Machine Learning Manager - Content Intelligence

At Booking.com, data drives our decisions, Technology is at our core, and innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, lines of code or A/B tests. We’re the thrill of the first night in a new place. The excitement of the next morning. The friends you make. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the food you sample. Through our products, partners and people, we can empower everyone to experience the world.

We’re looking for a Machine Learning Manager to join our Content Intelligence team in Tel Aviv.

We build an AI platform that understands all aspects of our content (images, reviews, etc.) to provide a personalized experience for our customers.

In this role, you will manage a big team of ML scientists & engineers, tackling challenges in Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing and ML engineering. 

As a technical manager, you should be passionate about technology, keep up to date with recent breakthroughs in the field, define and shape the team’s ML roadmap, and not be afraid to get your hands dirty with code when needed.

B.Responsible

You will be part of the Content Intelligence team that builds the Content Intelligence Platform by consuming millions of images and textual inputs every day, and then enriching it with ML capabilities. Eventually, these will serve downstream applications and personalize our customers' experience (think of a way to choose and surface the right images and reviews when customers book their next vacation).

As the ML manager of the team, you are expected to be the focal point for all technical aspects, make sure your team members deliver on their tasks, and work together with other stakeholders to define and shape the roadmap of our products. You will work independently and will also be responsible for making technical decisions within your team.

When it comes to management, your expertise in handling people will motivate and inspire them to reach outstanding success! You should have experience in developing people. You will mentor and coach your team while working closely with a Product Manager.

Your responsibilities include:

• Build a strong team within their area, by coaching and developing individual contributors
• Prioritise work in collaboration with Product Managers, depending on business needs and keeping stakeholders aligned at all times.
• Translate machine learning vision and strategy into planning and execution, and ensure timely delivery of their plans.
• Develop innovative ML models, algorithms, and engineering approaches or identify existing ones, with the potential to impact our business. Design and execute applied research plans to understand, apply, test, evolve, and generalise these technologies into reusable frameworks.
• Translate business problems into viable, reliable and robust ML and AI solutions, accounting for constraints of the production environment.
• Monitor product health, performance and business impact and act accordingly when requirements are not met.
• Identify underlying issues and opportunities across domains and situations that are not obviously related through application of structured thinking and logic.
• Solve issues by applying methods and insights gained from a variety of disciplines, navigating a variety of environments.
• Make things happen by maintaining motivation and conveying a sense of urgency, focusing on outcomes and accomplishments, while respecting the need to balance long- and short-term goals, by applying influencing techniques and decision making skills.
• Drive, coach and mentor others through evidence and clear communication, explaining advanced technical concepts in simpler terms.
• Continuously evolve your craft. Keep up to date with industry and academic standard methodologies, periodically explore new technologies, introduce them to the machine learning community and promote their application in areas where they can generate impact.
• Actively contribute to Machine Learning at Booking.com through training, exploration of new technologies, interviewing,onboarding and mentoring colleagues.
• Push for improvements, scaling and extending machine learning tooling and infrastructure, collaborating with central teams.

B.Skilled

Your skills include:

• Advanced knowledge and experience in Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing, engineering aspects of developing ML models at scale.
• Experience designing and executing end-to-end research and development plans and generating impact through large-scale machine learning model development. Preferably evidenced by peer-reviewed publication, patents, open sourced code or the like.
• Relevant work or academic experience (MSc + 5 years of working experience, or PhD + 3 years of working experience), involved in the application of Machine Learning to business problems.
• Masters degree, PhD or equivalent experience in a quantitative field (e.g. Computer Science, Engineering Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence, Physics, etc.).
• Experience on multiple machine learning facets: working with large data sets, model development, statistics, experimentation, data visualization, optimization, software development.
• Experience collaborating cross functionally in the development of machine learning products (e.g. Developers, UX specialists, Product Managers, etc.).
• Strong working knowledge of Python, Java, Kafka, Hadoop, SQL, and Spark or similar technologies. Working experience with version control systems.
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and verbal.
• 3+ years leading an ML team of a minimum of 4 people in a fast-paced production environment.
• Successfully driving technical, business and people related initiatives that improve productivity, performance and quality while communicating with stakeholders at all levels
• Leading by example, gaining respect through actions, not your title. Developing your team and motivating them to achieve their goals. Providing feedback timely and managing your key team performance indicators

B.Offered

• Performance-based company that offers career advancement, and lucrative compensation, including bonuses and stock potential
• Discount on Booking.com accommodations with the “Booking Deal” including other perks and benefits
• Diverse, unique colleagues from every corner of the world

Booking.com is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We strive to move well beyond traditional equal opportunity and work to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive.