I am Lisa Melnik, a staff-level ML engineer and technical leader with 14+ years of experience bringing ML products to life—from concept to launch across product, go-to-market, and compliance domains. I specialize in classical ML, experimentation and statistics with hands-on experience implementing the latest techniques in deep learning, computer vision and GenAI. I have a proven track record of executing ambiguous technical projects, driving cross-functional alignment, and scaling high-impact teams. I lead with a focus on building scalable ML infrastructure, mentoring engineers, and delivering measurable business impact. Most recently I guided Square’s ML-driven product enhancements and led data initiatives for Square for Restaurants, boosting catalog quality and conversion.

Lisa Melnik

I am Lisa Melnik, a staff-level ML engineer and technical leader with 14+ years of experience bringing ML products to life—from concept to launch across product, go-to-market, and compliance domains. I specialize in classical ML, experimentation and statistics with hands-on experience implementing the latest techniques in deep learning, computer vision and GenAI. I have a proven track record of executing ambiguous technical projects, driving cross-functional alignment, and scaling high-impact teams. I lead with a focus on building scalable ML infrastructure, mentoring engineers, and delivering measurable business impact. Most recently I guided Square’s ML-driven product enhancements and led data initiatives for Square for Restaurants, boosting catalog quality and conversion.

Available to hire

I am Lisa Melnik, a staff-level ML engineer and technical leader with 14+ years of experience bringing ML products to life—from concept to launch across product, go-to-market, and compliance domains. I specialize in classical ML, experimentation and statistics with hands-on experience implementing the latest techniques in deep learning, computer vision and GenAI.

I have a proven track record of executing ambiguous technical projects, driving cross-functional alignment, and scaling high-impact teams. I lead with a focus on building scalable ML infrastructure, mentoring engineers, and delivering measurable business impact. Most recently I guided Square’s ML-driven product enhancements and led data initiatives for Square for Restaurants, boosting catalog quality and conversion.

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Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert

Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Multimodal AI at Square
August 1, 2024 - September 17, 2025
● Led‬‭ roadmap‬‭ development‬‭ and‬‭ cross-functional‬‭ collaboration‬‭ for‬‭ Square’s‬‭ ML-driven‬‭ product‬‭ image‬ enhancement pipeline, improving seller catalog quality and boosting conversion to Square Online.‬ ● Fine-tuned‬‭ and‬‭ deployed‬‭ BiRefNet,‬‭ a‬‭ top-performing‬‭ dichotomous‬‭ segmentation‬‭ model‬‭ from‬‭ a‬‭ 2024‬ research‬‭ paper,‬‭ achieving‬‭ superior‬‭ background‬‭ removal‬‭ accuracy‬‭ and‬‭ image‬‭ quality‬‭ compared‬‭ to‬‭ the‬ U2Net architecture previously in production.‬ ● Designed‬‭ peer‬‭ grouping‬‭ algorithm‬‭ for‬‭ Square‬‭ Benchmarking,‬‭ enabling‬‭ sellers‬‭ to‬‭ contextualize‬‭ their‬ performance using anonymized business data from similar sellers.‬
‭ Head of Data, Square for Restaurants at Square
May 8, 2023 - August 2, 2024
● ‬‭ Built‬‭ a‬‭ data‬‭ science‬‭ &‬‭ ML‬‭ team‬‭ of‬‭ 6‬‭ for‬‭ Square‬‭ for‬‭ Restaurants,‬‭ one‬‭ of‬‭ Square ’ s‬‭ top‬‭ priority‬‭ products,‬‭ as‬‭ a‬ ‭ member of the core leadership team responsible for driving product direction.‬ ● ‬‭ Partnered‬‭ closely‬‭ with‬‭ engineers,‬‭ product‬‭ managers‬‭ and‬‭ marketing‬‭ managers‬‭ to‬‭ establish‬‭ success‬‭ metrics,‬ ‭ map user journeys and execute statistically rigorous experiments to improve core product experience.‬ ● ‭ Spearheaded‬‭ a‬‭ cross-organizational‬‭ initiative‬‭ to‬‭ formalize‬‭ data‬‭ contracts‬‭ with‬‭ product‬‭ engineers,‬ ‭ transforming‬‭ unreliable‬‭ logging‬‭ into‬‭ standardized,‬‭ high-quality‬‭ datasets‬‭ that‬‭ improved‬‭ downstream‬ ‭ analytics and ML capabilities for the entire Product Data community.‬
‭ Machine Learning Engineering Manager at Square
January 4, 2021 - May 5, 2023
● ‬‭ Founded‬‭ and‬‭ scaled‬‭ a‬‭ new‬‭ team‬‭ of‬‭ 5‬‭ ML‬‭ engineers‬‭ to‬‭ build‬‭ automation‬‭ and‬‭ grow‬‭ top-line‬‭ revenue‬‭ for‬‭ the‬ ‭ Sales and Account Management teams using predictive modeling techniques and robust experiment design.‬ ● ‬‭ Led‬‭ the‬‭ development‬‭ of‬‭ end-to-end‬‭ production‬‭ machine‬‭ learning‬‭ products‬‭ for‬‭ lead‬‭ scoring,‬‭ cross‬‭ selling,‬ ‭ churn prediction and revenue estimation.‬ ● ‬‭ Partnered‬‭ with‬‭ Sales‬‭ leadership‬‭ to‬‭ create‬‭ a‬‭ new‬‭ team‬‭ of‬‭ sales‬‭ reps‬‭ fully‬‭ dedicated‬‭ to‬‭ piloting‬‭ our‬‭ novel‬‭ ML‬ ‭ solutions in a sandbox environment before scaling to the rest of the 500 person Sales team.‬
Machine Learning Engineer -> Senior ML Engineer -> Staff ML Engineer at Square
June 3, 2016 - December 28, 2020
● ‬‭ Go-to-market:‬‭ Identified‬‭ high‬‭ value‬‭ Square‬‭ sellers‬‭ early‬‭ in‬‭ the‬‭ onboarding‬‭ process‬‭ and‬‭ collaborated‬‭ with‬ ‭ Account‬‭ Management‬‭ to‬‭ develop‬‭ an‬‭ early‬‭ intervention‬‭ program‬‭ to‬‭ offer‬‭ support‬‭ and‬‭ product‬‭ education,‬ ‭ resulting in significant lift in product adoption rate.‬ ● ‬‭ Compliance:‬‭ Built‬‭ and‬‭ deployed‬‭ Know-Your-Customer‬‭ (KYC)‬‭ machine‬‭ learning‬‭ models‬‭ for‬‭ international‬ ‭ compliance teams to automate manual KYC review, increasing productivity by over 50%.‬ ● ‭ Foundational‬‭ infrastructure:‬‭ Engineered‬‭ hundreds‬‭ of‬‭ new‬‭ behavioral‬‭ &‬‭ product‬‭ interaction‬‭ features‬‭ for‬‭ a‬ ‭ persistent feature library used by dozens of ML engineers across multiple domains.‬ ‭ ‭ ‬ ‭ ‭ ‬ ‭ ‭ ‭ ‬ ‭ ‭ ‭ ‭ ‭ ‭ ‬

Education

B.A., Economics, Cum Laude at Boston University
September 1, 2009 - May 1, 2013

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Software & Internet, Professional Services, Financial Services

Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert

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