Description:

Upwork is seeking an experienced Senior Backend Engineer to join their AI team in the Search & Recommendations domain.
The role involves building cutting-edge search and recommendation systems to connect companies and talents and enhance AI strategies for business growth.
Responsibilities include architecting, building, maintaining, and improving search systems and AI/ML services that scale with application demands.
The engineer will collaborate with frontend and backend teams to design and implement APIs that meet business requirements and optimize backend processes for low-latency and high-reliability.
Conducting thorough code reviews and driving enhancements to boost API performance and functionality is essential.
The role requires creating and maintaining comprehensive documentation for services to ensure transparency and knowledge sharing.
Staying updated with the latest trends in software development and AI is necessary to evaluate their impact on projects.
The engineer must manage their time independently to achieve project deliverables, estimated at 40 hours per week.
Effective communication and collaboration in English are required, along with participation in project meetings and on-call pager duty schedules.
A commitment to continuous learning and improvement in both technical and soft skills is expected.
Consistent availability from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm PST is required for team collaboration and meetings.

Requirements:

Candidates must have strong industry experience with large-scale production-grade systems as a software engineer, along with indexing experience using Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, or Apache Solr.
A strong background in Java programming with a proven record of delivering robust, high-quality code with unit tests is required.
A solid understanding of API design principles and CI/CD processes is necessary.
Exposure to machine learning concepts and workflows, with an understanding of how services support machine learning models, is important.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, globally distributed team environment are essential.
Candidates should be adaptable to evolving project requirements.

Upwork is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce, ensuring no discrimination based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or disability.
The position offers the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in the industry and contribute to innovative products that shape the future of work.
Employees will have the chance to push the boundaries of search and AI/ML technologies in a collaborative, results-oriented culture.