eBay Careers: Applied Researcher – Recommender Systems & Personalisation

Location: Global Innovation Centres (Remote/Hybrid options)

Experience: 5+ Years (BS/MS/PhD)

Tech Stack: Python, PyTorch, LLMs, GenAI, RAG, GNNs

About eBay: Reinventing the Future of Ecommerce

At eBay, we are more than a global ecommerce leader—we are changing the way the world shops and sells. Our platform empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets globally. We are a team of dreamers and innovators committed to pushing boundaries, sustaining the environment through recommerce, and building communities that create economic opportunity for all.

About the Recommendations Team

Our team delivers high-scale, near-real-time recommendations across eBay’s website and native apps. Recommendations are the “compass” our buyers use to navigate billions of items. We develop state-of-the-art systems, including:

• Deep Learning Retrieval: Personalised systems for vast inventory.

• Ranking Models: High-accuracy machine-learned ranking.

• GenAI & LLMs: Innovative RAG and generative applications for discovery.

• Sophisticated MLOps: Industrial-grade pipelines handling high-volume traffic.

The Role: Leading Personalised Discovery

We are looking for a top-tier Applied Researcher to drive our research in personalisation. Your mission is to enable discovery through dynamic feeds for both long-time eBay enthusiasts and first-time visitors.

Scope of Research:

• Large-Scale Attention Models: Sophisticated ML for recall and ranking.

• Graph Neural Networks (GNNs): Modelling interest graphs and cohort trends.

• Deep User Understanding: Developing interpretable user models and advanced embeddings.

• New Horizons: Expanding recommendations into video commerce and live shopping experiences.

What You Will Accomplish

• Multimodal Data Innovation: Work with unstructured data representing billions of items and millions of users.

• Production Impact: Develop and deploy AI models with measurable impact on the marketplace Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV), and advertising revenue.

• Thought Leadership: Publish research in Tier 1 conferences, write technical blogs, and secure intellectual property (IP).

• Global Collaboration: Work alongside a world-class team of applied researchers and ML engineers.

What You Will Bring

• Education: BS in Computer Science or related field (MS/PhD preferred).

• Experience: 5+ years of relevant work in Machine Learning, AI, NLP, or LLMs.

• Core Skills: Expertise in Python and the PyTorch framework.

• Engineering Depth: Hands-on skills to deploy models in production environments (On-prem or Cloud).

• Bonus Skills: Experience with Big Data (Hadoop/Spark), Java/Scala, and GenAI coding assistants.

Diversity & Inclusion Statistics

eBay is committed to a multifaceted workforce that mirrors the communities we serve. As of our recent disclosures:

• Global Gender Representation: Women represent approximately 42% of our total workforce.

• Ethnicity (US): Our US workforce is approximately 48% White, 39% Asian, 5% Black/African American, and 5% Hispanic/Latinx.

• Leadership: We continue to strive for parity, with women holding roughly 34% of director-level and above positions.

How to Apply

Are you ready to build the next generation of intelligent commerce?

👉 Apply via the eBay Careers Portal