Brilliant.orgBR

Staff ML Engineer – Adaptive Learning

Brilliant’s mission is to inspire and develop people to achieve their goals in STEM – one person, one question, and one small commitment to learning at a time.

Brilliant.org

Employee count: 51-200

AI, AG + 55 more

About Brilliant

Brilliant's mission is to create a world of better problem solvers. We make games for learning in math, science, computer science, and data analysis, for iOS, Android, and web. On Brilliant, you learn by doing – there are no videos, everything is interactive. We get you hands-on, figuring things out on your own. We help learners develop intuition through interaction, build understanding through experimentation, and have fun.
We serve hundreds of thousands of paid subscribers, and we’re hoping you might be the right person to contribute to accelerating our footprint to millions of customers (and changed lives). In addition to what’s below, you can see all open roles and learn more about our team culture on our careers page.
We have always prioritized building a healthy business as the backbone of achieving our mission. We are default alive (will be profitable before needing to raise), don't over-hire, are growing new customers at an exciting pace (high double-digits year-over-year). Our investors are top-tier + mission aligned, and we’ve kept our valuations tethered to reality – we aren’t playing “catch up” like many others.
In our day-to-day, we value adventure, excellence, generosity, and candor. We are optimists in the face of uncertainty, we take pride in our work, we go the extra mile for each other, and we tell it like it is (the good and the bad). We’re all here to do the best work of our lives together, and have a lot of fun along the way.
We believe that real-time collaboration and human connection are necessary ingredients in building a high-velocity, creatively-oriented consumer product. We maintain core hours (10am - 3pm Pacific) where everyone is online, regardless of timezone. Over half of us are located near our hubs in SF and NYC, and folks outside of those cities travel to attend team offsites once-per-quarter.

The Role

We’re looking for an exceptional builder who can turn messy learner‑interaction data into delightfully personalized lesson sequences. You’ll collaborate closely with data engineers, product managers, and content creators to craft recommendation systems that help every learner find the right challenge at the right moment. You’ll be a dedicated ML engineer building on a mature analytics foundation, not starting from zero.
You will bring deep recommender‑system know‑how, a pragmatic shipping mindset, and curiosity about emerging AI techniques (including the intersection of recommender systems and LLMs) to shape the future of Brilliant’s learning experience. You will be joining a passionate and experienced team of entrepreneurial-minded people who are working to make a meaningful impact on the world.
Be prepared to discuss a recommender system you’ve owned end‑to‑end (with details you can legally share).

Responsibilities:

  • Design, train, and deploy adaptive‑learning recommender models, targeting a measurable lift in lesson completion and learner retention.
  • Own the full ML lifecycle—from Snowflake queries and feature tables, through model training, to a low‑latency inference service.
  • Evaluate and introduce the right technique for the job—two‑tower retrieval today, graph‑based or knowledge‑graph models tomorrow—balancing impact, complexity, and scale.
  • Launch and analyze A/B experiments, iterate quickly, and communicate results and next steps to cross‑functional partners.
  • Document best practices, raise the engineering bar, and mentor teammates eager to grow their ML craft.

You:

  • Have 5+  years of hands‑on experience shipping recommender or ranking systems that moved key product metrics.
  • Have deep expertise in Python plus strong experience with a modern deep‑learning framework (PyTorch or TensorFlow) and cloud‑native deployment.
  • Have built at least two of the following in production: two‑tower retrieval, deep cross‑feature ranking models, graph or knowledge‑graph recommenders, sequential/Transformer recommenders, or contextual bandits.
  • Routinely design and read A/B tests, translating statistical lift into plain‑language insights for product and content teams.
  • Thrive in a builder’s environment: you bias toward action, sweat the details, and are happy to own a problem end‑to‑end.
  • Stay curious about the frontier where classical RecSys meets generative AI, and are eager to explore new techniques when they promise real learner value.

Compensation and Benefits

We use a systematic compensation framework: salary scales are set each year for each job vertical, managers level folks on their team, and those levels are mapped directly to our compensation scales. A location-based adjustment is applied outside of SF and NYC (typically 5-10%) - feel free to ask us about your location!
Given the systematic approach, we always make First and Best offers - there is no negotiation (for new hires nor our existing teammates). This ensures people are paid based on their expected contribution, not their negotiation skills.
We offer top-notch health care plans, with 100% of the premiums covered for medical, dental, and vision for employees. About 1/3 of our team are parents, and we provide generous parental leave + up to $1900/mo in dependent healthcare coverage.
We offer flexible PTO, with a norm of taking off about 6 weeks per year (including federal holidays). We also provide home office equipment, a professional development stipend, and free food at our offices.
Our CCPA Privacy Notice can be found here.

