Staff Research Scientist - ML Innovation for Products

Meta•Sunnyvale, CA

1d•$184,000 - $257,000

About The Position

The ML Innovation for Products team in Meta's ML modeling organization is seeking a Staff Research Scientist to drive innovation in retrieval, ranking, and auction systems across Meta's core Ads business. The team advances recommendation systems through applied machine learning, reinforcement learning, and large language model research, with the goal of delivering measurable impact on revenue growth. The role focuses on state-of-the-art applied machine learning for retrieval, ranking, and auctions across Meta's advertising systems. The scientist will work with a multidisciplinary team on methods including reinforcement learning, graph and representation learning, sequence modeling, and long-term value optimization. Projects include memory-augmented modules for LLMs, graph learning with multimodal representations, and reinforcement-learning-driven tuning of ad ranking models. The role involves collaborating across organizations and transitioning research into production systems.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, a relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
PhD or MSc degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related field.
Experience developing machine learning models at scale, from inception through business impact.
Programming experience in Python and hands-on experience with frameworks such as PyTorch.
Exposure to architectural patterns of large-scale software applications.
Ongoing AI skill development, such as prompt/context engineering or agent orchestration, and staying current with emerging AI technologies.
Demonstrated experience and self-driven motivation in solving analytical problems using quantitative approaches.

Nice To Haves

Experience with reinforcement learning, graph neural networks, or large language models (LLMs).
Experience with recommendation systems, retrieval, or ranking at scale.
Track record of publications in top ML/AI venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, or KDD.
Track record of setting technical direction for complex projects.
Experience mentoring researchers or engineers.
Demonstrated ability to translate research into production systems with measurable business impact.
Experience in ads, auction systems, or monetization ML.

Responsibilities

Research and develop innovative machine learning and AI models, including memory-based sequence modeling, LLMs, reinforcement learning, and graph learning.
Design methods, tools, and infrastructure to analyze and leverage rich multimodal and sequential datasets.
Drive and demonstrate measurable business impact, contributing directly to Meta's revenue growth.
Set technical direction for projects and collaborate with and mentor researchers and engineers.
Transition and deliver research work into production, impacting Meta's Ads ranking ecosystem.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive business impact through ML innovation.