AI and data programs
10 search relevance experts
These ten professionals have led search relevance and ranking work for the search products of the companies they worked for. A reader can learn how companies build and run search relevance work from the inside.
Professionals to explore
01—10Congzhe Su
LinkedInExperience: Engineering Manager, Search Ranking · Etsy
Engineering Manager, Search Ranking at Etsy since November 2022. Former Senior Applied Scientist II, Search (2021–2022) and Senior Applied Scientist I, Search (2018–2021) at Etsy, and former Research Assistant at Arizona State University (2013–2018).
Dawei Yin
LinkedInExperience: Senior Manager, Relevance Science · Yahoo
Former Senior Manager, Relevance Science at Yahoo (2013–2016), and former Senior Director, Head of Search Science at Baidu, Inc. (2019–2025), where the profile says this person managed a search science team of about 500 scientists leading Baidu's science efforts in web search and retrieval-augmented generation, among other areas. General Manager, PaaS (Platform as a Service) at Baidu, Inc. since October 2025.
Ghislain Brun
LinkedInExperience: Director of Relevance Engineering · Salesforce
Former Director of Relevance Engineering at Salesforce (2020–2022), and VP Search Relevance and AI at Salesforce since August 2026. Former Senior Director of Search ML AI at Salesforce (2022–2026) and Senior Engineering Manager at Salesforce (2017–2020); the profile says this person leads Search Relevance at Salesforce.
Jingyi Guo
LinkedInExperience: Engineering Manager · Shopify
Engineering Manager at Shopify since March 2025, where the profile says this person leads a team of ~25 engineers and machine learning scientists focused on Search Relevance, owning the full relevance stack, including retrieval, ranking, query understanding and metrics. Former Senior Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft (2020–2025).
Krishna Yeswanth Kamath
LinkedInExperience: Search Relevance Lead · Pinterest
Search Relevance Lead at Pinterest since September 2023; the profile says this person is the engineering lead for the team responsible for building and maintaining Pinterest's entire backend search stack, leading a 40+ person team. Former Senior Engineering Manager (2021–2023) and Engineering Manager (2019–2021) at Twitter.
Parth Gupta
LinkedInExperience: Director of ML and Engineering, Search & Discovery · Coupang
Director of ML and Engineering, Search & Discovery at Coupang since September 2024, where the profile lists query understanding, retrieval, relevance, ranking and gen AI for search at Coupang. Former Tech Manager, Amazon Search (2021–2023) and Uber Tech Lead, Amazon Search (2017–2020) at Amazon.
Rahul Bhagat
LinkedInExperience: Director, Search Relevance and Ranking · Amazon
Director, Search Relevance and Ranking at Amazon since December 2024, and former Director, Search Quality at Amazon (2018–2024). The profile says this person leads the search quality efforts for Amazon product search worldwide, with a team of senior managers, managers, scientists, engineers and product managers working to improve the semantic relevance of search results.
Sergey Saiyan
LinkedInExperience: Director of Engineering, Search · OZON.ru
Former Director of Engineering, Search at OZON.ru (2021–2022), where the profile describes personalized ranking for search results that improved order conversion and ndcg scores, and ML ranking for search suggestions. VP, Product and Engineering Search, Ads, RecSys, ML Infra at OZON.ru since September 2022, and former Engineering Manager there (2020–2021).
Sonu Durgia
LinkedInExperience: Director of Product Management, Search Relevance & Product Graph · Walmart
Former Director of Product Management, Search Relevance & Product Graph at Walmart (2016–2020); the profile says this person led the Search Relevance and Product Graph teams at Walmart. Senior Director, Head of Product, Search and Discovery at Coupang since May 2023, and former Head of Product, Responsible AI at Meta (2020–2023).
Wenxin Li
LinkedInExperience: Manager of Youtube Search Core Ranking · Google
Former Manager of Youtube Search Core Ranking (2014–2018) and Google Search Ranking Engineer (2005–2014) at Google. Manager of Google Search for Shopping Queries since May 2018 and Director of Engineering at Google since April 2023, where the profile says this person leads Forum ranking and experiences and Commercial Experiences.
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's role to your question: an engineering manager of a ranking or relevance team suits questions about models, features, evaluation and day-to-day tradeoffs, while a director or product leader over a search organization suits questions about roadmaps, team structure and tying relevance to business results. Also ask about the kind of search they worked on, since web search, marketplace product search and search inside a business application face different queries and success measures.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How did you measure search relevance, and which offline and online metrics did you trust most?
- 02How did you decide which relevance problems to fix first, such as query understanding, retrieval or ranking?
- 03How did you split work between engineers, scientists and product managers on the search relevance team?
Reaching search relevance experts
How can I contact one of these search relevance experts?
Pick one of the 10 people on this page and choose "Book a paid call", or describe your project to find others. You offer a fee for a 15-minute call or a written answer, Instant Expert finds the person's work email and sends the invitation, and they decide whether to accept. The list covers 10 companies, including Etsy, Yahoo and Salesforce, based on profile data retrieved on October 4, 2026. Being listed here doesn't mean someone has agreed to take calls.
How much does it cost to reach search relevance experts?
You choose the offer, starting at $5 per person. It includes Instant Expert's 20% fee, so an offer that pays the person $100 costs you $125. You're charged only when the person books the call or sends the answer.
What if they don't reply?
You pay nothing. Instant Expert sends follow-up reminders, and if the person hasn't booked or answered within 7 days, the request expires and any hold on your card is released. You can invite several of the 10 people on this list at once and cap your total spend, so you pay only for the ones who accept.
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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