Postdoctoral Researcher (Etsy), Ireland

Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. It’s home to a universe of special, extraordinary items, from unique handcrafted pieces to vintage treasures. Etsy operates two-sided online marketplaces that collectively connect nearly 100 million passionate and creative buyers and 7.7 million sellers around the world.

In partnership with Etsy, the Insight Centre at DCU is seeking a highly motivated and skilled Postdoctoral Researcher to work on an innovative project aimed at enhancing content moderation on Etsy’s platform. The focus of this project is on extending and improving Etsy’s Content Analysis for Trust & Safety (CATS) system, a machine learning solution designed to detect and remove content that violates Etsy’s policies.

Duties of the position

• Conduct a programme of research into content moderation to automatically catch and remove content that violates Etsy’s policies (https://www.etsy.com/legal/creativity/).
• Assist the Principal Investigators (PIs) in:

Model Development:extend the CATS system by developing and implementing machine learning models to detect policy violations in Etsy listings, particularly focusing on handmade policies.

Research & Innovation:Apply state-of-the-art neural network architectures and few-shot learning approaches to address challenges such as label imbalance and semi-supervised learning.

Dataset Management:Work with large datasets, including textual and image data, to ensure accurate predictions at upload time.

Performance Optimization:Continuously train and fine-tune models to maintain high performance, addressing issues like catastrophic forgetting and adapting to new data.

Collaboration:Work closely with Etsy’s Content Evaluation Engineering team, contributing to academic publications, internal presentations, and blog posts.

Deliverables:Contribute to key project milestones, including model iterations, experimental architecture testing, and co-authoring conference papers.

• • Provide assistance and advice to PhD students working on similar topics.
  • Produce top quality journal and conference publications, in collaboration with the PIs.
  • Participate in Insight Centre activities, including industry showcases, annual reviews and industry and agency visits to the Insight labs.
  • Carry out administrative work associated with the programme of research as necessary.
  • Other tasks relevant to successfully implementing the assigned research programme.
  • Liaise with both external and internal stakeholders, including academics, undergraduate and postgraduate students, external supervisors and host placement schools.
  • Preparation of project outputs, interim and final reports as required by the project schedule.
  • Deliver research outputs according to project schedules.
  • Other tasks relevant to successfully implementing the assigned research programme.
  • Attend and present results at project progress meetings.

Required selection criteria

• Applicants should have a PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, or related area. In addition, it is desirable that individuals have experience in Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing or image processing.
• Published work in top-tier conferences or journals related to machine learning, computer vision, content moderation, or a related domain.
• Proficiency in machine learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch), experience with large-scale datasets, and knowledge of neural network architectures.
• Strong coding skills in Python or similar languages.
• Ability to work collaboratively with industry partners and communicate research findings effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Excellent written and oral proficiency in English (essential).
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.
• Proven ability to prioritize workload and work to strict deadlines.
• Ability to work in a team and to take responsibility to contribute to the overall success of the team.
• Creative approach to solving complex problems and adapting new methodologies to enhance model performance.

Benefits 

• Salary Scale: IUA Postdoctoral Researcher Salary Scale – €44,347 – €56,764Appointment will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and in line with current Government pay policy.

Organisation/Company –Dublin City University

Research Field –Other

Researcher Profile -First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country – Ireland

Application Deadline –24 Oct 2024 – 23:59 (Europe/Dublin)