Find Jobs
Find Jobs Near You – Available Work in Your Location
Staff/Lead Machine Learning Engineer, Behavior & Planning
Job Description
Work Technical Leadership:
Lead ML initiatives across the autonomy stack framing ambiguous problems, setting technical direction, and driving them from idea to on-road deployment.Applied ML:
Design, train, and productionize state-of-the-art models across some or many of: foundation and world models, LLM/VLM reasoning, reinforcement and imitation learning, generative and diffusion models, and transformer-based prediction and planning.Generalization & Scale:
Build behavior and planning models that generalize to new cities and geographies (U.S. and global) and adapt to new vehicle platforms.Cross-Functional Collaboration:
Partner closely with Perception, Simulation & Evaluation, and ML Infra & Data, as well as the broader Autonomy and Research orgs, to develop holistic solutions to top autonomy challenges, align on priorities, and unblock shared initiatives.Mentorship & Influence:
Raise the technical bar of the team, mentor engineers and researchers, and help shape roadmaps and technical strategy beyond your immediate scope. About You Required Qualifications 7+ years building and deploying machine learning systems, with a track record of leading complex, multi-team technical initiatives. M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related field or equivalent practical experience. Strong, general machine learning foundations. You can reason from first principles across model architectures, training, and evaluation, and clearly explain and apply state-of-the-art techniques.Depth in some of:
sequential decision making, prediction, generative modeling, foundation/world models, or representation learning. Understanding of the full ML development cycle, from data collection and training to deployment, onboard inference considerations, and data iteration loops. Strong problem-solving and programming skills in Python (required) and/or C++. Demonstrated ability to lead initiatives, collaborate across many different teams, and operate independently with minimal oversight. Efficient and clear communication skills are a must, with the ability to align cross-functional stakeholders. Preferred Qualifications Strong preference for prior experience in autonomous vehicles or robotics, and familiarity with how ML fits into a complete autonomy/planning stack, though we hire strong general-ML talent from adjacent domains and value the ability to ramp on a new domain quickly. Experience mentoring engineers or leading a team. Interest in growing into a management or tech-lead track is not required but those paths may exist for strong performers. Familiarity with at least one major ML framework (PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow). Research contributions in top venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, CVPR, RSS, CoRL) are a plus, but a track record of applied and production impact matters more. At Nuro, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. For this position, the reasonably expected base pay range is between $235,030 and $352,290 for the level at which this job has been scoped. Your base pay will depend on several factors, including your experience, qualifications, education, location, and skills. In the event that you are considered for a different level, a higher or lower pay range would apply. This position is also eligible for an annual performance bonus, equity, and a competitive benefits package. At Nuro, we celebrate differences and are committed to a diverse workplace that fosters inclusion and psychological safety for all employees. Nuro is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and expressly prohibits any form of workplace discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristics.Benefits
- Bonuses/Stipends
- Dental Insurance
Career Insights for Machine Learning Engineer
See where this job fits in the broader career landscape. Knowing your career path helps you see what's possible from here.
Scorecard
Based on California data
Review key factors to help you decide if this role fits your goals. How is this calculated?
What they do
A Machine Learning Engineer specializes in designing, building, and deploying machine learning models. They utilize statistical and mathematical techniques, parallelizing processing, hyperparameter tuning, and other optimization methodologies to improve model performance. Responsibilities also include collecting and preprocessing large datasets, conducting exploratory data analysis, working closely with data engineers to understand data requirements, and engineer input variables for machine learning models.
$168,439 / year median in California