Senior Applied Researcher, Query Science

We are looking for a seasoned Senior Applied Researcher for the Germany chapter of our Query Science Team. The researcher will act as the tech lead in pioneering research and development projects aimed at improving our search engine’s comprehension of search queries and user intent. Your work will directly impact our platform’s ability to interpret and process search queries, leading to more relevant results and a seamless buying experience for our customers. The Query Science team is running diverse and challenging projects such as query autosuggestion, query intent detection, spelling correction, synonym extraction, query expansion and reformulation to name a few. All the projects that the team is running has a direct impact on the success of eBay.

Job Responsibilities

• Be directly responsible for improving search recall and ranking via query understanding and machine learned models that power the end-end search experience at eBay.
• Showcase the spectrum of value in the world’s most diverse e-commerce inventory, by improving whole page relevance, query recommendations, spell corrections, synonym/acronym expansions, and query rewrites.
• Conceptualize, document, design, architect, code, deploy, and iterate on designs from prototypes all the way through to production systems. Help define and refine project scopes and goals.
• Analyze petabytes of real-world behavioral data to understand patterns and trends. Transform data insights into actionable reports, targeting algorithms, and model features.
• Focus on our biggest opportunities in search, convert them into applied science problem statements, and then develop end-to-end solutions.
• Directly see the results of your applied research improving and powering the experience of eBay’s core search platform across the globe.
• Guide, mentor, and grow team members while overseeing the development and implementation of cutting-edge algorithms and models for Natural Language Processing (NLP), Embedding Based Retrieval (EBR), semantic search, and machine learning to enhance query understanding and retrieval.
• Collaborate with management and cross-functional teams, including product managers, engineers, applied researchers, engineers, and data scientists, to integrate relevant solutions into the search platform.
• Stay abreast of the latest advancements and provide technical leadership in NLP, machine learning, LLMs, and other search technologies, applying state-of-the-art approaches to continually improve the search experience.
• Develop metrics and run A/B tests to assess the effectiveness of query understanding improvements and their impact on user experience.
• Communicate complex technical concepts and the value of applied research projects to all stake-holders within the company.

Requirements

• Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Information Retrieval, or a related field, with a focus on NLP or machine learning.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience.
• Proven track record of leading research projects in search, query understanding, NLP, or related areas, with demonstrable impacts on product improvement.
• Strong background in machine learning, NLP, and related technologies, with experience applying these techniques to large-scale, real world problems.
• Excellent leadership and team management skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate a high-performing team.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a creative approach to tackling complex challenges.
• Proficiency in Python, and experience with machine learning frameworks and tools.
• Excellent communication skills, with fluency in English. Proficiency in German is a plus.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Results oriented. Research is great but at the end of the day you want to see your creation live and breathe.
• Proficient with distributed systems like Hadoop and Spark. You’re not necessarily an expert, but you have experience processing large datasets in such frameworks.

eBay is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please contact us at We will make every effort to respond to your request for accommodation as soon as possible. View our accessibility statement to learn more about eBay's commitment to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities.