Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer at Patreon

San Francisco, California, United States

Patreon Logo
$284,000 – $426,000Compensation
Senior (5 to 8 years), Expert & Leadership (9+ years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Technology, MediaIndustries

Requirements

  • Senior technical leader experienced in building systems from 0→1
  • Deep familiarity with challenges of scaling search and recommendation models
  • Experience operating at the intersection of modeling, systems, and product
  • Experience bringing ML models to production at scale
  • Strong care for user impact beyond offline metrics
  • Clear communication skills and passion for mentoring
  • Ability to work hybrid in-office 2 days per week in New York or San Francisco

Responsibilities

  • Design and build large-scale ranking, search, and recommendation systems that power discovery across the platform
  • Architect and productionize end-to-end ML pipelines (data ingestion, feature generation, model training, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring)
  • Prototype model behavior including frontend to visualize results and collaborate effectively with product and design partners
  • Develop embedding systems and retrieval models that serve millions of users in real time
  • Establish and evolve ML observability and performance monitoring for relevance metrics
  • Partner with cross-functional leaders to align on roadmap, goals, and impact
  • Mentor and guide engineers, fostering a high bar for technical excellence and experimentation
  • Define and lead the technical direction for Patreon’s recommendation and search systems
  • Own projects from prototype to production, including data, modeling, and backend components
  • Build tools and simple frontend prototypes to visualize model results and demonstrate how relevance models surface in the product
  • Influence multi-team technical strategy and collaborate with cross-functional leaders across Product, Data Science, and Infrastructure

Skills

Machine Learning
Recommendations
Search
Personalization
Feature Engineering
Model Training
Model Deployment
Observability
Data Analysis

Patreon

Membership platform for creators and artists

About Patreon

Patreon is a membership platform that connects artists and creators with their most dedicated fans, allowing them to earn a sustainable income. It serves a variety of creators, including writers, musicians, visual artists, and podcasters, by enabling them to offer exclusive content and experiences to their supporters, known as patrons, in exchange for a monthly subscription fee. Creators can set up different membership tiers that provide various perks, which helps them establish a reliable income stream that is often more stable than traditional revenue sources like advertising. Patreon takes a percentage of the earnings from creators, ensuring that the company's success is tied to the success of its users. The platform also provides tools for creators to manage their memberships, engage with patrons, and grow their audience. The main goal of Patreon is to support independent creators in achieving financial stability and fostering a closer relationship with their audience.

San Francisco, CaliforniaHeadquarters
2013Year Founded
$342.5MTotal Funding
SERIES_FCompany Stage
Consumer Software, EntertainmentIndustries
1,001-5,000Employees

Benefits

Competitive Pay & Equity - Our company was built on the idea of value for value. To get the best on board, we provide competitive base salaries, stock options, and a 401k program.
The Bells and Whistles - As they say, it’s the little things: commuter stipend, computer gear, standing desks, a learning stipend for your professional development and a monthly patronage stipend.
Health Coverage - We offer incredible healthcare options for you and your loved ones (including dental, vision and mental health), as well as snacks and a daily catered lunch.
Balance & Wellness - We offer a gym stipend (or Fitness SF membership), as well as unlimited vacation and sick leave.

Risks

Alleged privacy violations could lead to legal challenges for Patreon.
Integration with AltStore PAL may attract scrutiny from Apple.
Recent layoffs and office closures suggest potential financial instability.

Differentiation

Patreon offers creators a direct revenue stream through fan subscriptions.
The platform supports diverse creators, from musicians to visual artists and podcasters.
Patreon aligns its success with creators by taking a percentage of their earnings.

Upsides

Growing demand for exclusive content boosts Patreon's appeal to creators.
Integration with AltStore PAL expands monetization opportunities for developers.
Expansion of e-commerce features diversifies creators' income streams.

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