We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Data Engineer with expertise in computer vision and machine learning to lead the development of an AI-driven photo evaluation and personalized recommendation platform. In this role, you will build systems that intelligently analyze and rank photos for their potential as personalized physical products. This position offers the opportunity to combine semantic image understanding, aesthetic scoring, and behavioral personalization into a unified recommendation pipeline.

Responsibilities

• Design and build systems using CNN-based models and transformer-based vision models to analyze, score, and tag photos with metadata
• Develop models for facial recognition, grouping, and expression analysis
• Create contextual categories for photos, such as vacations, events, and portraits
• Score images for aesthetic appeal and print-worthiness
• Develop object and scene detection models to extract meaningful photo metadata
• Prototype and design custom transformer architectures tailored to product creation needs
• Build scalable pipelines capable of processing large volumes of image data and generating structured, queryable metadata
• Integrate image intelligence outputs with downstream applications, such as search, ranking, and personalization
• Build and deploy transformer-based ML models for analyzing user behavior and purchase patterns to create personalized product recommendations
• Lead experimentation frameworks, such as A/B testing, to optimize recommendation relevance and user conversion rates
• Develop, operate, and maintain the full ML model stack, ensuring robust deployment and system documentation
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to operationalize model development and ensure seamless integration into production systems
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders and team members, demonstrating a self-driven approach

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• At least 3 years of experience in roles focused on software engineering or AI/ML
• Deep expertise in computer vision techniques, including CNNs, vision transformers, facial recognition, object detection, image classification, and image embedding
• Strong experience with recommendation systems, collaborative filtering, and deep learning for personalization
• Advanced knowledge of transformer-based models for recommendation systems
• Proficiency in Python for building and deploying AI/ML solutions
• Hands-on experience deploying ML models at scale using tools like Docker, AWS, or GCP
• Proven experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives from ideation to delivery
• Solid understanding of the ML lifecycle, including data management, model evaluation, explainability, and observability
• Fluent English skills, both written and spoken, at a B2+ level or higher

Nice to have

• Experience with ML libraries such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
• Hands-on experience with diffusion models, graph neural networks (GNNs), or reinforcement learning

We offer

• International projects with top brands
• Work with global teams of highly skilled, diverse peers
• Healthcare benefits
• Employee financial programs
• Paid time off and sick leave
• Upskilling, reskilling and certification courses
• Unlimited access to the LinkedIn Learning library and 22,000+ courses
• Global career opportunities
• Volunteer and community involvement opportunities
• EPAM Employee Groups
• Award-winning culture recognized by Glassdoor, Newsweek and LinkedIn