---
title: 'Staff Software Engineer - Machine Learning (Search) at Databricks'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-machine-learning-search-databricks-bengaluru-zcjcs904sysb'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-17'
---

# Staff Software Engineer - Machine Learning (Search) at Databricks

- **Company:** Databricks
- **Location:** Bengaluru, India
- **Posted:** 2025-04-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17
- **Apply:** https://databricks.com/company/careers/open-positions/job?gh_jid=7958982002

## Job description

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 2025, 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](https://www.linkedin.com/company/databricks), [X](https://x.com/databricks), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@Databricks), and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/databricksinc/?hl=en).

## 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](https://docs.google.com/document/d/154un3e8Xav4BceOSlcYFZRGEuQI54xMxVydRwQn54eQ/edit?usp=sharing).

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.

## About Databricks

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Databricks provides a unified data and AI platform built on an open lakehouse architecture, enabling organizations to manage data, analytics, and AI at scale.
- **Entity Type**: Private (late-stage, last reported valuation ~$43B in 2021, but current valuation not publicly disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2013
- **Founders**: Original creators of Apache Spark™, Delta Lake, MLflow, and Unity Catalog (co-founders include Ali Ghodsi, Matei Zaharia, Ion Stoica, Patrick Wendell, Reynold Xin, among others)

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Data & AI Platform / Enterprise Software
- Target customers: B2B – Enterprise, SMB, and government organizations; over 20,000 customers worldwide, including 70% of the Fortune 500
- Mission: “Simplify and democratize data and AI, helping data and AI teams solve the world’s toughest problems.” [databricks.com](https://www.databricks.com/company/about-us)

## Products & Services
- **Databricks Data Intelligence Platform**: Unified platform for data engineering, data warehousing, data science, machine learning, and AI. It integrates open-source technologies like Apache Spark, Delta Lake, MLflow, and Unity Catalog.
- **Lakebase**: Serverless Postgres database integrated with the lakehouse, built for the AI era.
- **Genie**: AI-powered natural language assistant for data insights and querying.
- **Agent Bricks**: Tools for building AI agents that continuously improve quality and accuracy on an organization’s data.
- **Additional offerings**: Data warehousing, business intelligence, governance, data engineering, and AI/ML services.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company; last reported valuation of $43B in 2021 from a Series I round, but no recent official disclosure)
- **Key Metric**: Over 10,000 employees; 20,000+ customers; 70% of Fortune 500; 1,200+ global partners [databricks.com](https://www.databricks.com/)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not explicitly listed in search results, but known investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, Microsoft, and others. Partners include major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) and consulting firms.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount of 10,000+ employees; offices in 30+ locations across 20+ countries; 5x Leader in Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Reports; LinkedIn job postings growing 26.7% year-over-year (783 active positions) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/databricks)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Open lakehouse architecture**: Combines data lake and data warehouse capabilities with open-source standards, avoiding vendor lock-in.
- **Founding team behind Apache Spark, Delta Lake, MLflow**: Deep technical credibility and active open-source community.
- **Unified platform**: Single solution for data engineering, analytics, and AI, reducing complexity for enterprises.
- **Strong data governance**: Unity Catalog provides centralized access control and lineage.
- **AI-native**: Built-in AI capabilities (Genie, Agent Bricks) that leverage an organization’s own data.

## Strategic Focus
- Expanding AI capabilities with natural language interfaces and autonomous agents.
- Deepening integrations with cloud providers and open-source ecosystems.
- Scaling enterprise sales and global footprint (30+ offices, focus on EMEA and APAC).
- Cultivating a developer and data science community through university programs and open-source contributions.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “innovators, builders and truthseekers” with a focus on solving hard technical problems. Emphasizes inclusion, diversity, and equity, including closing the pay gap and removing unconscious bias from recruitment. [databricks.com](https://www.databricks.com/company/careers)
- **Work Environment**: Hybrid/flexible work model; benefits and perks include health, well-being, and flexible ways of working. Offices in major cities globally.
- **Engineering Culture**: Strong emphasis on open-source, AI, and data infrastructure. Opportunities for interns and new grads to contribute to core platform. Hackathons, board game nights, and social events.
- **Growth**: Fast-growing company (10,000+ employees, 20,000+ customers) with ambitious scaling plans, offering career advancement in engineering, sales, product, and more.

## Sources
1. [Databricks About Us](https://www.databricks.com/company/about-us)
2. [Databricks Careers](https://www.databricks.com/company/careers)
3. [Databricks Homepage](https://www.databricks.com/)
4. [Databricks LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/databricks)

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