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Kensho - Individual Contributor - Machine Learning Engineering

Technical Excellence
  • Tools and Tech
  • Technical Problem Solving
  • Architecture
  • Implementation and Forethought
  • Code/Design Review
  • Debugging
Machine Learning Engineer I Machine Learning Engineer II Senior Machine Learning Engineer I Senior Machine Learning Engineer II Staff Machine Learning Engineer Principal Machine Learning Engineer
Leadership
  • Intellectual Curiosity
  • Innovation
  • Decision Scope
  • Operational Capacity
  • Collaboration Sphere
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Self-Development
  • Adaptability
  • Judgement
  • General Problem Solving
Machine Learning Engineer I Machine Learning Engineer II Senior Machine Learning Engineer I Senior Machine Learning Engineer II Staff Machine Learning Engineer Principal Machine Learning Engineer
Autonomy
  • Bias to Action
  • Influence on Work
  • Resourcefulness
  • Delegation
  • Prioritization
Machine Learning Engineer I Machine Learning Engineer II Senior Machine Learning Engineer I Senior Machine Learning Engineer II Staff Machine Learning Engineer Principal Machine Learning Engineer
Teamwork
  • Feedback
  • Communication
  • Participation
  • Go Team
Machine Learning Engineer I Machine Learning Engineer II Senior Machine Learning Engineer I Senior Machine Learning Engineer II Staff Machine Learning Engineer Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Machine Learning Engineer I

Technical Excellence

Tools and Tech Understands most processes and principles and is familiar with the essential technologies for their work (e.g. git, python, PyTorch, scikit-learn, numpy, pandas, etc.); relies on reference documentation as needed to develop their understanding of core technologies.
Technical Problem Solving Able to follow instructions and deliver results with minimal guidance, troubleshoots and finds solutions autonomously. Explores multiple solutions before zeroing in on one. Proactively brings up issues when help is needed and drives resolution within a reasonable time frame.
Implementation and Forethought Implementations perform as specified under typical conditions. Able to convert notebooks into scripts; solutions are implemented efficiently, no redundant code or copy paste. Pays attention to design, reuses existing functions/libraries, provides clean documentation (within and outside of the code base).
Code/Design Review Actively participates in own and teammates code and design reviews; responsive to comments and change requests in a timely manner.
Debugging Debugs reproducible issues in their own code with full context.

Leadership

Intellectual Curiosity Exercises curiosity in all things. Seeks understanding of company and engineering philosophy and principles. Seeks alternative ways to solve the same problem; proactively asks for feedback or input.
Innovation Shares new ideas and perspectives to solving common problems.
Decision Scope Accountable for decisions made regarding completion of own daily tasks and projects as directed by manager.
Operational Capacity Contributes mainly in a tactical capacity.
Collaboration Sphere Works to build stable internal relationships with peers in department and immediate supervisor.
Conflict Resolution With manager support, resolves conflict.
Self-Development Partners with manager to set personal goals.
Adaptability Establishes a growth mindset by setting and acting upon personal skills goals; discusses goals with manager. Shifts focus and priorities as directed by manager and/or company leadership.
Judgement Exercises sound judgement in all things; seeks counsel from manager, aligned Senior Leader, and/or HR as needed. Seeks to be a positive force on Kensho.
General Problem Solving Learns to use professional concepts. Applies company policies and procedures to resolve routine issues.

Autonomy

Bias to Action Self-starter, but does receive detailed direction on most work.
Influence on Work Primary day-to-day body of work. Limited influence beyond immediate team.
Resourcefulness Seeks existing documentation. Takes full advantage of all training opportunities. Attempts to unblock self; consults teammates when stuck.
Delegation Manager drives most day-to-day work. Proactively seeks to add to current body of work.
Prioritization Priorities are usually determined by manager.

Teamwork

Feedback Open to giving and receiving feedback on code review, design review, and during quarterly performance evaluations. Regularly seeks feedback from peers and managers. With manager support, takes action on areas of development. Provides constructive and actionable feedback to peers and managers.
Communication Practices open and transparent communication with all levels of the organization. Clearly and concisely communicates status updates (state of work, timelines, estimates, blockers, progress, knowledge gaps, PTO/sick time) with stakeholders. Updates documentation when they identify deficiencies or gaps. Shares ideas with teammates, manager, and company leadership.
Participation Attends and actively participates in all team meetings; pays close attention to details.
Go Team Understands their work contributes to Kensho's overall success and does whatever necessary to see it through, without doing harm.

Machine Learning Engineer II

Technical Excellence

Tools and Tech Experienced with essential technologies for their role; may occasionally reference documentation for technologies. Proficient with developer tools (e.g. IDE, shell) to increase workflow efficiency. Automates routine tasks.
Technical Problem Solving Autonomously designs and implements solutions within the primary project and area of expertise given clearly defined objectives. Explores multiple solutions before zeroing in on one. Able to discover new technologies/frameworks, evaluate and incorporate them into existing workflows.
Architecture Evaluates technology choices within a specific application component; considers tradeoffs between complexity, memory usage, performance, and speed of implementation. Explores multiple approaches before zeroing in on one.
Implementation Implementations perform as specified under typical conditions. Abnormal behavior from other components of the project is managed and resolved. Writes clean, well-documented and reusable code. Breaks down monolithic pieces of code into reusable components. Benchmarks against SOTA solutions/competing architectures.
Code/Design Review Provides thorough, timely code reviews. Provides feedback on design docs about specific areas of expertise. Holds team and self to high standards in code design, code style and readability. Ensures the code is well-documented.
Debugging Debugs reproducible issues in products with which they have familiarity even with less than full context. Increases efficiency by shortening debugging loops.

Leadership

Intellectual Curiosity Exercises curiosity in all things; encourages peers to seek anmlers. Demonstrates strong understanding of company and engineering philosophy and principles. Provides evidence and counter proposals to support ideas.
Innovation Takes appropriate amount of risk and tries new ways of doing old things. Learning to be comfortable with failure and seeks to learn from it. Shares lessons with peers and teammates.
Decision Scope Independently determines completion path of own daily tasks and projects.
Operational Capacity Supports the tactical initiatives for the relative area; seeks opportunities to lead certain initiatives.
Collaboration Sphere Builds productive internal/external working relationships with department and functional leadership.
Conflict Resolution Resolves most conflict independently, immediately makes manager aware of issue and proposed solution.
Self-Development Independently sets and achieves personal goals; assesses own progress regularly.
Adaptability Regularly asks for and acts upon feedback to continually improve and adjust personal skills goals. Assesses and shifts priorities with minimal disruption.
Judgement Exercises sound judgement in all things; seeks counsel from manager, aligned Senior Leader, and/or HR as needed. Behaviors and actions demonstrate good intent and positive impact on Kensho.
General Problem Solving Develops professional expertise, applies company policies and procedures to resolve a variety of issues.

Autonomy

Bias to Action Mostly independent. Normally receives little instruction on day-to-day work, general instructions on new assignments. Seeks to independently achieve results as often as possible. May act as more experienced mentor to junior teammates.
Influence on Work Primary day-to-day body of work; regularly assesses own strengths, scope of work, and level of effectiveness. May influence team based projects and tasks.
Resourcefulness Seeks out and maintains existing documentation. Regularly attends all training opportunities offered by Kensho. Actively seeks additional training/learning opportunities outside of Kensho. Usually unblocks self; foresees when assistance is required.
Delegation Seeks to take level-appropriate tasks from manager; offers opportunities to teammates.
Prioritization Usually determines own priorities; able to manage multiple priorities. Manager may help sort out priorities if conflicts arise.

Teamwork

Feedback Proactively provides clear, actionable feedback to peers and managers in code review, design review and during quarterly performance evaluations. Regularly seeks feedback from peers and managers. Independently takes action on areas of development.
Communication Proactively shares knowledge with teammates. Proactively communicates current state of the work (and all other related matters) to stakeholders. Proactively communicates concerns and blockers to peers and/or managers as appropriate. Proactively updates documentation when updating code.
Participation Actively participates in retrospectives, provide detailed estimates, detailed explanations of technical decisions (if necessary.) Observes gaps in current processes and offers suggested solutions. Offers new ideas to enhance experience of team members.
Go Team Acts as an internal cheerleader to peers and teammates. Seeks out and actively engages in opportunities to further Kensho's mission (e.g. career fair ambassador, lightning talks, interview panelist, etc.)

