Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Ads Bidding at Deliveroo in London, United Kingdom - Deliveroo

Job description

• The Ads ML team builds and maintains the machine learning models powering Deliveroo's advertising product — connecting consumers with relevant ads and helping merchants, grocers, and FMCG brands grow through the platform. The UK team is ~11 MLEs across ads and promotions, and collaborates closely with the US team (meetings capped at 4pm UK to protect reasonable hours).
• Deliveroo is migrating ads from cost-per-click (CPC) to cost-per-order (CPO) — merchants pay when an ad drives an order, not when it's clicked. This is a genuinely open, cutting-edge problem: very few companies have solved it, and there's no established playbook to follow. The exact approach is under active discussion and you'd be central to driving it.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and execution of the CPC-to-CPO migration, including the core open question of whether the system stays CPO-facing externally while optimising CPC behind the scenes, or some hybrid of the two
• Build and improve the bidding surface: goal-based automated bidding, Target CPO, optimised CPC, and Target ROAS
• Own yield management tied to ROS targeting
• Partner daily with the DoorDash US team to align on approach across markets
• Set technical direction for the domain

Requirements

• Expertise in ad economics, marketplace bidding, or auction theory
• Direct working experience with optimised CPC, target CPO, goal-based automated bidding, and target ROAS
• Strong self-driven leadership baseline — you'll be setting direction in an ambiguous space, not executing against an established one
• 7+ years writing production code in Python; solid ML fundamentals in ranking, recommendation systems, or bidding/auction systems
• A bias for simplicity and a focus on shipping work with measurable business impact
• Strong cross-functional communication — you'll be working closely with Product, Commercial, and the wider DoorDash team

Skills

Required

• Strong self-driven leadership baseline
• Strong cross-functional communication

Benefits

• At Deliveroo, you'll do work that matters—solving real-world problems in a three-sided marketplace that’s constantly evolving. We’re food lovers, problem solvers, community builders and more, brought together by a shared drive to make things better. Working here you can expect to:
• 🔧 Solve meaningful problems at real scale
• Work on a complex, always-on marketplace that impacts millions every day.
• 🌱 See your impact, fast
• Ship, test and improve ideas quickly in a low-hierarchy, high-ownership environment.
• 🧠 Grow through challenge and ownership
• Take on big, ambiguous problems and accelerate your career with strong support.
• 🌎 A culture built for builders
• High standards, collaboration, flexible working and continuous learning.
• 💰 Share in the success you help create
• Competitive salary and equity options, so you’re rewarded for the impact you make.
• ➡️ Want a deeper look at how we build? Check out our Tech Blog.