About Rapidata
Rapidata provides an API to humans that is revolutionizing the data generation and annotation industry. It delivers highly scalable and extremely fast human data that fuels the AI systems of the future. We have a diverse user base of over 10 million active users from all over the world. Naturally, this means different people are good at different things. To optimize both efficiency and quality of responses, we need to assign the right tasks to the right person in real time, at global scale.
The Role
We're looking to hire a Recommender Systems Lead, a senior professional with significant experience in the topic, coming from either a production-heavy industry background or a strong applied research background. Ideally, you've built high-engagement recommendation systems — maybe you made people scroll TikToks a little longer or spend way too much on impulse purchases. Now it's time to transfer that knowledge to improve data labeling for the next generation of AI models.
You should have built a system like this in the past, saw what does and does not work, and also know the pitfalls of actually running a system that makes millions of decisions per hour under strict latency constraints (<5ms). You'll have the opportunity to introduce new modeling approaches, rigorously evaluate them, and see them deployed in a live system operating at global scale — closing the loop between theory, experimentation, and production.
Responsibilities
Developing, Testing and Deploying recommender systems
Defining and owning success metrics (both for short-term and long-term horizons)
Designing offline evaluation pipelines and online experimentation frameworks — our platform is perfect for continuous A/B tests
Showing clear performance improvements
Translating research ideas into production-ready systems and measurable business impact
Hiring and leading a small team
Requirements
Proven experience building and operating production-grade ranking, personalization, or decision systems and/or leading applied research that was validated in real-world systems
Experience in deploying systems with strict latency constraints
Solid statistical and mathematical foundation
High ownership and autonomy over a core company system
Excellent English communication skills, both oral and written
Nice-to-Have
Ability to work in the Bay Area or Zürich
Publications or patents in relevant areas (e.g. recommender systems, ranking, bandits, applied ML), especially where ideas were validated on real-world data or systems
What We Offer
Competitive salary and equity in a startup with strong growth, IP and backed by top-tier VCs
Opportunity to join a fast growing startup early, giving you an outsized opportunity to shape where the company goes
Opportunities for personal and professional growth as our team expands
Fun and open (startup) culture
Spacious mountain views office located in Zürich Center near Sihlcity (3 min from Binz Train station). Large Terrace with Tabletennis, Pizza Oven, Hammock and a BBQ
Hardware budget tailored to your preferences
Unlimited snacks and drinks of your choice