Machine Learning Engineer, Monetization & Decision Systems

Quizlet • Full-time • Denver, CO; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA • 2d ago

About Quizlet:

At Quizlet, our mission is to help every learner achieve their outcomes in the most effective and delightful way. We’re a $1B+ learning platform used by two-thirds of U.S. high school students and half of college students, powering over 1 billion learning interactions each week.

We blend cognitive science with machine learning to personalize and enhance the learning experience for students, professionals, and lifelong learners alike. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.

Let’s Build the Future of Learning

Join us to design and deliver AI-powered learning tools that scale across the world and unlock human potential.

About the Team:

We are looking for Machine Learning Engineers ranging from the Senior to Staff levels (note: leveling decisions made through the interview process).

Within this organization, this role is responsible for the predictive and decisioning models that drive monetization, retention, activation and goal-aligned study guidance. These systems balance immediate impact with long-term user value and must integrate seamlessly into Quizlet’s product architecture.

You will lead both the modeling efforts and the technical integration work required to bring complex ML systems into production. This includes designing predictive and prescriptive models (such as conversion propensity, churn risk, LTV, sequential decisioning, and timing optimization) and collaborating closely with product and infrastructure engineering to ensure these models can be safely and cleanly embedded into existing product workflows.

A major part of this role involves identifying dependencies within the product codebase, defining integration contracts with cross-functional partners, and shaping technical solutions that allow ML-driven decisioning to operate reliably, efficiently, and maintainably at scale.

You’ll work closely with product managers, data scientists, platform engineers, backend engineers, and fellow ML engineers to deliver ML-driven experiences that drive engagement, satisfaction, and measurable business outcomes.

About the Role:

You will own the full lifecycle of these systems (from problem framing and model development to integration, deployment, and long-term reliability) working closely with product, infrastructure and backend engineering partners. A core responsibility of this role is embedding model-driven decisions into Quizlet’s product in a way that is safe, observable, and maintainable, including identifying dependencies, defining clean interfaces, and ensuring robust fallback behavior.

Your work will directly influence monetization, retention, activation and goal-aligned study guidance, requiring you to balance short-term business impact with long-term learner value and product integrity.

We’re happy to share that this is an onsite position in either our Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, or NYC. To help foster team collaboration, we require that employees be in the office a minimum of three days per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and as needed by your manager or the company. We believe that this working environment facilitates increased work efficiency, team partnership, and supports growth as an employee and organization.

In this role, you will:

Lead the design and development of predictive and prescriptive models (e.g., conversion propensity, churn risk, LTV, uplift, sequential decisioning, and timing optimization) that drive learner-facing decisions across monetization, lifecycle, and study guidance surfaces
Design and build decisioning and policy models that determine learner-facing actions across product surfaces, including monetization, lifecycle, and study guidance use cases. These systems operate under real-world product constraints and must optimize across multiple, sometimes competing objectives
Determine when and how to present paywalls, discounts, or value exchanges
Selecting personalized study modes or interventions based on learner state, intent, and context
Triggering retention and churn-prevention actions at the appropriate moment
Balancing short-term conversion and revenue goals with long-term engagement, retention, and learning outcomes
Prioritize: Multi-objective optimization across monetization, retention, user experience, and learning outcomes, time-aware and eligibility-aware decisioning, rather than static prediction, consistent action selection across sessions, devices, and product surfaces, and an approach that connects offline modeling metrics to online experimental results
Apply and advance uplift modeling, survival analysis, sequential decisioning, and other policy-based approaches, taking responsibility for bringing these techniques into production-grade systems
Lead the end-to-end productionization of ML systems, from modeling through integration, ensuring models can be safely, cleanly, and reliably embedded into existing product workflows
Identify upstream and downstream dependencies within the product codebase and data ecosystem, and proactively address integration risks
Define and negotiate clean integration boundaries, including API contracts, data interfaces, decision schemas, and fallback strategies, in collaboration with product and infrastructure engineering
Partner closely with Infrastructure Engineering to design scalable, resilient, and observable model-serving paths that integrate with Quizlet’s application stack
Embed model-driven decisioning logic into backend and product flows in ways that are maintainable, testable, and compatible with existing systems
Build and maintain end-to-end pipelines for feature engineering, training, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring, ensuring training–serving consistency
Improve latency, throughput, reliability, and observability of real-time and near–real-time inference systems operating at scale
Translate product goals (conversion, retention, revenue, engagement) into clear modeling objectives and technical specifications
Collaborate closely with product managers, backend engineers, and infrastructure partners to ensure ML systems fit naturally into the existing architecture without introducing brittle dependencies
Develop evaluation frameworks that tie offline metrics to online A/B results, ensuring changes are measurable, interpretable, and aligned with product impact
Clearly communicate assumptions, trade-offs, risks, and technical constraints to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Provide technical leadership for ML-driven decision systems, guiding the organization toward unified policy models and consistent action-selection frameworks across surfaces
Mentor engineers and scientists, setting a high bar for modeling rigor, production quality, experimentation discipline, and responsible ML
Shape long-term strategy for scalable, maintainable ML decisioning, bringing modern approaches—including sequential decisioning and RL-adjacent techniques—into production where appropriate

What you bring to the table:

6+ years of applied ML or ML-heavy engineering experience, with a track record of shipping production models that drive measurable business impact
Deep expertise in classical ML techniques (e.g., boosted trees, GLMs, survival models, uplift modeling)
Experience with reinforcement learning, contextual bandits, or sequential decision-making.
Strong engineering skills with Python and common ML frameworks (scikit-learn, PyTorch, XGBoost, LightGBM, etc.)
Demonstrated experience integrating ML systems into complex product architectures, ideally including monolithic applications
Experience defining integration boundaries, solving backend/ML interface issues, and collaborating with infra teams on serving patterns.
Strong understanding of experimentation design, causal analysis, and the relationship between offline and online evaluation
Excellent communication skills for conveying technical constraints and integration trade-offs
A strong ownership mindset centered on reliability, maintainability, and long-term system health

Bonus points if you have:

Background in causal ML or uplift modeling
Experience with paywall optimization, monetization systems, or churn modeling
Knowledge of real-time inference architectures, feature stores, or streaming systems
Publications or open-source contributions in ML, RL, causal inference, or system integration

Compensation, Benefits & Perks:

Quizlet is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Salary transparency helps to mitigate unfair hiring practices when it comes to discrimination and pay gaps. Total compensation for this role is market competitive, including a starting base salary of $174,000 - $330,000, depending on location and experience, as well as company stock options
Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
20 vacation days that we expect you to take!
Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, Dental, VSP Choice)
Employer-sponsored 401k plan with company match
Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, and Wellness benefits
40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice

Why Join Quizlet?

🌎 Massive reach: 60M+ users, 1B+ interactions per week

🧠 Cutting-edge tech: Generative AI, adaptive learning, cognitive science

📈 Strong momentum: Top-tier investors, sustainable business, real traction

🎯 Mission-first: Work that makes a difference in people’s lives

🤝 Inclusive culture: Committed to equity, diversity, and belonging

We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome!

We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership.

We provide a transparent setting that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!

In Closing:

At Quizlet, we’re excited about passionate people joining our team—even if you don’t check every box on the requirements list. We value unique perspectives and believe everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Our culture is all about taking initiative, learning through challenges, and striving for high-quality work while staying curious and open to new ideas. We believe in honest, respectful communication, thoughtful collaboration, and creating a supportive space where everyone can grow and succeed together.”

Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Come join us!

To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies:

At this time, Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles.

Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.

#LI-onsite

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