The Role
As a Principal AI Engineer, lead the development of AI-driven learning tools, focusing on architecture, model personalization, and mentoring engineers.
Summary Generated by Built In
About Quizlet:
At Quizlet, our mission is to help every learner achieve their outcomes in the most effective and delightful way. Our $1B+ learning platform serves tens of millions of students every month, including two-thirds of U.S. high schoolers and half of U.S. college students, powering over 2 billion learning interactions monthly.
We blend cognitive science with machine learning to personalize and enhance the learning experience for students, professionals, and lifelong learners alike. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.
Let’s Build the Future of Learning
Join us to design and deliver AI-powered learning tools that scale across the world and unlock human potential.
About the Team:
The Applied AI team's mission is to invent and deploy the next generation of intelligent, personalized, and adaptive learning experiences that will define the future of Quizlet. This team is a major investment and consolidation of our AI efforts, created to move from siloed features to a unified and powerful product portfolio. We are accountable for driving the majority of Quizlet's business growth and building a product that is recognized externally as best-in-class.
About the Role:
As the Director of Engineering for Personalization & Recommendation Systems, you will lead the charge in building a deep, holistic understanding of our learners and using that insight to power the core intelligence of our product. You will guide a team of talented engineers to build the recommendation and matching systems that connect students to the most relevant content across our entire platform, including Search, Ads, and our content feed. Your leadership will be pivotal in transforming Quizlet from a memorization tool into a personalized, AI-powered coach that drives user engagement, retention, and monetization.
We’re happy to share that this is an onsite position in our San Francisco office. To help foster team collaboration, we require that employees be in the office a minimum of three days per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and as needed by your manager or the company. We believe that this working environment facilitates increased work efficiency, team partnership, and supports growth as an employee and organization.
In this role, you will:
- Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of 10+ machine learning and software engineers, fostering a culture of innovation and high-impact execution
- Define and execute the strategic and technical roadmap for all personalization and recommendation initiatives, directly contributing to Quizlet’s key business metrics like Engaged Learners, Subscriber Conversion, and Revenue Growth
- Spearhead the development of "User 360," a comprehensive understanding of our learners derived from synthesizing behavioral signals, explicit inputs, and conversation history into rich user profiles and embeddings
- Own the end-to-end lifecycle of machine learning models that power all matching and ranking systems across the product (Ads, Search, Feed), optimizing for both offline performance (e.g., NDCG) and online business impact (e.g., CTR, user satisfaction).
- Partner closely with leaders in Product, Data Science, and the AI & Data Platform teams to deliver on a shared vision of an AI-driven learning experience
- Drive technical excellence in building scalable, reliable ML systems, moving the organization towards a more robust and innovative operational foundation
What you bring to the table:
- B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related quantitative field
- 15+ years of industry experience in software engineering with at least 4 years in a leadership role managing machine learning focused engineering teams
- Proven experience building and deploying large-scale recommendation, search, or personalization systems that have driven significant business impact
- Deep technical expertise in machine learning, including ranking models, collaborative filtering, deep learning, and representation learning (embeddings)
- Demonstrated success in hiring, developing, and retaining top engineering talent.
- Strong strategic mindset with the ability to translate high-level business needs into a clear, actionable technical roadmap
Bonus points if you have:
- Experience in the EdTech or consumer mobile space
- Experience applying Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), or agentic systems to enhance recommendation and personalization
- A track record of publications in top-tier AI/ML conferences (e.g., RecSys, KDD, NeurIPS, ICLR)
- Experience building ML systems on a modern MLOps stack for feature management, model training, and inference
Compensation, Benefits & Perks:
- Quizlet is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Salary transparency helps to mitigate unfair hiring practices when it comes to discrimination and pay gaps. Total compensation for this role is market competitive, including a starting base salary of $275,000 - $320,000, depending on location and experience, as well as company stock options
- Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
- 20 vacation days that we expect you to take!
- Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, Dental, VSP Choice)
- Employer-sponsored 401k plan with company match
- Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
- Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, and Wellness benefits
- 40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice
Why Join Quizlet?
🌎 Massive reach: 60M+ users, 1B+ interactions per week
🧠 Cutting-edge tech: Generative AI, adaptive learning, cognitive science
📈 Strong momentum: Top-tier investors, sustainable business, real traction
🎯 Mission-first: Work that makes a difference in people’s lives
🤝 Inclusive culture: Committed to equity, diversity, and belonging
We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome!
We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership.
We provide a transparent setting that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!
In Closing:
At Quizlet, we’re excited about passionate people joining our team—even if you don’t check every box on the requirements list. We value unique perspectives and believe everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Our culture is all about taking initiative, learning through challenges, and striving for high-quality work while staying curious and open to new ideas. We believe in honest, respectful communication, thoughtful collaboration, and creating a supportive space where everyone can grow and succeed together.”
Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Come join us!
To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies:
At this time, Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles.
Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.
Top Skills
C++
Python
PyTorch
TensorFlow
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The Company
What We Do
Quizlet is a leading consumer learning brand that builds learning tools to inspire and empower students and teachers. Our team is already supporting a user base of over 60 million active users a month. We're also among the top 20 U.S. websites and top education apps for iOS and Android - and it's only the beginning. We’re a fast-growing Series C startup, valued at $1 Billion and backed by Union Square Ventures, Costanoa Venture Capital, Icon Ventures, Owl Ventures, Altos Ventures and General Atlantic.
With our massive reach and focus on delivering high-quality innovative learning tools, we're having a major global impact on education.
