ViacomCBS

ViacomCBS

Lead Machine Learning Engineer, Entry and Re-engagement

New York, New York, USA · full-time

Sponsorship not specified$157k-$235kDetected 50 days ago
PythonJavaDistributed SystemsAlgorithmsBigQueryDockerKubernetesDevOpsMachine LearningTensorFlowPyTorchSparkAirflowData ScienceNLPMLOpsA/B TestingDesign SystemsResearchMentoring

About the role

  • The technical task of this pod is optimizing start rates under high uncertainty.
  • Because these surfaces share similar failure modes such as over-indexing on recency or failing to surface "must-watch" content.
  • You will architect an unified approach to re-engagement that balances historical preference with real-time context.

Responsibilities

  • Optimize Re-entry Surfaces: Architect models for "Jump Back In" (JBI) and "While You Were Away" (WYWA) that account for temporal decay, episode progress, and cross-device signals.
  • Solve the Cold Start Problem: Develop advanced onboarding algorithms that use minimal metadata and global trends to provide high-quality recommendations to new users immediately.
  • Design High-Commitment Ranking: Lead the development of the "Your Next Watch" (YNW) engine, optimizing for long-form commitment rather than just a click.
  • Model Uncertainty: Implement exploration/exploitation strategies to navigate the uncertainty of user intent during app entry.
  • Unified Success Metrics & System Performance: Define and optimize for Start Rate, Time to Play, and Day-1 retention.
  • Beyond business KPIs, you will own the system-level Service Level Objectives (SLOs), ensuring high throughput and low-latency delivery of recommendations in production.
  • Develop advanced onboarding algorithms that use minimal metadata and global trends to provide high-quality recommendations to new users immediately.
  • Develop multi-stage retrieval pipelines that successfully merge traditional feature-driven methods with semantic vector search, ensuring seamless integration with downstream ranking models for optimal performance.
  • Lead the development of the "Your Next Watch" (YNW) engine, optimizing for long-form commitment rather than just a click.
  • Implement exploration/exploitation strategies to navigate the uncertainty of user intent during app entry.

Requirements

  • Rigorous Experimentation: Proficiency in A/B testing and the design of complex online metric frameworks, including primary, secondary, and guardrail indicators to validate model impact.
  • Mentorship: Experience mentoring junior engineers or leading technical initiatives, with a track record of spearheading complex ML projects from research to global production.

Nice to have

  • Experience with Sequential/Session-based models (RNNs, Transformers, Recommendation Systems, Search, Ranking) for predicting the "next" best action.
  • Background in Exploration/Exploitation (Bandits) for handling user uncertainty.
  • Knowledge with Causal Inference to distinguish between organic re-entry and model-driven lift.
  • Experience in high-scale consumer tech (Streaming, E-commerce, or social media).
  • Advanced proficiency in re-ranking methodologies focused on balancing content diversity with top-tier relevance.
  • Paramount Streaming, a division within Paramount Global, is the home to the company's direct-to-consumer services spanning free and paid in the form of Pluto TV and Paramount+.
  • Pluto TV is the global leader in free ad-supported TV, delivering more than 1,400 global channels and an extensive library of streaming content, including live and original channels.
  • Paramount+, digital subscription video-on-demand and live streaming service, combines live sports, breaking news, and A Mountain of Entertainment.

Compensation

  • $156,800.00 - 235,200.00.
  • The hiring salary range for this position applies to New York, California, Colorado, Washington state, and most other geographies.
  • Starting pay for the successful applicant depends on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, market demands, experience, training, and education.
  • What We Offer: Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages.

Benefits

  • Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages.
  • Check out our full list of benefits here:;/li> Generous paid time off.

Company info

  • An exciting and fulfilling opportunity to be part of one of Paramount's most dynamic teams.

Equal opportunity

  • Paramount is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
  • equal opportunity employer (EOE) including disability/vet.
  • equal opportunity workplace.
  • If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access as a result of your disability.

Visa & Work Authorization

  • rtunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, and Veteran stat
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This listing is sourced directly from ViacomCBS's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.