Principal Software Engineer, AI & Matching
TLDR
Define and build systems that power personalization and recommendations in Bumble's AI & Matching team, collaborating across disciplines to enhance user experience and safety.
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Lead the architecture and technical direction for matching and AI agent systems that power personalization, discovery, recommendations, and user assistance across Bumble
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Design and build high-scale, low-latency production services for retrieval, ranking, recommendations, decisioning, and agent orchestration
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Drive the evolution of Bumble’s matching architecture, including how models, business logic, real-time signals, and product experiences work together in production
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Partner closely with ML engineers and applied scientists to productionize models for training, online inference, evaluation, and continuous improvement
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Help define how AI agents can be safely and effectively integrated into the Bumble experience, including tool use, orchestration, memory, and decision boundaries
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Make strong technical tradeoffs across classical software, machine learning, and LLM-based approaches based on latency, quality, cost, safety, and user impact
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Set engineering standards for system design, reliability, experimentation, observability, and responsible AI in user-facing intelligent systems
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Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, Trust & Safety, Data Science, and Infrastructure to deliver end-to-end user experiences from concept to production
- Mentor senior and staff-level engineers, raise the technical bar across the organization, and influence architecture well beyond your immediate team
Deep expertise as a software engineer building large-scale distributed systems, with significant experience in consumer-facing or marketplace products
Strong track record designing and operating production recommendation, matching, search, ranking, personalization, or decisioning systems
Experience building systems that integrate machine learning models into real-time product experiences, including online serving, experimentation, and monitoring
Strong understanding of the tradeoffs between traditional software, ML systems, and LLM/agent-based architectures, and when each is the right tool
Experience building or scaling AI-native product capabilities, such as copilots, assistants, tool-using agents, or conversational/intelligent workflows
Ability to operate at both the architectural and implementation level: setting long-term direction while staying close enough to the code and systems to drive execution
Proven ability to influence technical strategy across multiple teams and deliver in complex, ambiguous problem spaces
Strong product instincts and the ability to translate user needs into robust technical systems that create measurable business and member impact
Commitment to building AI systems responsibly, with attention to privacy, safety, transparency, and fairness
Typically requires 12+ years of experience, though we welcome candidates with alternative backgrounds that demonstrate equivalent skills.
High level of AI fluency, with the ability to both apply AI tools in your own work and guide teams in embedding AI into systems and workflows at scale
You role model Bumble values such as Courage and Respect, collaborate effectively across disciplines, take ownership of outcomes, and see work through from insight to measurable impact with an agile mindset
Benefits & Perks
Insurance: Medical/dental/vision, 30-day eligibility. Bumble has multiple competitive offerings that will be available to you on the first of the month following date of hire.
Unlimited PTO + 1 company-wide week off + Focus Fridays every week
Fully paid life and long-term disability insurance
401k with 4% company match if you contribute 6%, 90-day eligibility
Monthly wellness benefit and access to Noom, Unmind, and Your Money Line
Maternity and Fertility benefit + 26 week paid parental leave
Premium App Access
Benefits
Equity Compensation
401k with 4% company match if you contribute 6%, 90-day eligibility
Health Insurance
Insurance: Medical/dental/vision, 30-day eligibility. Bumble has multiple competitive offerings that will be available to you on the first of the month following date of hire.
Life and disability insurance
Fully paid life and long-term disability insurance
Paid Parental Leave
Maternity and Fertility benefit + 26 week paid parental leave
Paid Time Off
Unlimited PTO + 1 company-wide week off + Focus Fridays every week
Wellness Stipend
Monthly wellness benefit and access to Noom, Unmind, and Your Money Line
Bumble Inc. develops a suite of platforms, including Bumble Date, BFF, and Badoo, focused on helping individuals form healthy and equitable relationships. Catering to those looking for romance, friendship, or community, Bumble's unique approach centers around empowering users—especially women—to take the lead in their connections.