to shape the search roadmap, and establishing robust systems for measuring relevance improvements both offline and online.
The ideal candidate brings 10+ years of production experience building search relevance systems, ideally with recent exposure to LLMs in search contexts. You should have deep expertise in at least one core area—query understanding, NLP, text mining, recommendations, personalization, or conversational AI—and a strong foundation in computer science fundamentals. A graduate degree and contributions to well-used open-source projects are valued. This role requires someone comfortable working at the intersection of research and product, capable of driving technology-first initiatives while staying grounded in real-world impact.
You'll be based in Databricks' Bengaluru office, working in-person as part of a world-class team of AI and ML experts. This is an opportunity to shape how tens of thousands of organizations interact with data through search and discovery.
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