Staff Machine Learning Engineer

September 3, 2026

JOB LEVELP50EMPLOYEE ROLEIndividual Contributor<h2>The Opportunity</h2>Join Adobe's AI Foundations team within the Search, Discovery & Content AI (SDC) organization and help build the next generation of AI-powered retrieval, matching, ranking, and content understanding systems across Adobe.Our team develops foundational AI capabilities that connect users with the most relevant content across Acrobat, Adobe Stock, Lightroom, Creative Cloud, enterprise repositories, and emerging agentic AI experiences. We work at the intersection of multimodal foundation models, large-scale retrieval systems, ranking, and generative AI.As a Staff Machine Learning Engineer (MLE 50), you will design, build, and deploy semantic matching and ranking models that understand text, images, documents, and other content modalities at Adobe scale. Your work will shape how millions of users—and increasingly AI agents—discover and interact with content across Adobe's ecosystem.<h2>What You'll Do</h2><ul><li>Design, develop, and deploy semantic matching, retrieval, and multi-objective ranking models for multimodal content across Adobe products.</li><li>Build representation learning systems using LLMs, vision-language models, embedding models, and multimodal foundation models to improve relevance and content understanding.</li><li>Develop scalable retrieval and ranking architectures powering search, recommendation, content discovery, and agentic workflows across enterprise and marketplace content.</li><li>Train, fine-tune, and optimize machine learning models using large-scale behavioral, content, and synthetic datasets.</li><li>Build evaluation frameworks, benchmarks, and experimentation methodologies to measure relevance, ranking quality, retrieval effectiveness, and user impact.</li><li>Partner with Adobe Research, product teams, and engineering organizations to translate innovative research into production capabilities.</li><li>Drive the end-to-end lifecycle of ML systems, from data preparation and model development to deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.</li><li>Stay ahead of with advances in information retrieval, multimodal AI, representation learning, and agentic systems, bringing new innovations into Adobe products.</li></ul><h2>What You Need to Succeed</h2><ul><li>Strong experience building and deploying machine learning systems in production.</li><li>Strong experience developing retrieval, recommendation, ranking, search relevance, or semantic matching systems at scale.</li><li>Deep understanding of modern ML techniques, including representation learning, metric learning, transformer architectures, multi-objective optimization, and large-scale model training.</li><li>Experience working with LLMs, embedding models, vision-language models, or other multimodal foundation models.</li><li>Strong software engineering skills with proficiency in Python and experience building scalable ML services and infrastructure.</li><li>Experience with modern ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, Hugging Face, Ray, Spark, or equivalent technologies.</li><li>Experience designing and analyzing offline and online evaluations, including A/B testing and relevance metrics.</li><li>Familiarity with distributed training, large-scale data processing, and MLOps standard methodologies.</li><li>Strong problem-solving skills and ability to collaborate across research, engineering, and product teams.</li><li>MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Information Retrieval, or a related field, or equivalent experience.</li></ul><h2>Nice to Have</h2><ul><li>Experience building large-scale search, recommendation, retrieval, or ranking systems.</li><li>Expertise in multimodal representation learning across text, images, documents, video, or other modalities.</li><li>Experience with vector search, embedding-based retrieval, approximate nearest neighbor systems, and retrieval-augmented architectures.</li><li>Familiarity with learning-to-rank techniques, relevance optimization, and search quality evaluation.</li><li>Experience applying foundation models, LLMs, and agentic AI systems to retrieval, ranking, or content understanding problems.</li><li>Publications or open-source contributions in machine learning, information retrieval, search, ranking, recommender systems, or multimodal AI.</li></ul><h2>About the Team</h2>The AI Foundations team develops core AI capabilities for content and intent understanding, semantic retrieval, matching, ranking, and intelligent content experiences across Adobe.Our work spans documents, images, creative assets, enterprise repositories, and marketplace content. We build foundational technologies that enable users and AI agents to discover, understand, and interact with the right content at the right time.We operate at the intersection of multimodal foundation models, large-scale machine learning systems, information retrieval, and generative AI. Our mission is to transform how content is organized, discovered, and used across Adobe products, helping individuals and organizations unlock more value from their content.Expected Pay Range:Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several  U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $172,500 -- $306,625 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.<h3>‌</h3>In California, the pay range for this position is $211,800 - $306,625At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.State-Specific Notices:California:Fair Chance OrdinancesAdobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.Colorado:Application Window NoticeIf this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.Massachusetts:Massachusetts Legal NoticeIt is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.Internal OpportunitiesCreativity, curiosity, and constant learning are celebrated aspects of your career growth journey. We’re glad that you’re pursuing a new opportunity at Adobe! Put your best foot forward:1. Update your Resume/CV and <a target="_blank" href="https://adobe.service-now.com/esc?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0017896">Workday profile </a>– don’t forget to include your uniquely ‘Adobe’ experiences and volunteer work.2. Visit the <a target="_blank" href="https://inside.corp.adobe.com/career-growth/career-opportunities.html">Internal Mobility page</a> on Inside Adobe to learn more about the process and set up a job alert for roles you’re interested in.3. Check out these <a target="_blank" href="https://inside.corp.adobe.com/content/dam/learning-and-development/documents/career/Interviewing-DosAndDonts.pdf">tips</a> to help you prep for interviews.4. If you are applying for a role outside of your current country, ensure you review the <a target="_blank" href="https://inside.corp.adobe.com/content/inside/en/immigration-relocation/relocation.html#International-Relocating-Employees">International Resources for Relocating Employees</a> on Inside Adobe, including the impacts to your <a target="_blank" href="https://inside.corp.adobe.com/content/dam/immigration-relocation/documents/relocation/international-transfer-employee-impact-summary.pdf">Benefits, AIP, Equity & Payroll</a>. Once you apply for a role via Workday, the Talent Team will reach out to you within 2 weeks. If you move into the official interview process with the hiring team, make sure you inform your manager so they can champion your career growth.At Adobe, you will be immersed in an exceptional work environment that is recognized around the world. You will also be surrounded by colleagues who are committed to helping each other grow through our unique Check-In approach where ongoing feedback flows freely. If you’re looking to make an impact, Adobe's the place for you. Discover what our employees are saying about their career experiences on the <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.adobe.com/en/topics/adobe-life">Adobe Life blog</a> and explore the meaningful <a target="_blank" href="https://benefits.adobe.com/">benefits</a> we offer.Let’s Adobe togetherAt Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/adobe-for-all.html#::text=and%20culture.-,Our%20company%20values.,-As%20we%20look">values and culture</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/corporate-responsibility.html">focus on people, purpose and community</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/diversity.html">Adobe for All</a>, comprehensive <a target="_blank" href="https://benefits.adobe.com/">benefits programs</a>, the <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.adobe.com/">stories we tell</a>, the <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.adobe.com/en/topics/customer-stories">customers</a> we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.Adobe is proud to be an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf">Equal Employment Opportunity</a> employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/en/careers/pdfs/executed-eeo.pdf">Learn more.</a>Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:accommodations@adobe.com">accommodations@adobe.com</a> or call +1 408-536-3015. AI Use Guidelines for Interviews: Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about <a target="_blank" href="https://careers.adobe.com/us/en/ai-and-your-hiring-experience">AI in the hiring experience</a>.

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Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...