Senior Staff Software Engineer- Search Quality

P-1408 The Mission We are democratizing Data and AI for every enterprise user. Our vision is a world where anyone can master their organization’s data through Apps and AI Agents. We are building the retrieval backbone for two worlds: the high-precision context layer for AI agents and the intuitive search experience for people goal is the same: instant, accurate, and actionable insight. The Role: • As a Search Quality Engineer, you sit at the heart of this transformation. You aren't just building a search engine; you are building the contextual backbone of the entire company. • You will own the quality of results for two distinct but deeply connected "users": • The AI Agent: Optimizing the retrieval layer that allows LLMs to reason over data they weren’t trained on, ensuring they have the "ground truth" needed to synthesize accurate, high-stakes business actions. • The Human User: Improving the traditional search experience so employees can find assets and answers through intuitive, high-recall interfaces. The Technical Challenge This isn't a solved problem. You will be tackling "Search" in its most evolved form: • Hybrid Retrieval: Balancing traditional keyword-based search (for exactness) with semantic vector search (for intent). • Dual-Optimization: Fine-tuning ranking models that satisfy both human readability and LLM-ready context. • High-Stakes Accuracy: In a world of Agents, poor search quality leads to hallucinations. You will build the guardrails and relevance scoring that ensure our AI stays grounded in reality. • Data Heterogeneity: Connecting the dots across structured SQL tables, unstructured docs, and real-time business metrics. Why This is the Place to Be • You will have a front-row seat to the Agentic revolution. If you want to solve the hardest problems in data discovery and see your work power the decision-making of thousands of people, let’s talk. What We’re Looking For • The IR Specialist: You know your way around Lucene/Elasticsearch, embeddings, and ranking algorithms. • The Quality and Metrics Obsessive: You understand that "relevance" is subjective and love building evaluation frameworks (human-in-the-loop and LLM-based) to measure it. You are obsessed with relevance metrics (nDCG, MRR, Precision@K). • The Bridge Builder: You’re excited to apply traditional Information Retrieval (IR) wisdom to the cutting-edge world of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). 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, X, YouTube, and Instagram. 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. 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.