Senior Engineering Manager, Search and Discovery

About the Role

The mission of the search and discovery team is to connect a billion users with the best connections and content at the right time, covering an extremely diverse range of recommendations and search problems at high scale. This is fundamental to how we personalize the experience to drive engagement and retention for Roblox users.

As a Senior Engineering Manager for the Search & Discovery ML team, you will lead the architects of exploration for one of the world's largest immersive platforms. You will be responsible for the core algorithms that connect over 120 million daily active users with millions of 3D experiences, items, and social connections. You will move beyond traditional recommendation systems into multimodal, agentic, and generative discovery.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a high-performing team of machine learning engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and engineering excellence.
• Establish a long-term strategic framework for the home page ML models.
• Collaborate with the ML platform team, data science, and product teams to deliver SoTA ML models.
• Oversee the end-to-end development life cycle, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality, robust ML solutions.
• Mentor and coach team members, providing continuous feedback and career development guidance.
• Manage cross-functional projects and communicate progress, risks, and challenges to leadership and stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of management experience and 8+ years of experience building machine learning systems.
• Experience in hiring, managing, and mentoring senior machine learning engineers and technical leaders.
• Deeply knowledgeable about best practices for SoTA machine learning architecture and algorithms.
• Skill at driving technical strategy and roadmap planning in ambiguous and fast-paced environments.
• Established strong, collaborative relationships with cross-functional partners and senior leadership.
• Passion for fostering a high-trust, no-blame culture prioritizing growth-oriented mentorship and psychological safety.
• Knowledge of the machine learning life cycle and data requirements for training, serving, and monitoring models.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, capable of articulating complex technical concepts to a diverse audience.
• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with SoTA ML models and solutions, and applying advanced ML solutions to product problems.

Work Arrangement

Roles based in an office are onsite Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with optional presence on Monday and Friday.