Senior Machine Learning Engineer I

Technical Excellence

Tools and Tech Deeply experienced with all essential technologies for their role. Understands end-2-end ML lifecycle and is able to quickly diagnose ML-related issues, pinpoint problematic areas and design and implement solutions autonomously. Recognized as a team expert on particular tools and/or technologies. Employs unfamiliar reference documentation efficiently and judiciously for atypical use of technologies.
Technical Problem Solving Independently develops and deploys features across an entire ML application; understands inter-dependencies and how a single change might affect multiple components. Able to autonomously design, build and deploy an ML-based solution. Incorporates new/unfamiliar frameworks with ease after initial research and evaluation. Helps team resolve complex technical problems.
Architecture Evaluate tradeoffs between complexity, memory usage, performance, reliability, and suitability for product goals and makes recommendations with strong justifications of choices. Explores multiple approaches before zeroing in on one. Able to think beyond own scope and how ML solution will be incorporated into an end application. Works with software engineering teams to fine-tune and refine relevant architectural choices.
Implementation Abnormal behavior from dependencies is handled when possible; observables (e.g. logs and metrics) highlight actionable problems with the system. Designs and implements complex solutions with multiple dependencies. Ensures code is well tested with high test coverage. Scope is primarily within own project.
Code/Design Review Provides thorough, timely code reviews. Sought out as a reviewer for more complicated changes affecting an application. Provides feedback on all areas of design docs. Proactively pinpoints areas of concern or potential risk and mitigates those risks with timely solutions. Attentive to detail. Champions best practices in security and data privacy.
Debugging Debugs issues in products with which they have familiarity even with incomplete context. Offers mitigating or partial solutions when appropriate.

Leadership

Intellectual Curiosity Exercises curiosity in all things. Builds good relationships with teammates and stakeholders. Reinforces and shares company and engineering philosophy and principles.
Innovation Assesses associated risk of failure and learning trade-offs, and seeks to fail and learn frequently and rapidly to ultimately achieve desired results. Often partners with junior teammates to increase failure/learning opportunities.
Decision Scope Determines completion path of own daily tasks and projects; may influence how peers do their work. Considers ripple effects and impact (present and future) of decisions. May create alternative scenarios to help undo a bad decision.
Operational Capacity Leads tactical initiatives related to an important business area or process.
Collaboration Sphere Networks with key contacts outside own area of expertise. Seeks out regular opportunities to collaborate strategically with functional senior staff and leadership.
Conflict Resolution Resolves most conflicts independently. May identify conflicts with which they are not directly involved within the team; understands when to seek escalation paths to management and/or HR.
Self-Development Seeks to work beyond own level of comfort. Demonstrates active interest in learning more about other areas outside immediate focus.
Adaptability Focuses primarily on what is within one's own control to change or influence. Seeks to understand why company or org decisions are made in order to better adapt team decisions. Follows up on team decisions by focusing on the facts and adjusts accordingly & empathetically.
Judgement Exercises sound judgement in all things. Behaviors and actions set positive examples internally and proudly represent Kensho externally.
General Problem Solving Having wide-ranging experience using professional concepts and company objectives to resolve complex issues in creative and effective ways.

Autonomy

Bias to Action Mostly independent. Often acts as experienced mentor. Often consults with peers to make suggestions on critical next-step decisions.
Influence on Work Determines methods and procedures on new assignments. May coordinate activities of other individual team members.
Resourcefulness Prunes and maintains documentation for a project even when not actively making changes. Regularly attends internal and external training/learning opportunities; may coordinate team-wide opportunities.
Delegation Assigns or seeks opportunities for teammates. Managers are consulted, but remain mostly hands off based on what make sense.
Prioritization Remains focused in the face of interruptions and distractions. Proactively communicates to team/manager if timelines will slip. Runs efficient, effective, and succinct meetings. Able to accurately assess self and teammates' progress and difficulties; may assist more junior teammates in prioritizing their work.

Teamwork

Feedback Regularly provides clear, actionable, direct and compassionate feedback to peers and managers to help them thrive. Is often sought out to provide feedback to peers; is becoming comfortable delivering constructive feedback. Constantly seeking and acting upon feedback from peers and managers.
Communication Practices open and transparent communication with all levels of the organization. Regular knowledge and idea sharing with team, collaborating and discussing technical topics cross-team, frankly communicate with all project stakeholders, firm grasp of presentation skills, etiquette, and slide creation (in-person and remote).
Participation Consistently involved in all team activities and conversations, often leading them. Suggests ideas to improve the team and company culture and enhance existing processes. Hosts, coordinates, and attends various team events (social or otherwise).
Go Team Invests ample time to better Kensho culture and progress Kensho's vision by acting both internally and externally, and is willing to make sacrifices in order to do so.

