About Moloco:
Moloco builds some of the most powerful AI advertising solutions in the world. Our name—short for "machine learning company"—reflects our core mission: democratizing access to the advanced AI that has historically been reserved for tech giants. Led by machine learning pioneers who built some of the most successful ad systems at Google, including YouTube's monetization engine and key search advertising technologies, we're transforming how businesses grow and compete in the digital economy.
Built with AI from day one, Moloco’s planet-scale machine learning platform powers a suite of solutions for advertising growth and monetization. Moloco Ads is an AI-powered platform that delivers real business outcomes for mobile app marketers through performance-based user acquisition. Moloco Commerce Media enables retailers and marketplaces to build revenue-generating ad businesses that balance user experience and advertiser performance.
Moloco is headquartered in Silicon Valley, with offices in Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Beijing, Singapore, Gurgaon, Tokyo, Shanghai, London, Tel Aviv, and Berlin.
Moloco is a truly rewarding place to work and in an exciting period of growth, which you could be a part of. Join us today and apply now!
- Drive ambiguous signals to defensible root cause. A KPI regression. A lift number that looks too good. An unexplained cost increase. A model that quietly degraded after an upstream data change. You will trace it across the model, the data pipeline, the auction, and the serving stack — and be right.
- Ship the fix. A new feature, a reformulated objective, a recalibrated model, a changed bidding policy, or a correction upstream in the data. You own it through launch and through the readout afterward.
- Design evaluation that survives scrutiny. Online experiments and offline evaluation in a setting where auctions are non-stationary, treatment and control interfere with each other, and conversions land days late.
- Leave behind methodology, not just results. Tooling and frameworks that let other teams answer the next version of the question without you.
- Communicate to people who will act on it. ML engineers, infrastructure, product, and the account teams sitting across from advertisers.
Required
- Ph.D. in computer science, statistics, operations research, economics, or a related quantitative field, plus 2+ years of industry experience — or 5+ years of industry experience solving large-scale ML, optimization, or systems problems without one.
- Strong applied statistics and causal reasoning: experiment design, working with confounded observational data, and the judgment to recognize when a result is not real.
- Fluency in Python and SQL against large datasets (Spark, BigQuery, or equivalent). You can get your own data without waiting on anyone.
- Experience owning a model or algorithm in production — including what happened to it after launch.
- Clear written English. A large share of this role's impact takes the form of a document that changes what a team decides to do.
Strongly Preferred - any of
- Ads, recommendation, search ranking, marketplaces, or another domain with real-time auctions or bidding.
- Probability calibration, delayed feedback, or selection bias in logged-bandit data.
- CTV, attribution modeling, or incrementality measurement.
- PyTorch or TensorFlow applied to tabular or sequential production data at scale.
Both are individual-contributor roles. Level is decided at offer, based on demonstrated scope rather than years served.
Senior — in the last 12–18 months you have:
- Taken a project from an ambiguous problem statement to a shipped, measured change in production.
- Made the calls yourself on what to investigate and, just as importantly, what to drop.
- Made at least one teammate measurably better through review, pairing, or mentorship
- Staff — all of the above, plus:
- Led work that spanned multiple teams or systems, where no single team owned the problem.
- Changed what your organization chose to work on, on the strength of analysis you produced.
- Left behind a method, framework, or standard that other people now use by default.
- Represented technical trade-offs directly to non-technical stakeholders, and been trusted to do it.
This role is probably not for you if you are looking for a purely offline research position, or you prefer to hand a model to an engineer and move on to the next paper.
Moloco Thrive: Benefits and Well-Being:
We take care of you and create the conditions for you to do the best work of your career. Through a lens of inclusion, we offer innovative benefits that empower our employees to take care of themselves and their families so they can do the best work of their lives.
Moloco Values:
- Lead with Humility: Everyone’s voice is respected, valued, and heard. With humility, we become more open and accessible to each other. We win, lose, and learn together. Accountability and feedback are essential to our success.
- Uncapped Growth Mindset: We see all situations as opportunities to learn, grow, and improve as individuals and as an organization. We seek diverse perspectives, encourage curiosity, and promote experimentation to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
- Create Real Value: We pursue the most impactful opportunities with rigor and integrity. We take intelligent risks and make disciplined trade-offs to maintain deep focus. We help our customers win by delivering durable value.
- Go Further Together: We’re one team working towards one mission and vision. We collaborate proactively and inclusively, involving the right people at the right time and in the right way. We strive to create a more equitable workplace. We won’t let each other fail.
Additional Resources:
- Moloco Company Blog
- Moloco Leadership
- Moloco Newsroom
AI Use in Interviews
Our interview process is designed to get to know the real you. Unless a round specifically includes AI as part of what's being assessed, we ask that candidates engage without AI assistance. Please review our AI Use in Interviews Policy before your interview to understand what to expect. Failure to comply with this policy may impact your candidacy.
Candidate Privacy Notice:
Your privacy matters to us. By applying, you acknowledge that you’ve reviewed our Candidate Privacy Notice.
Skills Required
- Ph.D. in Computer Science, Mathematics, or related field, or industry experience in ML systems or market optimization
- 4+ years of work experience in research-related fields or advanced degree with 2+ years of experience
- 2+ years of experience leading research projects
- Proficient verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to quickly learn new technical skills across engineering, ML, and data science
- Track record of building positive relationships with collaborators
- Strong intellectual curiosity and passion for exploring new ideas
- Highly self-motivated with ability to drive research projects independently
What We Do
Moloco is a machine learning company empowering organizations of all sizes to grow and unlock the full value of their unique first-party data, elevating the traditional path to performance advertising. While the largest technology companies have proven the speed and scale of ad-targeting utilizing data— the same robust performance powered by machine learning has previously been unavailable beyond their platforms. That's where Moloco steps in. With Moloco's powerful combination of cutting-edge machine learning technologies, we play a unique and visible role in shaping the digital economy, all while allowing companies to stay independent and scale. An industry leader at the nexus of machine learning, performance marketing, and visionary product infrastructure, Moloco is advancing the advertising technology industry. We ranked in the top 10% in the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies for 2023. Recognized as one of 46 leading Cloud Computing companies, receiving the Stratus Award for 2023. In 2023, we received Google’s Cloud DevOps Dreamers Award, a recognition given to companies that are implementing DevOps practices to drive organizational success and high performance. Lastly, Moloco is a 2024 certified Great Place to Work! Check us out on Glassdoor and be sure to get an inside look at working at Moloco on Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. Moloco is headquartered in Silicon Valley, with offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, London, Berlin, Seoul, Singapore, Beijing, Gurgaon, and Tokyo.
Why Work With Us
Moloco plays a unique and visible role in shaping the digital economy. We are a powerful combination of cutting-edge technologies and executive innovators who utilize machine learning to scale business models. At Moloco you’ll work alongside people who are world-class thought leaders and focused on using their superpowers to create real value.
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