Brad Willard

NLP Engineer

https://www.opentalent.in/brad-willard

Applied AI Research

DoorDash

Key Strengths

Extensive experience in NLP, Generative AI, LLMs, and Deep Neural Networks, directly aligning with an NLP Engineer role.
Proven track record of leading AI initiatives and teams, from vision to implementation, across multiple companies.
Deep expertise in semantic search, recommendation systems, and personalization using technologies like FAISS, LLM Cross Encoders, RoBERTa, fastText, and ANNOY.
Strong background in MLOps and infrastructure design for AI services, ensuring low latency, dynamic scaling, and high SLAs.
Experience in productizing AI features and driving business impact, such as increasing customer acquisition and retention.

Cultural & Operational Fit

Cultural Fit Analysis

The candidate has a diverse background across various companies, including startups (Muse, Flowcode, GetGlue) and larger enterprises (DoorDash, Rex, Squarespace). Their experience in founding innovation labs and leading cross-functional teams indicates an adaptable and collaborative approach. The focus on hypothesis testing and customer success aligns with a data-driven culture. The breadth of experience in different AI applications suggests a strong ability to adapt and contribute to various projects.

Soft Skills & Operational Fit

The candidate demonstrates strong leadership, strategic thinking, and a product-oriented mindset, evidenced by creating AI roadmaps, leading innovation teams, and focusing on customer success metrics. Their experience in building and scaling engineering teams suggests strong operational fit for driving technical initiatives.

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Experience

DoorDash

Applied AI Researcher

March 1, 2025 – Present

Hybrid

Rex

Head of Artificial Intelligence

June 1, 2024 – Present

New York, New York, United States · Hybrid

Muse

Chief Technology Officer

May 1, 2022 – June 1, 2023

New York City Metropolitan Area

Flowcode

Head of Innovation Labs and Machine Learning

March 1, 2021 – March 1, 2022

Manhattan, New York, United States

Squarespace

Staff Machine Learning Engineer & Team Lead

October 1, 2012 – February 1, 2020

New York City Metropolitan Area

GetGlue

Senior Software Engineer

June 1, 2011 – September 1, 2012

New York City

L-1 Identity Solutions

Senior Software Engineer

November 1, 2007 – June 1, 2011

Partsearch Technologies

Software Engineer

January 1, 2004 – January 1, 2007

Key Strengths

Extensive experience in NLP, Generative AI, LLMs, and Deep Neural Networks, directly aligning with an NLP Engineer role.
Proven track record of leading AI initiatives and teams, from vision to implementation, across multiple companies.
Deep expertise in semantic search, recommendation systems, and personalization using technologies like FAISS, LLM Cross Encoders, RoBERTa, fastText, and ANNOY.
Strong background in MLOps and infrastructure design for AI services, ensuring low latency, dynamic scaling, and high SLAs.
Experience in productizing AI features and driving business impact, such as increasing customer acquisition and retention.

Cultural & Operational Fit

Cultural Fit Analysis

Soft Skills & Operational Fit

Brad Willard

Key Strengths

Cultural & Operational Fit

About

Top Skills

Skills

Education

Experience

Key Strengths

Cultural & Operational Fit