Machine Learning Group Manager

Realize your potential by joining the leading performance-driven advertising company!  

As an R&D Group Manager in our Los Angeles office, you’ll play a vital role in leading multiple teams in the development of AI-driven products and services within our platforms. You’ll set technical direction for large-scale recommendation systems, personalization models, content understanding, and LLM-powered agent technologies—building scalable, intelligent solutions that enhance our platform’s performance, user experience, and business value. This is a leadership role that blends technical vision with organizational impact, working closely with cross-functional stakeholders across Product, Marketing, Frontend, Backend, Policy, Professional Services, and Operations to ensure alignment with overall company goals.

 To thrive in this role, you'll need:

• 6+ years of hands-on experience in data science and machine learning, with at least 3+ years in a managerial role overseeing multiple teams or managers.
• Proven track record of managing complex, large-scale R&D projects in a tech-driven environment, preferably within an online platform or SaaS company.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of backend architectures (e.g., microservices, distributed systems) and data science principles (e.g., data analytics, machine learning, generative AI (LLMs), big data processing).
• Familiarity with cloud platforms, data pipelines, and deployment best practices
• Proficiency in Agile or similar project management methodologies, with a history of managing resources, timelines, and project risks effectively.
• Ability to align team goals with broader business objectives and make decisions that impact long-term outcomes.

Bonus points if you have:

•  for recommendation systems, search, or ads
• Knowledge of data privacy, security, and compliance in relation to online platforms.

How you’ll make an impact:

AI-Driven Leadership: Champion an AI-first approach by integrating LLMs, code generation, simulations, and automation into all stages of development. Build AI-augmented teams trained to use these tools for faster prototyping, iteration, and decision-making.

• Team Management & Development: Lead multiple R&D teams, providing mentorship and career development for engineers and data scientists. Cultivate an inclusive, collaborative, and high-performing culture.
• Project & Resource Management: Manage planning and execution of complex R&D projects. Apply project management best practices to ensure timely delivery aligned with company priorities.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Product, Frontend, Backend, Policy, and Professional Services and other departments to ensure alignment and successful integration of development work with broader business initiatives.
• Applied AI & Recommendation Systems: Drive development of large-scale recommendation systems, including candidate generation, retrieval, ranking, and post-ranking techniques (e.g., diversity, fairness, pacing, deduplication). Lead design and deployment of LLM-powered agents for creative review, content moderation, developer productivity, and services automation.
• Technical Oversight & Infrastructure: Set technical vision across backend and data science workstreams. Define and monitor performance metrics (CTR, CVR, RPM, calibration, recall@k). Oversee experimentation frameworks (A/B, interleaving) and guide ML infrastructure including model pipelines, feature stores, embedding services, vector search, and low-latency model serving. Ensure solutions are scalable, reliable, cost-effective, and incorporate emerging advancements in AI and infrastructure.
• Strategic Planning & Execution:Collaborate with senior leadership to shape the R&D roadmap, prioritize innovation opportunities, and ensure technical capabilities align with company growth objectives.

Why Taboola?

If you ask Taboolars what they love about working here, they’ll tell you that they’ve been empowered to realize their full potential while growing and learning from and with smart and talented people. They’ll also share more about:

• Adam Singolda, Taboola Founder and CEO says; “You can copy anything from another business but you can’t copy a company’s culture.
• Well-being: Enjoy comprehensive benefits (health, dental, vision, 401k matching), pre-tax commuter benefits, a fully stocked kitchen, and various gym partnerships.
• Flexibility: We offer a hybrid work schedule with 3 days in-office with an option to come in more often if desired.
• Work with some of the biggest names: Our publisher partners include Yahoo, Conde Nast, Fox Sports, NBCU, ESPN, CBS, and E! Online. Our advertiser clients include Wells Fargo, Honda, Pinterest, Expedia and Honda.

Ready to realize your potential?

Taboola is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity in all forms. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and believe such an environment is critical for success. Employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.

Learn more about #TaboolaLife on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, & the Taboola Life Blog.

About Taboola

Taboola empowers businesses to grow through performance advertising technology that goes beyond search and social and delivers measurable outcomes at scale.

Taboola works with thousands of businesses who advertise directly on Realize, Taboola’s powerful ad platform, reaching approximately 600M daily active users across some of the best publishers in the world. Publishers like NBC News, Yahoo, and OEMs such as Samsung, Xiaomi and others use Taboola’s technology to grow audience and revenue, enabling Realize to offer unique data, specialized algorithms, and unmatched scale.

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