Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning Infrastructure

A home is the biggest investment most people make, and yet, it doesn’t come with a manual. That’s why we’re building the only app homeowners need to effortlessly manage their homes —  knowing what to do, when to do it, and who to hire. With Thumbtack, millions of people care for what matters most, and pros earn billions of dollars through our platform. And as one of the fastest-growing companies in a $600B+ industry — we must be doing something right. 

We are driven by a common goal and the deep satisfaction that comes from knowing our work supports local economies, helps small businesses grow, and brings homeowners peace of mind. We’re seeking people who continually put our purpose first: advocating for pros and customers, embracing change, and choosing teamwork every day.

At Thumbtack, we’re creating a new era of home care. If making an impact and the chance to do good inspires you, join us. Imagine what we’ll build together. 

Thumbtack by the Numbers

• Available nationwide in every U.S. county
• 80 million projects started on Thumbtack
• 10 million 5-star reviews and counting
• Pros earn billions on our platform
• 1000+ employees 
• $3.2 billion valuation (June, 2021) 

About the Machine Learning Infrastructure Team

At Thumbtack, our challenges span a wide variety of areas, ranging from building search, ranking & recommendations systems to optimizing pricing and spam detection models. The ML Infrastructure team is responsible for centralizing, standardizing and evolving machine learning infrastructure capabilities for teams across engineering that experiment with or deploy machine learning models for different problems. To read more about some of the engineering challenges at Thumbtack, visit our engineering blog.

About the Role

As a Senior Software Engineer focused on ML Infrastructure, you’ll focus on bringing the Thumbtack’s ML Infrastructure vision to life. You’ll collaborate with engineers, applied scientists and product managers across engineering to refine and execute on our shared vision for generative AI, feature platforms, model deployment, and model monitoring. This could include introducing the latest feature engineering & model building frameworks, creating a standardized process for model deployment and monitoring, working with the data platform team on evolving feature storage, or working with applied scientists on productization of complex models.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with engineers, applied scientists and product managers to identify shared ML infrastructure needs across areas like feature engineering, model experimentation, model inference & CI/CD, generative AI, and model monitoring.
• Build, maintain, and communicate our roadmap.
• Centralize and standardize ML infrastructure & associated best practices for product teams across engineering.
• When appropriate, experiment with and introduce next-generation ML infrastructure capabilities and frameworks so product teams can continue to harness the power of open source / vendor-driven advances in machine learning.
• Drive projects to completion with a tenacious focus on the business impact of those projects.
• Solve tough technical problems and stay up-to-date with the latest advances in this constantly evolving problem space.

What you’ll need

If you don’t think you meet all of the criteria below but still are interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box, and we’re looking for someone excited to join the team.

• 5+ years of industry experience in engineering.
• 2+ years of industry experience working on machine learning modeling or infrastructure.
• You’re fluent in at least one major programming language and would be able to switch between multiple languages. In our stack, we use Go and Python most heavily.
• You have experience building software on top of relational databases such as Postgres or MySQL.
• You can break down complex problems rigorously and understand the tradeoffs necessary to deliver great, impactful products.
• You’re curious, you’re data-driven, you love to ask questions, and you think critically about problems.
• You love delivering value to your users and your teammates through your work.

Bonus points if you have

• You have experience building and evolving machine learning infrastructure.
• You have worked with frameworks like PyTorch, Tensorflow, Scikit-learn, and Airflow
• You have experience with generative AI infrastructure and vendors
• You have experience building and maintaining reliable, performant distributed systems.
• You’re familiar working with major cloud providers and/or the big data ecosystem (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Spark, etc).
• You’ve demonstrated your ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment.

Thumbtack is a virtual-first company, meaning you can live and work from any one of our approved locations across the United States, Canada or the Philippines.* Learn more about our virtual-first working model here.

#LI-remote

Benefits & Perks

• Virtual-first working model coupled with in-person events
• 20 company-wide holidays including a week-long end-of-year company shutdown
• Libraries (optional use collaboration & connection hubs) in San Francisco and Salt Lake City  
• WiFi reimbursements 
• Cell phone reimbursements (North America) 
• Employee Assistance Program for mental health and well-being 

Learn More About Us

• Life @ Thumbtack Blog   
• How Thumbtack is embracing virtual work  
• Follow us on LinkedIn  
• Meet the pros who inspire us

Thumbtack embraces diversity. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, age, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic information, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, provincial, state, or local law. We also will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable law. 

Thumbtack is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation for a medical condition or disability during any part of the application process, please contact: [email protected]. 

If you are a California resident, please review information regarding your rights under California privacy laws contained in Thumbtack’s Privacy policy available at https://www.thumbtack.com/privacy/ .