About the job

Apply before

Posted on

Job type

Full Time

Experience level

Senior

About Brilliant.org

Learn more about Brilliant.org and their company culture.

View company profile

Brilliant’s mission is to inspire and develop people to achieve their goals in STEM – one person, one question, and one small commitment to learning at a time. We enable great teachers to illuminate the soul of math, science, and engineering through bite-sized, interactive learning experiences. Our courses explore the laws that shape our world, and elevate math and science from something to be feared to a delightful experience of guided discovery. We aim to cultivate a world of better learners, thinkers, and problem solvers.

We're proud of our mission and the business we've built around it. We work hard, and most days we love our jobs. Every person has a huge impact on Brilliant and its direction.

A global team anchored in San Francisco

50+ and growing, we work primarily in SF, with teammates in 10 states and 5 countries. We have happy hour once a week, and monthly team events.

Dedicated to changing STEM learning

We care deeply about elevating math and science learning from something to be feared to something that is motivating, inspiring and supportive.

High impact, low ego

We are fiercely protective of our culture, which values community, adventure, kindness, candor, and a perpetual desire for knowledge.

Our vibe is more like this:

  • Be surrounded by people who dance to their own beat.

  • Propose answers, and assert what you think the best outcome would look like.

  • Grow in a relatively autonomous way – no one will tell you what to do or how to do it.

  • Work in an environment that, at times, burns the late night oil (but also takes plenty of vacation).

  • Be adventurous. The work may change every 6 months, but it will rarely be dull.

  • Enjoy freedom and mobility to move laterally to grow into domains you're interested in.

  • Be surrounded by long-term people who are committed to our specific mission.

...and less like this:

  • Be surrounded by model citizens who prize degrees and accolades.

  • Have a very hands-on manager who has all the answers.

  • Have clearly-defined project goals and standards for success.

  • Work in an environment where people strictly keep their 9-5 schedules

  • Methodically grow your career and portfolio without assuming undue risk.

  • Enjoy our vast library of corporate training resources.

  • Command respect by wearing the Gooblesoft uniform – everyone knows Gooblesoft!

What kinds of people work at Brilliant?

People at Brilliant typically share a strong sense of mission, desire for autonomy and ownership over a domain, and a strong generalist skillset within a domain or across domains.

People here are passionate about their (often wonkish) hobbies, delight in unique creative portfolios, or have worked in some way to elevate educational outcomes.

As a team, we embrace diversity – of educational backgrounds, economic backgrounds, race, gender, sexual orientation, and many other categories too numerous to name.

Individuals at Brilliant have:

  • Consulted as a scientist for the TV shows CSI and Bones

  • Worked as a professional electrician

  • Won a global cryptography competition

  • Built VR games

  • Motorcycled across the country

  • Published cutting-edge molecular biology research at SRI

  • Dropped out of college

  • Built interactive, 3D Viking ship models in Norway

  • Created art for Cards Against Humanity and Broad City

  • Flown helicopters

  • Started a high school … while in high school

  • and more…

Employee benefits

Learn about the employee benefits and perks provided at Brilliant.org.

View benefits

Retirement benefits

401(k) plan (non-matching)

Home office budget

Equipment budget for computer and peripherals

Learning and development budget

Sponsorship for conferences and professional development

Healthcare benefits

Medical, dental, and vision benefits – we pay 100% of the premiums

View Brilliant.org's employee benefits
Claim this profileBrilliant.org logoBR

Brilliant.org

Company size

51-200 employees

Founded in

2012

Chief executive officer

Sue Khim

Employees live in

View company profile

Similar remote jobs

Here are other jobs you might want to apply for.

View all remote jobs

7 remote jobs at Brilliant.org

Explore the variety of open remote roles at Brilliant.org, offering flexible work options across multiple disciplines and skill levels.

View all jobs at Brilliant.org

Remote companies like Brilliant.org

Find your next opportunity by exploring profiles of companies that are similar to Brilliant.org. Compare culture, benefits, and job openings on Himalayas.

View all companies

Find your dream job

Sign up now and join over 85,000 remote workers who receive personalized job alerts, curated job matches, and more for free!

Sign up
Himalayas profile for an example user named Frankie Sullivan
Brilliant.org hiring Staff ML Engineer – Adaptive Learning • Remote (Work from Home) | Himalayas