My guest today is Chu-Cheng Hsieh, Chief Data Officer (CDO) at Etsy -- a global online marketplace, where people come together to make, sell, buy, and collect unique and creative items. Chu-Cheng leads the global data organization responsible for data science strategy, AI innovation, machine learning & data infrastructure. Prior to Etsy, Chu-Cheng led various data roles at Amazon, Intuit, Rakuten, and eBay.  Chu-Cheng is a Ph.D. in computer science, with published papers in key AI/ML conferences.

In this episode, I chat with Chu-Cheng on a wide range of topics: Evolution of recommendation algorithms and dealing with the cold start problem w.r.t. user preferences; Experience related to data labeling including version control of labeling rules/taxonomies; Model building taking into account seasonality, drift, etc.; Handling data accuracy/noise and defining success criteria; Battlescars in model evolution; Team structure, hiring, and diversity; Aspects to make data and AI self-service for technical and business users.