SEPHORA · 8 hours ago
Lead Machine Learning Engineer
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
Lead/Staff
$186K/yr - $207K/yr
8+ years expSephora is a leading beauty retailer that inspires customers and empowers teams. The Lead Machine Learning Engineer will drive AI/ML initiatives for the enterprise, operationalizing innovative AI/ML solutions and collaborating with cross-functional teams to architect and implement scalable systems.
BeautyCosmeticsE-CommerceRetail
Responsibilities
Architect, build, maintain scalable systems using established design patterns, leads security-first practices, and maintains deep domain expertise while anticipating future technical needs and costs
Implement end-to-end solutions for batch and real-time algorithms along with tooling around monitoring, logging, automated testing, performance testing and A/B testing
Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Data Scientists, ML Engineers and Business teams on planning new capabilities
Establish scalable, efficient, automated processes for data analyses, model development, validation and implementation
Write efficient and well-organized software to ship products in an iterative, continual-release environment
Reviews and prioritizes epics/projects with proper breakdown and dependency management, proactively identifies and communicates blockers or delays, handles uncertainty and high-pressure situations decisively, and applies economic thinking to optimize value delivery
Mentor teammates to adopt best practices in writing and maintaining production machine learning code and growth opportunities, fosters cultures of effective communication, feedback, and knowledge sharing, builds strong cross-functional relationships, and collaborates on engineering strategy while contributing to product roadmap development
Qualification
Required
5+ years experience developing and deploying machine learning systems into production
8+ years experience in Software Engineering
2-4 years experience working with AI Agentic systems, LLMs, and RAG architecture
Experience working with MCP (Model Context Protocol)
Experience using open source LLMs and LLMOPs
3-5 years experience working with a variety of relational SQL and NoSQL databases
Experience working with: Spark, Kafka, Scala, Python, etc
Experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras or similar
Experience with object-oriented/object function scripting languages: Python, Java, C++, Scala, etc
Experience building and operationalizing feature stores
Experience working with distributed systems, service-oriented architectures, and designing APIs
Write efficient and well-organized software to ship products in an iterative, continual-release environment
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences
Knowledge of cloud platforms, for example: Experience with Azure, AWS or equivalent cloud platforms
Microsoft Azure: Experience designing, deploying, and administering scalable, available, and fault tolerant systems on Microsoft Azure
Hands-on Experience working with Databricks
Familiarity in deploying real-time ML systems on Azure Cloud through frameworks such as ONNX, MLEAP, TF Serving, etc
Knowledge of data pipeline and workflow management tools
Expertise in standard software engineering methodology, e.g. unit testing, test automation, continuous integration, code reviews, design documentation
Relevant working experience with Kubernetes
Benefits
Comprehensive health, dental and vision plans
Superior 401(k) plan
Various paid time off programs
Employee discount/perks
Life insurance
Disability insurance
Flexible spending accounts
Employee referral bonus program
Company
SEPHORA
Sephora is an online shopping site that offers a range of beauty products such as cosmetics and skincare items.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
SEPHORA has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (37)
2024 (49)
2023 (69)
2022 (49)
2021 (29)
2020 (32)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageLeadership Team
Artemis Patrick
President and CEO, North America
Tara Maffeo
Senior Vice President, Store Experience and Business Operations
Recent News
Sports Business Journal
2025-12-25
Global Cosmetics News
2025-12-22
UrbanGeekz
2025-12-18
Company data provided by crunchbase