Senior Machine Learning Engineer II

Technical Excellence

Tools and Tech Is sought out / seen as an expert in essential technologies for the role. Provides guidance regarding best practices. Influences the choices of frameworks and technologies on the team and beyond own team.
Technical Problem Solving Is sought out by teammates to help resolve complex technical problems.
Architecture Evaluates and articulates the impacts of tradeoffs in complexity, memory usage, performance, reliability, and suitability for product goals across projects.
Implementation Abnormal behavior from dependencies is handled when possible; observables (e.g. logs and metrics) highlight actionable problems with the system. Scope is across projects / with past projects in mind
Code/Design Review Provides guidance to colleagues in their system designs.
Debugging Is sought out by teammates to help debug issues in products with which they have familiarity even with incomplete context. Offers mitigating or partial solutions when appropriate.

Leadership

Innovation Assesses associated risk of failure and learning trade-offs, and seeks to fail and learn frequently and rapidly to ultimately achieve desired results. Frequently partners with junior teammates to increase failure/learning opportunities.
Collaboration Sphere Proactively builds strong relationships with key contacts outside own area of expertise, Creates regular opportunities to collaborate strategically with functional senior staff and leadership.
Conflict Resolution Is sought as a mediator to resolve technical conflicts on the team.

Autonomy

Bias to Action Mostly independent. Often acts as experienced mentor. Often consulted by peers for suggestions on critical next-step decisions.
Influence on Work Sets expectations for new projects. Coordinates activities of other individual team members.
Delegation Understands and takes advantage of teammates strengths.

Teamwork

Feedback Is often sought out by managers to provide upward feedback.

Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Technical Excellence

Tools and Tech Experienced with all essential technologies for their role. Recognized as a company expert on particular tools/technologies. May contribute to technologies via bug reports/fixes or performance improvements when possible.
Technical Problem Solving Works on and initiates technical projects that span multiple applications/products at Kensho. Solutions may involve coordinating deploys across many services. The scope of technical projects typically requires a collaborative interaction mode in contrast to x-as-a-service. Detects system- or project-level estimation and timeline issues. Notices bugs in cross-team behavior or ability to deliver. Levels up engineers and improves velocity on large, months-long projects.
Architecture Evaluates technology tradeoffs between complexity, memory usage, performance, reliability, and suitability for long term sustainability at Kensho. Articulates how those trade-offs manifest across teams and monitors suitability of team structures for the desired architecture(s).
Implementation Consistently builds software which is resilient to unexpected failures. Observability extends beyond project boundaries.
Code/Design Review Provides thorough, timely code reviews. Sought out as a reviewer for more complicated changes affecting multiple applications, or changes which are identified as requiring more thorough review. Provides design feedback on integrating applications into the broader Kensho ecosystem.
Debugging Debugs issues even in unfamiliar products with incomplete context. Offers mitigating or partial solutions; may drive and/or take ownership of solutions.

Leadership

Intellectual Curiosity Exercises curiosity in all things. Builds good relationships with managers and those leading products and initiatives. Understands when to be pragmatic and helps managers and those leading products and initiatives to mitigate situations where conditions are not ideal. Informs engineering philosophy and principles.
Innovation Accustomed to the risks and benefits of failing and learning fast and does so frequently. Supports junior teammates through the learning process to achieve desired results.
Decision Scope Makes decisions that influence and drive the work of their peers and teammates. Plans always include multiple, well-thought out contingencies.
Operational Capacity Works on significant and unique issues where analysis of situations or data requires an evaluation of intangibles that is critical to the strategic planning and execution of important business processes.
Collaboration Sphere Creates formal networks involving coordination among groups and builds mostly strategic relationships with peers and company leadership.
Conflict Resolution Addresses and resolves/diffuses conflict proactively, before escalation is required. Attuned at identifying conflict within own team; aids in resolving/diffusing promptly, professionally.
Self-Development Demonstrates ability to take on responsibilities outside their immediate area of focus. Consistently creates opportunities to challenge themselves in new ways.
Adaptability Consistently reframes obstacles as opportunities. Solicits input from teams on ideas for mitigating obstacles and change. Seeks to understand historical decisions to avoid repeating mistakes and/or reassess decisions.
Judgement Exercises sound, independent judgement in all things, especially with methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for obtaining results. Work/business-related decisions often reflect the notion of putting company before self.
General Problem Solving Having broad expertise or unique knowledge, uses skills to contribute to development of company objectives and principles and to achieve goals in creative and effective ways.

