{"id":4146030,"url":"https://alion.io/job/smartnews-machine-learning-engineer-ads-ranking","title":"Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Ranking","company":{"id":14000,"name":"SmartNews","domain":"smartnews.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/smartnews","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workable","truth_index":null},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Shibuya, Japan"],"countries":["JP"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":true,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-12T07:08:25Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-12","last_verified_at":"2026-11-12T07:08:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"About SmartNews\nSmartNews 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.\nFounded in 2012 in Tokyo, SmartNews also has offices in Osaka (Kansai Office), Palo Alto, New York and Singapore.\nIf you share our vision and are passionate about our mission, we encourage you to apply!\nThe Team\nThe Ads Ranking Team is dedicated to empowering the SmartNews ads business by developing state-of-art ranking systems and advanced product solutions that ensures the highest relevance, profitability, and sustainability of our ad offerings. By applying a blend of engineering expertise and business insights, we strive to enhance ad performance and revenue, meeting and exceeding the expectations of our advertisers. We are looking for talented engineers to join us in building the next-generation ad systems and products that will support our rapid and ambitious growth.\nResponsibilities\nDevelop and optimize core algorithms to generate relevant ads, driving the growth of a profitable ad ecosystem. This includes areas such as targeting, ranking, bidding and auction.\nWork closely with backend engineers to develop a highly scalable ranking and delivery system, ensuring high performance and reliability.\nCollaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers, product specialists and sales, building product solutions to solve advertisers’ pain points and meet their needs.\nRequirements\nMinimum requirements\nBS degree or higher in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field (Physics, Mathematics, etc.).\nSolid programming fundamentals with experience in at least one programming language (e.g., Python, Java, C++).\nFamiliarity with machine learning concepts and algorithms, with a strong interest in applying them to real-world problems.\nGood problem-solving skills and a willingness to learn and adapt to complex systems.\nStrong analytical thinking and basic understanding of statistical concepts.\nProficiency in business-level English.\nNice to have experiences/skills\nM.S. or Ph.D. in a relevant major.\nProven research skills, demonstrated through publications in top conferences or involvement in impactful research projects.\nInternship or project experience related to large-scale ML systems.\nBasic knowledge or interest in the digital ad ecosystem.\nRelated Links\nClick here or visit our careers site to check employee interviews\nWorking condition\nOffice Location: Tokyo \nClick here or visit our careers site for more info.\nBenefits\nBenefits available at the SmartNews Tokyo Office\nAll healthcare and social insurance required by the Japanese labor law, plus annual health check \nVisa sponsorship and overseas relocation support available for eligible candidates \n Click here or visit our careers site for more info about our benefits.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3004,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"Japanese","level":"All levels","optional":false},{"language":"English","level":"All levels","optional":false}]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Media & Entertainment","News Agencies","Digital Media"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-12T07:08:25Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"JP","licensed_sponsor":false,"adverts_offering_sponsorship_24m":7,"sanctioned_now":false,"evidence":"Offered visa sponsorship in 7 of its adverts here in 24 months","filings_12m":null,"filings_prev_12m":null,"green_card_filings_12m":null,"median_offered_wage_usd":null,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-11-12T07:36:15+00:00","sources":["Alion: sponsorship offered in the employer's own job adverts (24 months)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":72,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-12T09:17:38Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/smartnews-machine-learning-engineer-ads-ranking","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/smartnews-machine-learning-engineer-ads-ranking.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-12T09:17:38Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":18911,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-13T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":14000},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=14000"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fsmartnews-machine-learning-engineer-ads-ranking"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fsmartnews-machine-learning-engineer-ads-ranking"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fsmartnews-machine-learning-engineer-ads-ranking"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/smartnews-machine-learning-engineer-ads-ranking\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fsmartnews-machine-learning-engineer-ads-ranking"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":4146030}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"smartnews.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":4146030},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}