Staff Applied Scientist (Search & Discovery)

TL;DR

Staff Applied Scientist (Search & Discovery) (Search, Recommendations, and ML): Building search retrieval, ranking, recommendation, and discovery systems for a global materials marketplace with an accent on query understanding, relevance, and behavioral data. Focus on designing experiments, developing semantic and multimodal approaches, and turning hands-on research into production improvements.

Location: Remote, with a flexible hybrid model that may be remote, in person, or a combination depending on the department.

Company

hirify.global operates a global materials marketplace connecting architecture and design professionals with brands and material samples across 37 countries.

What you will do

• Design, tune, and evaluate retrieval and ranking systems to improve search relevance and discovery.
• Build recommendation algorithms that model member and project intent across the marketplace experience.
• Analyze behavioral and catalog data to identify effective search and recommendation strategies.
• Develop query parsing, intent recognition, semantic retrieval, image search, and color-matching approaches.
• Identify catalog data quality issues, build evaluation frameworks, define success metrics, and design experiments.
• Prototype research ideas directly and collaborate with product, engineering, and catalog teams to productionize successful approaches.

Requirements

• Track record of building and shipping search, recommendation, or ranking systems used by real users.
• Advanced degree in computer science, machine learning, statistics, applied mathematics, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Deep understanding of retrieval, ranking, relevance, and recommendation systems.
• Strong query understanding and NLP experience, including semantic and embedding-based retrieval.
• Experience with statistical modeling, experimental design, hypothesis testing, and exploratory analysis.
• Ability to prototype and implement solutions, with experience deploying ML or data systems to production.

Nice to have

• Experience with multimodal or image-based search, color science, or perceptual color matching.
• E-commerce or marketplace search and recommendation experience.
• Experience combining vendor systems with internally developed systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Small, empowered teams with a focus on efficiency, automation, and rapid execution.
• Flexible PTO, sick days, and paid national holidays.
• Medical, dental, vision, disability, and employee assistance benefits.
• 401(k) eligibility after 90 days of employment.
• Flexible work schedules within a remote, in-person, or hybrid model.
• Career growth opportunities and community-focused events.