Staff Applied AI/ML Scientist, Acquisition

Faire • San Francisco, CA

23h • Hybrid

About The Position

Faire is a technology wholesale platform that uses technology, data, and machine learning to connect independent retailers with products from around the world. Its Data team develops and maintains algorithms and models that power the marketplace.

The Staff Applied AI/ML Scientist will serve as the technical lead for Acquisition, owning the data science vision, strategy, and execution for finding and acquiring independent retailers. The role will develop models and systems for paid-channel spending, bidding and budget allocation, retailer lifetime-value prediction, acquisition content and landing pages, and pre-signup experiences. The role also leads a small team of scientists and analytics engineers and acts as a pod lead with product, engineering, and marketing partners.

The position is hybrid, with employees currently expected in the office three days per week. Hybrid employees may work remotely for up to four weeks per year. The role is eligible for equity and benefits.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of industry experience using machine learning to solve real-world problems.
• Experience with relevant business problems such as e-commerce, marketplaces, growth, acquisition, paid marketing, or personalization.
• Experience with relevant technical methods, such as incrementality measurement, LTV modeling, bidding and budget optimization, recommendations and cold-start, and/or production LLM solutions.
• Strong programming skills.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to learn new tools and techniques.
• Experience as a tech lead, mentoring scientists or machine learning engineers, setting team strategy, and leading model development independently.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work in a highly cross-functional team.

Nice To Haves

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Economics, or a related STEM field.
• Experience as a tech lead manager or people manager of applied ML or data science teams.
• Experience in performance or paid marketing, marketing-mix or media-mix modeling, bidding systems, incentive optimization, or growth for a two-sided platform.
• Previous experience with deep learning or language models.

Responsibilities

• Drive the AI/ML vision, strategy, and roadmap for Acquisition and Paid Marketing, and act as a pod lead across cross-functional workstreams.
• Optimize paid marketing spend, bidding, and budget allocation across channels such as search, social, and Performance Max.
• Predict retailer lifetime value and use it to support value-based bidding and prioritize acquisition effort.
• Design experiments to measure the incremental impact of paid channels and spending levers, and use results to inform investment decisions.
• Develop keyword, SEO, and AEO intelligence to identify and prioritize search and content opportunities likely to attract high-value retailers.
• Generate landing pages and content at scale, and measure their impact on acquisition.
• Build audience and targeting models for retargeting campaigns.
• Manage and mentor Applied AI/ML Scientists and Analytics Engineers, and grow the team through hiring.
• Partner with marketing, product, engineering, and finance to translate models into measurable growth.

Benefits

• Flexible paid time off and company-wide recharge days.
• Paid parental leave up to 16 weeks.
• Comprehensive health coverage, with options varying by location.
• Fertility and family-building benefits through Carrot, including a lifetime reimbursement allowance.
• Mental health support and coaching through Modern Health.
• Stipends for professional development, wellness, and work-from-home needs.
• Employer-sponsored retirement plan, dependent on country of employment.
• Equity.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed