Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Working Title: Senior Machine Learning Engineer [Hybrid]  

No Visa Sponsorship is available for this position.

The work location is Ithaca, New York with the possibility of a hybrid work schedule that would be determined by the supervisor.

About the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a global leader at the intersection of technology and conservation. We steward over a petabyte of biodiversity data, including more than a billion bird observations and 100 million wildlife media assets, and transform it into impactful products leveraging machine learning and expert birder communities. Our work fuels widely used platforms including eBird, Merlin Bird ID—tools that connect millions of people to birds while supporting critical research and conservation action worldwide. Through partnerships with hundreds of organizations in nearly every country, our technology helps drive real-world conservation outcomes at a global scale. We’re in a period of rapid growth, tackling ambitious challenges to expand and scale our data-driven tools for an increasingly diverse and international community. It’s an exciting moment to join a team that’s pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in conservation technology—and making a measurable difference for birds and biodiversity around the world.

What will you do:

large-scale, data-intensive applications supporting global biodiversity science and conservation. This role combines engineering leadership with hands-on development of machine learning–driven systems powering Merlin Bird ID, used by millions worldwide to identify birds from images, audio, and video.

You will lead the architecture and development of distributed systems that manage and serve massive datasets—including over 100 million media assets in the Macaulay Library—and support the full lifecycle of machine learning models, from training pipelines to production deployment. This includes integrating models into web and mobile applications in both online and offline contexts.

Working across teams of engineers, bird experts, and conservation scientists, you will design interoperable systems, APIs, and data pipelines, and serve as a key technical liaison across Macaulay Library, Merlin, and eBird. You will oversee multiple concurrent projects, set technical direction, and ensure best practices in scalability, performance, and reliability.

The role includes mentoring engineers while contributing across the stack, including backend services, web applications, and machine learning infrastructure. You will also help advance cloud-based architecture and systems designed for high availability and global scale. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives in complex systems, enjoys leading teams, and is motivated to build impactful, globally scaled software for conservation.

The work location is Ithaca, New York with the possibility of a hybrid work schedule that would be determined by the supervisor. The university reserves the right to modify, suspend, revoke or terminate the hybrid work arrangement at any time.

While position responsibilities vary, every member of our community is expected to foster a culture of belonging and a healthy work environment by communicating across differences; being cooperative, collaborative, open, and welcoming; showing respect, compassion, and empathy; engaging and supporting others regardless of background or perspective; speaking up when others are being excluded or treated inappropriately; and supporting work/life integration of oneself and others.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science and 5+ years relevant experience, or equivalent combination. 
• Experienced in machine learning and software development in research and production environments.
• Extensive Python experience, including knowledge of numpy, pandas, Tensorflow and/or Pytorch.
• Extensive experience working with large numerical and audiovisual datasets in Python.
• Extensive Linux command line experience; comfortable with SSH, SCP, RSYNC, GNU Parallel.
• Experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience with databases, both SQL and Non-SQL.
• Experience building frontend user interfaces with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS and integrating with APIs and web services.
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex information technology projects, including needs assessment, team organization, definition of standards and workflows, task planning and tracking, establishment of realistic goals, and delivery of products on time and within budget.
• Experience defining project requirements, including hardware and software.
• Experience using software development, deployment and project management tools.
• Compliant with all Cornell University and job-related training requirements.
  Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to clearly communicate complex technical issues to leadership team, and to participate effectively as needed in management meetings at all levels.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively. Ability to build working relationships to solve problems and achieve common goals.
• Proven experience connecting inclusion, belonging and wellbeing practices to business goals. 
• Demonstrated skill in understanding cultural differences.  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree preferred with focus in machine learning and computer vision
• Prior use and thorough understanding of Merlin, eBird, or other Cornell Lab tools and resources.
• Understanding of and interest in conservation, birds, bird monitoring protocols, and related vocabulary.
• Experience publishing and presenting research results at leading computer science conferences.
• Experience working on projects at the intersection of machine learning and biodiversity.

Application Information:

• A cover letter and resume are required for further consideration for this position. When applying through our system, please remember to attach your application materials (Cover Letter and Resume) in PDF format.
• No Visa Sponsorship of any kind is available for this position. 
• No Relocation assistance will be provided for this position. 

Rewards and Benefits

• The work location is Ithaca, New York with the possibility of a hybrid work schedule that would be determined by the supervisor. The university reserves the right to modify, suspend, revoke or terminate the hybrid work arrangement at any time.
• Cornell receives national recognition as an award-winning workplace for our health, wellbeing, and sustainability. Our benefits programs include comprehensive health care options, generous retirement contributions, access to wellness programs, and employee discounts with local and national retail brands. We invite you to follow this link to get more information about our benefits: Understand Your Benefits | Working at Cornell.
• Our leave provisions include health and personal leave, three weeks of vacation and 13 holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and an end of the year winter break from December 25-January 1. To offer greater flexibility for observing faiths and traditions we also offer two additional floating holidays. Learn more about our generous leave provisions: Holiday and Accrued Time Off | Working at Cornell
• Cornell's impressive educational benefits include tuition-free Extramural Study and Employee Degree Program, tuition aid for external education, and Cornell Children's Tuition Assistance Program. Learn more about our extensive educational benefits: Education Benefits | Working at Cornell
• Follow this link to learn more about the Total Rewards of Working at Cornell: Total Rewards | Working at Cornell.

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