Machine Learning Engineer II

About us:

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 encounter. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the memories you make. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

About the team:

The Booking Ads ML team builds Machine Learning solutions that power Ads across Booking.com, enabling partners to reach the right travellers at the right moment while preserving customer experience and conversion. Based in Amsterdam, the team works cross-functionally with Data Science & Analytics and Data Engineering, and closely with Product and Engineering, to tackle large-scale, high-impact problems using advanced ML on complex data. As part of a fast-growing domain, the team plays a key role in scaling the Ads business and shaping how advertising integrates seamlessly into the Booking.com platform.

As an ML Engineer II in the Booking Ads ML team, you will help productionize and operate Machine Learning models used in Ads across Booking.com. You will work on building and maintaining ML pipelines, deployments, and monitoring solutions, collaborating closely with ML Scientists and Engineers to ensure models run reliably at scale. In partnership with Product, Engineering, DS&A, and Data Engineering, you will contribute to day-to-day delivery, improve existing ML tooling and infrastructure, and grow your ML engineering craft in a complex, high-impact domain.

Key Responsibilities

• Work in a multi-disciplined, highly skilled team where you will be developing scalable production-grade data and ML pipelines across the entire ML cycle while working closely with the teams’ applied machine learning scientists.
• Work primarily with the Google Cloud Platform, utilizing and maintaining the infrastructure for technologies like BigQuery, DataProc, Cloud Composer, Airflow and a diverse set of ML frameworks.
• Be responsible for SLIs/SLOs for ML systems, ensure system and model health, monitor data quality, performance and business impact, and devise mitigation plans.
• Drive a culture of quality for all ML practitioners, maintain data security, integrity and quality, and make choices over the right technologies and coding methodologies.
• Identify underlying issues and opportunities across the ML development cycle and introduce tools to be used within and outside the team for efficient development and testing.
• Continuously evolve your craft, keeping up to date with the latest technologies.
• Collaborate with relevant ML teams across the company to improve, scale and extend machine learning tooling and infrastructure.

Qualifications and Skills:

• 3+ years of relevant work experience, involved with the application of Machine Learning Engineering to business problems in a commercial environment.
• Strong skills in coding and problem solving. Proficiency in at least one programming language; preferably Python and strong command of SQL is strictly required. Knowledge of Java is a plus.
• Strong working knowledge of big data retrieval and processing tools.
• Demonstrable experience of multiple machine learning facets, such as working with large data sets, experimentation, scalability and optimization.
• Experience running Machine Learning systems in production is a must, with knowledge on how to generate predictions for ML frameworks with high throughput.
• Experience with data-driven product development: analytics, A/B testing, etc.
• Experience working in a cloud environment is a plus.
• Willingness to learn and understand complex and multidisciplinary business problems and concepts related to Booking.com business operations, especially in marketing and finance fields.
• You have a ‘can do’ attitude and you act proactively and not reactively.
• BSc or higher in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, or related fields.
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and verbal.

Benefits & Perks - Global Impact, Personal Relevance:

• Annual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parent, grandparent, bereavement, and care leave.
• Hybrid working including flexible working arrangements, and up to 20 days per year working from abroad (home country).
• Industry leading product discounts - up to 1400 per year - for yourself, including automatic Genius Level 3 status and Booking.com wallet credit.
• Living and working in Amsterdam, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Europe.
• Contributing to a high scale, complex, world renowned product and seeing real-time impact of your work on millions of travelers worldwide.
• Working in a fast-paced and performance driven culture.
• Opportunity to utilize technical expertise, leadership capabilities and entrepreneurial spirit.
• Promote and drive impactful and innovative engineering solutions.
• Technical, behavioral and interpersonal competence advancement via on-the-job opportunities, experimental projects, hackathons, conferences and active community participation.
• Competitive compensation and benefits package and some great added perks of working in the home city of Booking.com.

Pre-Employment Screening

If your application is successful, your personal data may be used for a pre-employment screening check by a third party as permitted by applicable law. Depending on the vacancy and applicable law, a pre-employment screening may include employment history, education and other information (such as media information) that may be necessary for determining your qualifications and suitability for the position.