Senior Principal Machine Learning Engineer - Recommendations

About SoundCloud SoundCloud empowers artists, tastemakers and fans to connect and share through music. Founded in 2007, SoundCloud is an creator-first platform helping artists build and grow their careers by providing them with the most advanced tools, services, and resources. With over 4x the music catalog of every other major streaming platform, spanning 40+ million artists across 190+ countries, SoundCloud is where emerging artists find their sound, hidden gems are discovered, and music culture is shaped in real time.

SoundCloud

TechnologyMusicand Entertainment

S

soundcloud.com

201-500 employees

Entertainment Providers

Berlin, Germany

Privately Held

310k LinkedIn followers

• Lead the technical strategy and execution for SoundCloud’s ML systems (e.g.,
• recommendation, ranking, personalization), including model development,
• deployment, and scaling
• Lead the exploration of advanced modeling techniques including Deep Neural
• Networks, LLMs, large recommender systems, multi-modal embeddings and
• transformer-based architectures to create unique and impactful listening
• experiences
• Define and drive the overall technical direction for ML in SoundCloud
• including model architecture, feature engineering, training and serving
• infrastructure at scale, feature stores, pipeline orchestration, and model
• registry and versioning all aimed at accelerating our ability to bring
• ML-powered features to market
• Own short- and long-term objectives, ensuring ML investments deliver
• measurable user and business impact
• Lead, mentor, and grow ML Engineers and Scientists across SoundCloud
• Be a strategic partner to the CTO in bringing an “ML Everywhere” strategy to
• all surfaces in the product (both Creator and Fan), and helping to lead the
• charge on AI-native engineering
• Stay current with industry trends and advancements in machine learning,
• identifying opportunities to apply them at SoundCloud
• Lead the leveraging of agentic workflows and AI-assisted engineering as a
• force multiplier to work at 10x the speed of traditional methods
• recommendations in an internet scale service with the reach of tens of
• millions of daily active users. Experience in a music streaming environment
• is a bonus
• Proven track record of defining technical strategy and driving execution for
• large-scale ML systems, particularly in recommendation, personalization, or
• search
• Experience setting technical roadmaps, influencing cross-functional
• priorities, and balancing business, product, and engineering trade-offs at an
• organizational level
• Experience leading and scaling teams of ML Engineers and Scientists,
• including hiring, mentoring, and developing high-performing talent
• Deep expertise in delivering data-driven products and ML solutions at scale
• on cloud-based platforms, with strong understanding of infrastructure and
• lifecycle management
• Hands-on familiarity with modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow) and data
• processing pipelines, combined with strong software engineering foundations
• Thought leadership in ML and data science, with a track record of driving
• technical innovation and applying emerging industry trends
• Exceptional communication, strategic influence, and cross-functional
• leadership skills across senior stakeholders and global teams
• The salary range for this role is $280,000 - $325,000 annually. The final salary
• offered will be determined based on relative experience, skills, internal
• equity, and location. We also offer a generous total rewards program - read more
• about additional benefits and perks below!
• We provide a flexible work culture that offers the opportunity to collaborate
• and connect in person at our offices as well as accommodating work from home
• We are deeply committed to ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion at all
• levels of our organization and fostering a community where everyone’s voice,
• perspective and experience is respected and heard
• We believe a strong team is made by investing in employees through
• mentorship, workshops and enrichment opportunities

• Comprehensive health benefits including medical, dental, and vision plans, as
• well as mental health resources
• Robust 401k program
• Generous professional development allowance
• Interested in a gym membership, photography course or book? We have a
• Creativity and Wellness benefit!
• Flexible vacation and public holiday policy where you can take up to 35 days
• of PTO annually
• 16 paid weeks for all parents (birthing and non-birthing), regardless of
• gender, to welcome newborns, adopted and foster children
• Various snacks, goodies, and 2 free lunches weekly when at the office