Help shape the next generation of personalized discovery at Hearst. In this hands-on engineering leadership role, you’ll architect and build the systems that power smarter content and commerce recommendations—creating experiences that deepen engagement, drive conversion, and build loyalty across our digital ecosystem.
You will work closely with product managers, data, designers, and others to deliver scalable, intelligent recommendation features that surface the right content, commerce products, and offers to the right users at the right time. You will also lead coordination across internal and external engineering resources, and guide technology choices for long-term scalability and innovation.
About Hearst Magazines (Why Us?)Hearst Magazines’ portfolio of more than 30 iconic brands in the U.S.—including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Popular Mechanics — inspires, entertains, and builds new and bold experiences for an engaged and growing audience across digital, video, social and print, reaching nearly 130 million readers and site visitors each month. With sophisticated content creation, cutting-edge technology, and industry-leading data capabilities, we make media and products that move people across all platforms. We are a global media company that publishes nearly 200 magazine editions and 175 websites around the world—and together, we are shaping what’s next.
Key Responsibilities (What You’re Doing)- Architect and develop services for real-time personalization across content feeds, product recommendations, newsletters, and marketing funnels.
- Build scalable APIs and supporting infrastructure to enable dynamic recommendation experiences across web, mobile, and email.
- Design end-to-end implementations for recommendation features, from data ingestion through ranking logic to delivery.
- Ensure high standards for performance, security, observability, and fault tolerance across production systems.
- Partner with Product, Data, and UX to define technical requirements that balance personalization sophistication with performance and privacy.
- Partner with ML/GenAI teams to evaluate and integrate LLM-enabled capabilities (e.g., semantic search, affinity prediction, ranking, and summarization) where they improve personalization outcomes.
- Lead experimentation on AI-powered recommendation enhancements (e.g., hybrid LLM and collaborative filtering approaches).
- Provide hands-on mentorship and technical leadership to a blended team of full-time and contract engineers; drive planning, scoping, and prioritization.
- Lead build-vs-buy evaluations for personalization tooling, experimentation platforms, and recommendation infrastructure; integrate third-party solutions as needed.
Must-have
- 10+ years in software engineering, with a focus on backend systems, personalization, or e-commerce platforms.
- Hands-on development expertise in Python, React, and building microservices at scale.
- Deep knowledge of recommendation systems: collaborative filtering, ranking algorithms, content-based and hybrid models.
- Ability to lead through influence in cross-functional environments and drive alignment across product, data, design, and engineering stakeholders.
- Demonstrated experience guiding and mentoring engineers, including coordinating work across contractors and/or vendor partners.
- Hybrid requirement: This role is based in New York City with an expectation of 4 days per week in the office.
Preferred
- Experience delivering both content and product recommendation engines in production.
- Experience integrating large language models (LLMs) into consumer-facing personalization or recommendation workflows.
- Familiarity with AI model operations and deployment platforms (e.g., Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock).
- Experience collaborating closely with analytics/experimentation teams to measure impact and iterate on recommendation quality.
Hearst is committed to building a workplace where you can do your best work and thrive. We offer:
- Work with the Best: Collaborate with top-tier professionals across media, advertising, tech, fashion, lifestyle, and publishing, shaping the future of these dynamic industries.
- Grow Your Skills: Unlock your potential with access to innovative training programs, immersive workshops, and exclusive industry events.
- Work-Life Harmony: Enjoy the flexibility of hybrid work, empowering you to balance professional success with personal priorities.
- Foster Connection & Belonging: Join our Employee Resource Groups and help create a welcoming workplace where everyone feels valued and empowered.
- Wellness First: Prioritize your well-being with a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance from Day 1.
- Plan for Your Financial Future: Enjoy competitive financial perks, including a 401(k) plan with a generous company match.
The base salary for this role is between $172,000 - $180,000. The actual base pay offered is dependent upon many factors, such as: transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.
Hearst is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Skills Required
- 10+ years in software engineering, with a focus on backend systems, personalization, or e-commerce platforms.
- Hands-on development expertise in Python, React, and building microservices at scale.
- Deep knowledge of recommendation systems: collaborative filtering, ranking algorithms, content-based and hybrid models.
- Ability to lead through influence in cross-functional environments and drive alignment across product, data, design, and engineering stakeholders.
- Demonstrated experience guiding and mentoring engineers, including coordinating work across contractors and/or vendor partners.
- Hybrid requirement: This role is based in New York City with an expectation of 4 days per week in the office.
- Experience delivering both content and product recommendation engines in production.
- Experience integrating large language models (LLMs) into consumer-facing personalization or recommendation workflows.
- Familiarity with AI model operations and deployment platforms (e.g., Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock).
- Experience collaborating closely with analytics/experimentation teams to measure impact and iterate on recommendation quality.
Hearst Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Hearst and has not been reviewed or approved by Hearst.
-
Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical plan choice, full in-network preventive coverage, dental and vision, telemedicine, prescription coverage, and fertility resources. Mental-health resources and other wellbeing services (e.g., therapy sessions, crisis support, virtual physical therapy, and chronic-condition programs) further strengthen the health offering.
-
Retirement Support — Retirement support is positioned as meaningful through a 401(k) plan with company matching and Hearst covering plan administration fees. Performance bonuses are also noted as available in some roles, adding an additional rewards component beyond base pay.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off benefits include paid holidays, paid sick days, and vacation time with a commonly cited annual range, alongside paid parental leave and family medical leave. A remote work program and flexibility signals are also included as part of the overall rewards experience.
Hearst Insights
What We Do
Hearst is a leading global, diversified media, information and services company with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests include ownership in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime and ESPN; global financial services leader Fitch Group; Hearst Health, a group of medical information and services businesses; transportation assets including CAMP Systems International, a major provider of software-as-a-service solutions for managing maintenance of jets and helicopters; 33 television stations such as WCVB-TV in Boston and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California, which reach a combined 19 percent of U.S. viewers; newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Times Union (Albany, New York); more than 300 magazines around the world, including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Men's Health and Car and Driver, and digital services businesses such as iCrossing and KUBRA; and investments in emerging digital entertainment companies such as Complex Networks.
