Strategic Overview
Staff Software Engineer (Search Ranking) at Databricks is a dev opportunity centered on the specialist responsibilities and outcomes described in the employer's listing.
The published role emphasizes work such as Drive the development and deployment of ML based search and discovery relevance models and systems integrated with Databricks' products and services. Design and implement automated ML and NLP pipelines for data preprocessing, query understanding and rewrite,…
The role is listed for Bengaluru, India with the working arrangement published with the role, giving candidates the practical context needed to assess fit before applying.
Key information at a glance
About This Role
P-1408
The Applied AI team at Databricks sits at the forefront of advancing AI/ML-powered products. Databricks’ customers are continuously creating new assets (tables, notebooks, dashboards, datarooms, pipelines, sql queries, ml models etc.) on the platform. Some of them can have hundreds of millions of assets. Finding an asset is a critical user journey for Databricks’ customers which helps them accomplish their tasks.
As our Search product continues to evolve, we are seeking a Staff Engineer to lead enhancements to our Search Quality. In 2026, we will focus on enhancing search ranking, improving query understanding, building robust evals and growing the coverage of assets to enable seamless search at scale.
Key Responsibilities & Objectives
- Drive the development and deployment of ML based search and discovery relevance models and systems integrated with Databricks' products and services.
- Design and implement automated ML and NLP pipelines for data preprocessing, query understanding and rewrite, ranking and retrieval, and model evaluation, enabling rapid experimentation and iteration.
- Collaborate with product managers and cross-functional teams to drive technology-first initiatives that enable novel business strategies and product roadmaps for the search and discovery experience.
- 10+ years experience developing search relevance systems at scale in production or in high-impact research environments.
Required Qualifications & Candidate Blueprint
- BS+ (M.S. or PhD preferred) in Computer Science, or a related field.
- Experience in one or more of the following:
Salary & Benefits
The available source data does not publish a numerical salary range for this opening. We do not estimate or substitute third-party figures.
Full Job Description
The following is the complete job description supplied by the source. We sanitize unsafe markup and remove external links, but do not shorten or rewrite the employer's source content.
P-1408
The Applied AI team at Databricks sits at the forefront of advancing AI/ML-powered products. Databricks’ customers are continuously creating new assets (tables, notebooks, dashboards, datarooms, pipelines, sql queries, ml models etc.) on the platform. Some of them can have hundreds of millions of assets. Finding an asset is a critical user journey for Databricks’ customers which helps them accomplish their tasks.
As our Search product continues to evolve, we are seeking a Staff Engineer to lead enhancements to our Search Quality. In 2026, we will focus on enhancing search ranking, improving query understanding, building robust evals and growing the coverage of assets to enable seamless search at scale.
Key Responsibilities
- Drive the development and deployment of ML based search and discovery relevance models and systems integrated with Databricks' products and services.
- Design and implement automated ML and NLP pipelines for data preprocessing, query understanding and rewrite, ranking and retrieval, and model evaluation, enabling rapid experimentation and iteration.
- Collaborate with product managers and cross-functional teams to drive technology-first initiatives that enable novel business strategies and product roadmaps for the search and discovery experience.
- Contribute to building a robust framework for evaluating search ranking improvements - both offline and online.
What We’re Looking For
- BS+ (M.S. or PhD preferred) in Computer Science, or a related field.
- 10+ years experience developing search relevance systems at scale in production or in high-impact research environments.
- Experience applying LLM to search relevance
- Experience in one or more of the following:
- Query understanding
- NLP
- Text mining
- Recommendations
- Personalization
- Discovery
- Conversational AI
- Strong understanding of computer science fundamentals.
- Contributions to well-used open-source projects.
Why Join Us?
At Databricks, we are building state-of-the-art AI solutions that redefine how users interact with data and our products. You’ll have the opportunity to shape the future of AI-driven products at Databricks, work with cutting-edge models, and collaborate with a world-class team of AI and ML experts.
If you're excited about pushing the boundaries of AI in real-world applications, we’d love to hear from you!
About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.
Benefits
At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.
Compliance
If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.
Editor’s Market Perspective (Our Custom Analysis)
Why This Position Matters
This dev opening is a useful opportunity for candidates whose experience matches the role-specific capabilities named in the listing. Its strongest career signal is the scope of the work itself — particularly Drive the development and deployment of ML based search and discovery relevance models and systems integrated with Databricks' products and services. — rather than a generic title alone.
Resume & Application Strategy
For the application, mirror the employer's language where it truthfully matches your background: foreground the role-specific capabilities named in the listing, quantify outcomes from comparable work, and place the most relevant experience near the top of the resume. If the listing specifies tools, platforms, leadership scope, or domain experience, use those exact terms in context instead of presenting an unrelated keyword list.
We organize source-provided information into this independent job-seeker overview. Compensation is shown only when the source provides it; the official listing remains the authority for current requirements and application instructions.