Senior/Staff Software Engineer, AI Infrastructure

About SmartNews

SmartNews stands as a global leader in redefining information and news discovery. Our mission is to provide users with accurate, timely information while supporting quality journalism. We merge our unique machine-learning technology with the expertise of our top-tier editorial team to deliver news that matters to millions of users, collaborating with over 3,000 global publishing partners. Established in 2012 in Tokyo, Japan, SmartNews now operates offices in Tokyo, San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York, and Singapore.

The Team

Our AI Infrastructure team spearheads the development of advanced infrastructure and tooling for feature engineering, distributed training, AutoML, inference services, and LLM infrastructure. We ensure scalability and real-time performance for billions of users.

In This Role, You Will:

• Set the technical direction for critical areas within the AI Infrastructure Team, collaborating closely with Ranking, Content Understanding, and other machine learning teams.
• Lead the design and implementation of core AI platform systems, including feature engineering platforms, distributed training, and highly scalable inference services.
• Collaborate across the team, resolving issues with dependencies and client teams to successfully deliver AI Infrastructure projects.
• Tackle the most challenging problems within the team.

Required Experience:

• 5+ years of experience in architecting, developing, and shipping large-scale software products.
• 2+ years of experience in AI infrastructure/platforms.
• Expert coding abilities in multiple programming languages (e.g., Java, C++, Python, Scala).
• Experience with Hive, Airflow, Scylla, Redis, Elasticsearch.
• Experience in Spark, Hadoop, Flink, ClickHouse, Presto/Trino development.
• Experience with app or website-related data processing.
• Ability to distill complex problems and drive toward creative solutions.
• Deep end-to-end understanding of sophisticated distributed systems with proactive issue detection and improvement implementations.
• Strong leadership skills, setting a team example for engineering excellence.
• Thrives in a dynamic environment with changing goals and requirements.
• Solid understanding of large-scale machine learning algorithms and a proven track record of building supporting infrastructure.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills for cross-functional teamwork.
• MS or BS in computer science, mathematics, physics, or other quantitative fields.

Nice to Have:

• Experience developing ranking/recommendation/search-related systems.
• Expertise in failure analysis and performance tuning in JVM operations.

Benefits

Perks and Benefits at the SmartNews Tokyo Office:

• Daily prepared lunch and snacks in our on-site kitchen facility.
• In-office coffee stand offering single-origin coffees, espresso-based beverages, teas, and seasonal drinks.
• SmartSelect: Our support program for employee self-development, well-being, and productivity.
• All healthcare and social insurance as required by Japanese labor law.

Visa Sponsorship and Relocation Support:

We offer work visa sponsorship for eligible candidates. To ensure a smooth transition for those moving to Japan from overseas, SmartNews partners with a travel service provider.

Company Name: SmartNews

Job Title: Senior/Staff Software Engineer, AI Infrastructure