Senior Manager, Machine Learning Search

Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to large, Fortune 100 enterprises with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.

Last year, more than $3.8 billion of work was done through Upwork by skilled professionals who are gaining more control by finding work they are passionate about and innovating their careers.

Upwork’s Search team is dedicated to building intelligent, scalable, and high-performing search and machine learning systems that connect businesses with the best talent for their needs. As a Senior Engineering Manager, Machine Learning, you will lead a team of world-class engineers and researchers to enhance Upwork’s search and discovery experience. Your work will directly influence how businesses find freelancers and how freelancers discover relevant opportunities—making search smarter, faster, and more relevant. This is an exciting opportunity to innovate at scale, integrating cutting-edge technologies such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Large Language Models (LLMs) into our search stack.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of machine learning engineers, data scientists, and backend engineers.
• Drive the development and deployment of state-of-the-art ML models for search retrieval, ranking, and personalization.
• Pioneer the integration of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Large Language Models (LLMs) into traditional search systems.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and data teams to enhance Upwork’s search ecosystem.
• Establish technical direction and best practices for ML model training, experimentation, and large-scale deployment.
• Optimize search algorithms to improve user experience, engagement, and conversion rates.
• Foster an experimentation-driven culture, leveraging A/B testing and data insights to refine search and ranking strategies.
• Ensure model explainability, fairness, and ethical AI considerations in search algorithms.
• Develop a roadmap for scaling ML-powered search and stay ahead of industry trends.

What it takes to catch our eye

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3+ years leading ML teams.
• Strong expertise in machine learning, deep learning, information retrieval, and search technologies.
• Proven experience in search ranking, query understanding, and NLP-based search improvements.
• Proficiency in distributed computing frameworks (e.g., Spark, Kubernetes).
• Deep knowledge of deploying scalable ML models in production search systems.
• Exceptional leadership skills with a track record of building and mentoring high-performing engineering teams.
• Experience with cloud-based ML infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Strong collaboration skills with the ability to drive alignment across product, engineering, and data teams.

Come change how the world works.

At Upwork, you’ll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals. While we have a physical office in Palo Alto, we currently hire full-time employees in 21 states in the United States.

At the core of our vibrant culture are shared values that form the foundation of our organization. These values revolve around trust, risk-taking, customer focus, and excellence. Our overarching mission is to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster an environment where individuals are encouraged to bring their authentic selves to work, nurturing personal and professional growth through development opportunities, mentorship programs, and participation in Upwork Belonging Communities.

We take pride in providing exceptional benefits to our employees. These include comprehensive medical insurance coverage for both you and your family, unlimited paid time off, a 401(k) plan with matching contributions, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. To explore these benefits in detail, as well as gain insights into our company values, working principles, and the overall employee experience, we invite you to visit our Life at Upwork page.

Check out our Careers page to learn more about the employee experience.

Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

Additionally, a criminal background check may be run on a candidate after a conditional offer of employment is made. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with applicable law, including the California Fair Chance Act and local Fair Chance ordinances.