Japanese JD follows / 英文の後に和文JDが続きます
About SmartNews
SmartNews is a leading global information and news discovery company dedicated to delivering quality information to the people who need it. Thanks to our unique machine-learning technology and relationships with more than 3,000 global publisher partners, we provide news that matters to millions of users.
Founded in 2012 in Tokyo, SmartNews also has offices in Osaka (Kansai Office), Palo Alto, New York and Singapore. If you share our vision and are passionate about our mission, we encourage you to apply!
About Team
The Vertical Ranking Team builds the machine learning systems that power personalized experiences across SmartNews. We partner closely with Product and Business teams to design and deploy scalable recommendation solutions that drive user engagement and revenue growth across key surfaces such as For You, Push Notifications, Follow Recommendations, Search, Ads, and emerging vertical experiences.
Our work sits at the intersection of business impact and ML innovation. We translate product requirements and strategic priorities into high-performing ranking strategies that optimize engagement, retention, and monetization. From feature design and model development to experimentation and online iteration, we play a critical role in evolving and enhancing the recommendation pipeline to deliver measurable results.
We operate in a fast-moving environment where real-world impact matters. Every model is evaluated against clear business metrics. By leveraging large-scale behavioral data, advanced modeling techniques, and rigorous A/B testing, we continuously refine performance and elevate the quality of recommendations for our users.
Our team values strong ownership and accountability. Each initiative is grounded in data, aligned with business goals, and contributes to strengthening both vertical strategies and the broader recommendation ecosystem.
If you’re passionate about applying machine learning to solve meaningful business challenges, shaping recommendation strategies that directly influence growth, and collaborating cross-functionally to turn data into impact, the Vertical Ranking Team offers a unique opportunity to drive results at scale.
Responsibilities
In this role, you will translate business goals and product strategies into impactful machine learning solutions that power personalized experiences at scale. You will design, experiment with, and optimize ranking strategies that directly influence user engagement, retention, and monetization across key SmartNews surfaces.
You will collaborate closely with Product, Business, and cross-functional engineering teams to identify opportunities, define success metrics, and deliver measurable improvements through data-driven experimentation. By continuously refining models, features, and ranking logic based on performance insights and user feedback, you will help evolve our recommendation systems to drive sustainable business growth.
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Translate business objectives and product requirements into scalable ranking strategies and machine learning solutions that drive engagement, retention, and revenue growth.
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Design, develop, and iterate on ranking models, features, and optimization strategies across key surfaces such as For You, Push Notifications, Search, and Ads.
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Lead end-to-end experimentation, including hypothesis formation, offline evaluation, A/B testing, and online performance analysis to ensure measurable impact.
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Partner closely with Product, Business, and Engineering teams to define success metrics, prioritize initiatives, and deliver data-driven insights.
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Analyze large-scale user behavior data to identify opportunities, diagnose performance gaps, and continuously improve recommendation quality.
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Contribute to the evolution of the recommendation pipeline by refining modeling approaches, improving feature effectiveness, and driving scalable best practices.
