Director, Applied Research

At eBay, we're more than a global ecommerce leader — we’re changing the way the world shops and sells. Our platform empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world. We’re committed to pushing boundaries and leaving our mark as we reinvent the future of ecommerce for enthusiasts.

Our customers are our compass, authenticity thrives, bold ideas are welcome, and everyone can bring their unique selves to work — every day. We're in this together, sustaining the future of our customers, our company, and our planet.

Join a team of passionate thinkers, innovators, and dreamers — and help us connect people and build communities to create economic opportunity for all.

Do you love data? Graphs? Machine Learning? Knowledgeable, collaborative co-workers? Come work at eBay and help us redefine global, online commerce!

Who Are We?

​The Product Knowledge team is at the epicenter of eBay’s Tech-driven, Customer-centric overhaul. Our team is entrusted with creating and using eBay’s Product Knowledge - a vast Big Data system which is built up of listings, transactions, products, knowledge graphs, and more. Our team has a mix of highly proficient people from multiple fields such as Machine Learning, Data Science, Software Engineering, Operations, and Big Data Analytics. We have a strong culture of collaboration, and plenty of opportunity to learn, make an impact, and grow!

What Will You Do?

As Director, you will set the vision and lead the execution of a portfolio of high-impact research initiatives that blend applied science, scalable engineering, and domain expertise in commerce. You’ll be responsible for not only driving core innovation but also ensuring that cutting-edge models transition into production systems with measurable business impact.

You’ll collaborate deeply with partners in Product, Engineering, Data, and Business Operations to shape product strategies and customer experiences through data-driven insight and intelligent automation.

eBay is an amazing company to work for. Being on the team, you can expect to benefit from:

1. A competitive salary - including stock grants and a yearly bonus
2. A healthy work culture that promotes business impact and at the same time highly values your personal well-being
3. Being part of a force for good in this world - eBay truly cares about its employees, its customers, and the world’s population, and takes every opportunity to make this clearly apparent

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​Job Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Vision

1. Define and own the applied research strategy for the Product Knowledge Science group.
2. Identify emerging research areas aligned with eBay’s business priorities, such as AI-driven taxonomy evolution, multimodal understanding (image + text), and dynamic knowledge graph enrichment.
3. Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to set research roadmaps and deliver measurable impact.

Team Building & Talent Development

1. Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of applied scientists, machine learning engineers, and research managers.
2. Foster a culture of innovation, scientific rigor, diversity, and technical excellence.

Technical Direction

1. Oversee the design, development, and deployment of ML/AI systems related to entity resolution, attribute extraction, taxonomy generation, knowledge graph construction, and product normalization.
2. Ensure best practices in experimentation, evaluation, and productionization of ML models.
3. Promote open innovation by guiding contributions to conferences, patents, and open-source initiatives.

Cross-functional Influence

1. Collaborate with partner teams to integrate applied research into end-user products.
2. Influence senior stakeholders with data-driven recommendations and thought leadership.
3. ​Present key technical and novel research work in public forums and conferences

Minimum Qualifications

1. M.Sc. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or equivalent field with 12+ years of relevant industry experience, including 3+ years in people and project leadership roles
2. ​Industrial experience with multiple of the following: ML architecture, deployment optimization, classification, regression, NLP, clustering, Deep Learning / Neural Networks, Reinforcement Learning, or related
3. Experience managing cross-functional research or AI teams
4. Ability to bridge long-term technology vision with short-term delivery goals
5. Strong communicator with a track record of influencing senior leadership

Additional Qualifications

1. ​5 or more related publications/patents in quality conferences or journals
2. Open source tool building/commits to popular threads.
3. Experience on Language models and KG building

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eBay is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please contact us at [email protected]. We will make every effort to respond to your request for accommodation as soon as possible. View our accessibility statement to learn more about eBay's commitment to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities.