Senior Engineering Manager, Machine Learning

Babylist is the leading registry, e-commerce, and content platform for growing families. More than 9 million people shop with Babylist every year, making it the go-to destination for seamless purchasing, trusted guidance, and expert product recommendations for new parents and the people who love them. What began as a universal registry has grown into a full ecosystem for new parents, including the Babylist Shop, Babylist Health, and a flagship showroom in Los Angeles. Hundreds of brands in baby and beyond partner with Babylist to engage meaningfully with families during one of life’s most important transitions. With over $1 billion in annual GMV, and more than $500 million in 2024 revenue, Babylist is reshaping the $320 billion baby product industry. We’re helping parents feel confident, connected, and cared for at every step. As we build the generational brand in baby, our mission remains simple: to connect growing families with everything they need to thrive.To learn more, visit www.babylist.com.

Babylist is remote-first with team members across the U.S. and Canada who move fast, think smart, and use AI as part of how they work every day — not as an experiment, as an expectation. We come together twice a year to build the relationships behind the work, and we hire people who are genuinely excited about what's possible and prove it through how they show up.

Babylist is in the middle of a fundamental shift in how software gets made, and we are not tiptoeing into it. We are rebuilding our engineering culture around a simple belief: AI changes everything. How teams are structured, how decisions get made, how fast ideas become working software. Our engineers own problems end to end, working directly with product, design, and business partners with short feedback loops and real stakeholder access. We ship, learn, and iterate fast. When something is not working, we throw it out and start over — project failure and personal failure are not the same thing here. AI tools are as natural to our workflow as an IDE or version control. We are not exploring this, we are living it. Our engineers use AI to explore tradeoffs, pressure-test designs, and move from problem to solution in hours instead of days. They generate code with AI so they can stay focused on the decisions that actually require human judgment — not the routine ones. More velocity means more time for craft: better test coverage, stronger architecture, and deeper customer understanding. We hold ourselves to a higher quality bar because of AI, not in spite of it. We are building this playbook in real time, and we are looking for people who want to build it with us. If you have already changed how you work because of AI — or you are ready to — and you care more about shipping something great than following a prescribed process, we should talk.

• React, Native iOS and Android
• Ruby on Rails
• AWS, Terraform
• MySQL
• Sidekiq
• Redis
• Shopify

• 3+ years of experience as a front-line manager delivering production-grade software or ML systems
• 5+ years of experience as an individual contributor in ML or Data Science, plus proven experience leading teams that build end-to-end machine learning systems, ideally in personalization, recommendations, or consumer-facing ML products
• Deep familiarity with the Python ML ecosystem (e.g., pandas, sklearn, xgboost, PyTorch) and comfortable reviewing designs, unblocking technical challenges, and setting high technical standards
• Experience supervising ML Engineers and/or Data Scientists; bonus points for experience managing Software Engineers
• Strong understanding of the full ML lifecycle, including data pipelines, workflow orchestration (e.g., Airflow), deployment, monitoring, and iteration in production
• Product-minded: passionate about technology, but primarily motivated by solving real user problems and driving business impact
• Experience working with large-scale, real-time or near-real-time data systems
• Comfortable owning and evolving the ML tech stack end-to-end, from data and modeling through production systems
• Background in consumer-facing products; experience in e-commerce, marketplaces, or complex user journeys is strongly preferred
• You're genuinely excited about what AI can do - not just as a concept, but as something you want to get your hands on. At Babylist, every team uses AI daily, and we're looking for people who lean in.

• Build and lead the ML & personalization function: Hire, mentor, and support a multidisciplinary team (Machine Learning Engineers, Software Engineers, Product Manager, and occasional Designer), shaping the roadmap, standards, and culture for ML at Babylist
• Own high-impact ML initiatives: Deliver personalization systems that improve discovery, engagement, and monetization across key surfaces, directly impacting business outcomes
• Set technical and algorithmic direction: Define modeling approaches, data strategy, and system architecture in partnership with senior technical leaders, balancing experimentation with scalable execution
• Be hands-on when needed: Review ML/DS designs and code, build proof-of-concept models, and conduct your own data science research to de-risk ideas and accelerate progress
• Develop talent: Coach engineers on technical growth, career progression, and performance, combining strong technical standards with empowerment
• Drive cross-functional alignment: Partner closely with Product, Design, Analytics Engineering, and Data to translate ambiguous business problems into clear technical direction
• Understand the full funnel: Develop a deep understanding of Babylist’s user journeys, user feedback loops, and financial models — and how ML systems influence them end-to-end

• We work with focus and intention, then step away to recharge
• We believe in exceptional management and invest in tools and opportunities to connect with colleagues
• We build products that positively impact millions of people's lives
• AI tools are as natural to how we work as your IDE or version control — we're not exploring this, we're living it.

• Competitive pay and meaningful opportunities for career advancement
• We believe technology and data can solve hard problems
• We're committed to career progression and performance-based advancement

Recorded Interviews Babylist uses an interview recording tool to record and transcribe interviews for evaluation purposes in accordance with applicable privacy laws. By participating in an interview, you consent to this recording and transcription.

Interview Integrity At Babylist, every team uses AI daily and we love it. During interviews though, we want to see you — your thinking, your problem-solving, your creativity. All interviews and assessments should be completed independently without AI tools or third-party assistance unless we tell you otherwise. We'll always be clear when AI is welcome. Misrepresentation during the process may result in removal from consideration.

Protect Yourself from Scams All official communication comes from the Babylist Talent Team via @babylist.com email addresses. We will never ask for payment, bank information, or personal financial details. If you receive outreach via WhatsApp, Telegram, or a non-Babylist email, it's not us. Verify open roles on our careers page.

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