Job Description

Location

Virtual, Ontario

Department

Engineering

Job Type

Full Time

Thumbtack helps millions of people confidently care for their homes.

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Thumbtack is the one app you need to take care of and improve your home -- from personalized guidance to AI tools and a best-in-class hiring experience. Every day in every county of the U.S., people turn to Thumbtack to complete urgent repairs, seasonal maintenance, and bigger improvements. We help homeowners know projects to do, when to do them, and who to hire from our growing community of 300,000 local service businesses. If making an impact inspires you, join us. Imagine what we'll build together.

About the Applied Science Team

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We're looking for applied scientists with deep expertise in machine learning, optimization, building data products, and/or statistics. As part of a small product team you will have full ownership over your domain, so you should be a person who dreams big, then executes well.


At Thumbtack, the Applied Science team is responsible for a wide variety of problems spanning machine learning, statistics, and computer science, including:


Improving customer and service provider matching. Matching and optimization algorithms are fundamental to Thumbtack's product: we now service millions of matches per week. Identifying better matches between customers and service providers has an incredible impact on the experience of customers and professionals transacting on our platform.


Modeling complex relationships in the presence of many confounding factors. Predictive modeling problems are everywhere across our product. Our team works to scope, design and implement machine learning models to support Thumbtack's product and marketing.


Characterizing marketplace dynamics. Thumbtack's marketplaces consist of thousands of active markets across our service categories and U.S. cities. Via exploratory data analysis and experimental design, our team works to understand trends and behaviors within these markets.


Building a healthy marketplace. We evolve and manage the monetization mechanics of our marketplace, including defining the parameters that affect the prices we charge.

Hear from

Michelle

"Opinions from all across the organization are

valued and listened to

, and it's easy and encouraged to get involved with a project you're passionate about."

Michelle

Senior Manager, Engineering

The challenge

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We are looking for someone with deep expertise in applying scientific techniques to consumer products. This person will work on our search experience, our ranking and matching algorithms, and the end-to-end hiring experience for users of our marketplace. We need to bring homeowners and service professionals together in matches that work for both sides, where the skills of professionals match with the project needs of homeowners, and where scheduling and pricing align to make these successful jobs done. We need to make the most of all the information we know about projects and professionals in a seamless user experience that guides and informs homeowners.

What you'll do

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Initiate and drive applied science initiatives to completion, with a focus on the business impact of those projects Architect and deploy machine learning systems and algorithms to production Design and execute experiments, collect and analyze data to characterize our product and marketing Analyze a wide variety of data: structured and unstructured, observational and experimental Collaborate with engineers, data scientists, and economists to use sound statistical practices Maintain the right balance between speed of execution and scientific rigor when designing solutions Technical mentorship of other applied scientists

In order to be successful, you must bring

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Expert knowledge of machine learning techniques, particularly as applied to search, ranking, and matching problems Experience with NLP techniques, including familiarity with modern LLM designs and tools Ability to effectively read, write, and debug code in programming languages such as Python Good knowledge of probability and statistics, including experimental design, optimization, and causal inference Experience with technical mentorship of other applied scientists Demonstrated ability to create and drive technical and impactful roadmaps for the business, and lead seamless execution Ability to break down complex problems rigorously and understand the tradeoffs necessary to deliver impactful projects Ability to communicate clearly and effectively to cross functional partners of various technical levels ###

Thumbtack by the numbers

$600B+

opportunity in Thumbtack's market home services

4M+

customers in past 12 months

90M+

projects started on Thumbtack

13M

5-star reviews

$3.2B

valuation (as of June 2021)
Perks & Benefits

Supporting you at work and beyond

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In addition to our virtual-first model, we offer:

Paid time off

Recharge with PTO, in addition to 20 company-wide holidays each year, including a week-long end-of-year shutdown.

Remote work stipend and reimbursements

$1,000 USD/$1,400 CAD annual stipend for professional development, self care, office set-up and more. We also provide cell phone and Wi-Fi reimbursements.

Support for parents and caregivers

All parents receive up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and birthing parents receive 8 additional weeks, for a total of 20 weeks of 100% paid parental leave (US & CAN).

Family formation benefits

$30,000 USD/CAD lifetime max reimbursement for family planning.

Mental health and financial coaching

12 coaching sessions and 12 therapy sessions for yourself and your dependents. We also offer one-on-one financial guidance from a financial wellness provider.

Thumbtack Bucks

$1,800 USD/CAD annual stipend to book a pro on Thumbtack for virtual or in-person services -- anything from home care services to planning a child's birthday party and beyond.