Autonomy

Bias to Action Acts independently to determine methods and procedures on new or special assignments. May supervise the activities of others in some capacity. Makes swift decisions based on knowns, with consideration given to the unknowns, and accepts consequences of those decisions as long as desired outcomes are achieved.
Influence on Work Leverages own experience to successfully manage and direct cross team commitments and timelines. Influences work and team in a broad way, often at the departmental level.
Delegation Consistently provides broader context. Increases own technical leverage by delegating responsibility over outcomes, not tasks.
Prioritization Often determines the priorities and timelines of own and/or other teams. Understands and implements time effectiveness principles to keep self and others on track.

Teamwork

Feedback Is a primary source of feedback to peers, teammates, and managers. Versed and comfortable delivering constructive feedback. Understands which elements of feedback are critical to their own success; implements changes as needed.
Communication Practices open and transparent communication with all levels of the organization. Communicates deeply technical topics appropriately to a variety of audiences. Skilled in persuasive presentation (i.e. pitching the Eng function on a new technology). Demonstrable ability to utilize rhetoric and prose to inspire, build engagement, and foster high-trust teams. Competent presenting to enterprise and Kensho executives; also capable of external presentations with support.
Participation Models the behavior of involvement and interaction expected within the team. Proactively shares ideas and opportunities where the team members can participate and develop their skills. Consolidates ideas from team members and brainstorms on ways to implement it at a larger scale across the organization. Supportive of and encourages participation outside of the day to day work wherever it makes sense.
Go Team Embodies the team player mindset, infusing it into all actions and behaviors. Seeks to constantly better Kensho's culture and brand.

Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Technical Excellence

Tools and Tech Experienced with all essential technologies for their role. Recognized as a company expert on many tools/technologies. Potentially recognized outside Kensho as an expert on particular tools/technologies.
Technical Problem Solving Works on technical projects that span all applications at Kensho and potentially includes applications developed with partners. Solutions may involve deploys coordinated across multiple organizations.
Architecture Shares engineering lessons learned from own experience and/or from networks and industry knowledge.
Code Design/Review Provides design feedback to multiple application teams.
Debugging Debugs issues in unfamiliar products with limited context. Provides mitigations at multiple levels of the stack.

Leadership

Intellectual Curiosity Exercises curiosity in all things. Builds good relationships with cross-functional leaders.
Innovation Assesses risk and reward of failure velocity at a larger, departmental or even company-wide scale. Suggests opportunities for more frequent failure and learning. Operates as an innovation champion within their field or function.
Decision Scope Decisions often drive functional, if not company, direction. Consistently demonstrates awareness for when to be directive or decisive versus when to build consensus.
Operational Capacity Leads important business areas and/or process/processes. Accountable for the business decisions related to their area of focus and beyond. Works on significant, highly visible and highly impactful issues where analysis of situations or data requires an evaluation of intangibles, and an anticipation of the unforeseen.
Collaboration Sphere Builds and nurtures strategic relationships with executive management and senior business leadership. May offer suggestions and advice to company leaders to arrive at solutions.
Conflict Resolution Supports peers and teammates in resolving and diffusing conflict. May be the point of escalation.
Adaptability Consistently persists above obstacles to achieve desired objectives. Balances confidence in convictions with open-mindedness. Often balances multiple priorities, successfully pivoting to and from each one.
Judgement Exercises sound, independent judgement in all things, especially for obtaining results. Decisions are most always made through the lens of benefiting Kensho.

Autonomy

Bias to Action Acts independently, often making critical business-impacting decisions sometimes with limited information.
Influence on Work Set goals for department and/or function based on company objectives; may also contribute to setting company objectives. Provides guidelines for organizational documentation best practices. Significant influence over meta-Software issues such as selecting the right languages, frameworks, serverless, on-prem, etc. Anticipates and addresses future org-wide needs based on company direction.
Delegation Delegates larger-scoped responsibilities across the Engineering function, and to stakeholders outside of Engineering. Understands when and how to decline requests while motivating others to be directly involved.

Teamwork

Communication Practices open and transparent communication with all levels of the organization. Exemplary rhetorical skill across technical and non-technical topics. Actively knowledge shares within industry. Collaborates on marketing material (e.g. blog posts). Tone of internal and external presentations is often visionary, inspirational, and motivational.
Participation Models the behavior of involvement and interaction expected within the team. Proactively shares ideas and opportunities where team members can participate and develop their skills. Consolidates ideas from team members and brainstorms on ways to implement it at a larger scale across the organization. Supportive and encourages participation outside of the day to day work wherever it makes sense.
Go Team Operates as pillar of exemplary behavior. Recognized as an active partner in shaping the future vision of Kensho.

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