Economist II - Machine Learning Science, Search & Recommendations

Overview

Wayfair is an online retail platform with the mission to enable everyone to live in a home they love. Wayfair builds and leverages cutting edge Machine Learning and AI products. We are looking for talented individuals to join us. We build systems from the ground up with economic fundamentals in mind. Wayfair’s Search, Marketing, and Recommendations ML teams build algorithmic systems that drive our business, enhance customer experience, and improve customer loyalty, powering what our customers see on and off our site at web scale.

You will be part of a high-leverage Sort MLS squad - a cross-functional, collaborative team driving development of world-class ML systems with company-wide impact.

• Own the ranking algorithm and simulation engine that decides which of the millions of products we show to millions of Wayfair shoppers, improving customer satisfaction and company revenue.
• Design, build, deploy, and iterate large-scale decision systems including the sort algorithm, exploration strategies, predictive and counterfactual models.
• Redesign our two-sided marketplace and develop incentive-compatible sort algorithms.
• Partner with Engineering, Infra, and ML Platform teams to product ionize and deploy scalable, reliable services following best practices (CI/CD, monitoring, A/B gating).
• Collaborate with Product, Data Science, and Business stakeholders to turn business opportunities into launched models and measure their impact.
• Discover new opportunities and levers through data exploration and simulation, and deliver end-to-end solutions from proposal to production to monitoring.

• Ph.D. in Economics or a closely related field (e.g., Marketing, Finance, Operations Research, Statistics) with 0-3 years of experience.
• Expertise in marketplace dynamics, profit maximization, simulation, or causal inference.
• Experience with ML models and approaches (deep learning, tree-based models, exploration, bandit algorithms).
• Proficiency in Python or one other high-level programming language.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, ability to synthesize conclusions for non-experts, and overall bias towards simplicity.
• Intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm about continuous learning.

• Experience with Python ML ecosystem (numpy, pandas, sklearn, XGBoost, etc.) and/or Apache Spark Ecosystem (Spark SQL, MLlib/Spark ML).
• Familiarity with GCP (or AWS, Azure), ML model development frameworks, ML orchestration tools (Airflow, Kubeflow, or MLflow).

• Time Off:
  Paid Holidays;
  Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Health & Wellness:
  Full Health Benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA/FSA);
  Life Insurance;
  Disability Protection (Short Term & Long Term Disability);
  Global Wellbeing:
  Gym/Fitness discounts;
  Mental Health Support;
  Caregiver Services
• Financial Growth & Security: 401K Matching;
  Tuition Reimbursement;
  Financial Health Education;
  Tax Advantaged Accounts
• Family Support:
  Family Planning Support;
  Parental Leave;
  Global Surrogacy & Adoption Policy
• Professional Development & Recognition:
  Rewards & Recognition;
  Global Employee Anniversary Awards;
  Paid Volunteer Work
• Work/Life Balance:
  Flexible, supportive environment

Wayfair’s In-Office Policy:
All Seattle-based interns, co-ops, and corporate employees will be in office in a hybrid capacity. Employees will work in the office on designated days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and work remotely the other 2 days of the week.

Wayfair is committed to providing equal opportunities for all individuals including individuals with disabilities. Wayfair will make reasonable accommodations to known limitations of qualified individuals with disabilities, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, please let us know by completing the Accommodations for Applicants form.

For more information about applying for a career at Wayfair, visit our FAQ page.

Wayfair is one of the world’s largest online destinations for the home. We’re committed to industry-leading technology and creative problem-solving. Wayfair is an equal opportunity employer and values the diverse perspectives of its employees, customers, and community. We do not discriminate on any legally protected characteristic. Your personal data is processed in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Notice. If you have questions or wish to exercise your rights under privacy laws, contact data