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AI Query Intent Classification Engineer

Kyle Park

Full-time · Job · Chicago

About the role

The same word means different things in different contexts. 'Python' in a developer tool search means the programming language. 'Python' in a nature content platform means the snake. A search engine that doesn't understand query intent before retrieving results will surface confidently wrong answers to both users. Our search platform powers the discovery experience for 90 enterprise SaaS products. Query intent classification — understanding what type of result the user wants, what domain they're searching in, and what action they're trying to take — sits upstream of retrieval and fundamentally affects result relevance. We have a basic intent classifier; it's not good enough for the diversity of query types our clients see. You'll redesign the query intent classification system: building a multi-label classifier that identifies query type, domain, and action intent simultaneously, implementing few-shot adaptation that lets each client's search engine learn client-specific intent taxonomies with minimal labeled data, and building the evaluation framework that measures intent classification accuracy against relevance outcomes rather than just label agreement.

Responsibilities

  • Redesign multi-label query intent classifier handling type, domain, and action intent dimensions
  • Implement few-shot intent adaptation for client-specific query taxonomy customization
  • Build evaluation framework connecting intent classification accuracy to search relevance outcomes
  • Develop intent-aware retrieval routing directing queries to appropriate index shards
  • Create intent distribution monitoring detecting when new query types emerge in production
  • Fine-tune base intent models on client query logs with privacy-preserving aggregation

Requirements

  • 3+ years in NLP engineering with text classification or search relevance experience
  • Strong Python and PyTorch skills with HuggingFace model fine-tuning experience
  • Understanding of information retrieval and search quality evaluation
  • Experience with few-shot or zero-shot learning approaches for low-resource classification
  • Ability to design evaluation frameworks that measure real user outcome impact

Benefits

  • Fully remote with flexible schedule
  • Health and dental insurance
  • $3,000 annual professional development budget
  • 401(k) with match
  • Equity options

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Job Type

Full-time

Level

Mid-Level

Language

English

Salary Range

$100k – $130k / year

AI Expertise

NLP & Prompt Engineering AI & Machine Learning Engineers

Skills

python pytorch hugging face fastapi docker sql

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