Principal Data Scientist

At Expedia Group, we help travelers explore the world, one journey at a time. As a global travel company powered by passionate people, trusted partnerships, and leading technology, we connect travelers, partners, and advertisers through our consumer brands, B2B network, and travel advertising business. Here, you’ll do meaningful work that helps millions of people discover, book, and experience travel with more ease, confidence, and joy. Our five Behaviors-Traveler First, Think Big, Operate with Excellence, Ownership Mindset, and Succeed Together-help foster a supportive environment where people can grow their careers and have the flexibility, benefits, and support to do their best work. Join us and build for travelers everywhere. Introduction to the Team: Our Technology Team partners with teams across Expedia Group to create innovative products, services, and tools to deliver high-quality experiences for travelers, partners, and our employees. A singular technology platform powered by data and machine learning provides secure, differentiated, and personalized experiences that drive loyalty and traveler satisfaction. The Traveler Discovery & Planning team at Expedia is at the forefront of innovation in AI-driven agentic systems. We’re dedicated to enhancing customer experiences, increasing engagement, and strengthening traveler relationships through cutting-edge machine learning solutions. Our work directly impacts millions of travelers worldwide, shaping their journey from dreaming to booking and beyond. Join a team that’s focused on Agentic Experiences revolutionizing traveler experiences through autonomous, intelligent agent systems. From building cutting-edge conversational AI that anticipates traveler needs to developing proactive solutions for personalized trip planning, your work will shape the future of travel assistance and directly impact millions of users worldwide. This is a rare opportunity to build foundational systems in a high-impact domain, backed by Expedia’s AI-first vision. In this role, you will: Design, build, and evaluate multi-step agentic AI systems, including autonomous agents capable of planning, tool use, memory management, and multi-agent collaboration Research and implement state-of-the-art techniques in agentic architectures, such as ReAct, reflection loops, chain-of-thought prompting, and tool-augmented reasoning Develop and maintain agent orchestration frameworks, defining how agents decompose tasks, delegate to sub-agents, and handle failure and recovery Integrate large language models (LLMs) with external tools, APIs, databases, and code execution environments to enable real-world task completion Define and own evaluation frameworks for agentic systems, measuring task success, reliability, latency, cost, and safety across diverse benchmarks and production scenarios Lead collaboration with product, engineering, and research teams to translate business requirements into agentic system designs and deliver production-grade solutions Identify and mitigate risks specific to agentic systems, including prompt injection, unintended actions, hallucination in long-horizon tasks, and unsafe tool use Stay current with the rapidly evolving agentic AI landscape, synthesizing academic research and industry developments to inform the team's technical direction Mentor senior ML engineers and scientists, providing technical guidance on agentic design patterns, LLM best practices, and experimentation methodology Minimum Qualifications: BS in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent professional experience 10+ years of related industry experience Demonstrated experience designing and deploying agentic or multi-step AI systems (e.g., ReAct, tool-calling agents, multi-agent pipelines) in production or research settings Strong proficiency in Python and ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX); experience with LLM APIs and orchestration libraries (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar) Experience integrating LLMs with external tools, APIs, and structured data sources for real-world task completion Solid understanding of prompt engineering techniques including chain-of-thought, few-shot prompting, and structured output generation Experience defining and running evaluation frameworks for ML systems, including offline benchmarking and production monitoring Experience taking models from prototype to production in collaboration with Machine Learning Engineering teams Preferred Qualifications: Advanced degree (PhD or MS) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Engineering Experience in the travel or e-commerce industry Publications in top-tier ML conferences or journals Patented Inventions, pending and issued Contributions to open-source ML projects The total cash range for this position in Seattle is $224,000.00 to $313,500.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $358,500.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role. The total cash range for this position in San Jose is $242,000.00 to $338,500.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $387,000.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role. Starting pay for this role will vary based on multiple factors, including location, available budget, and an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experience. Pay ranges may be modified in the future. Benefits and perks Expedia Group offers benefits and perks designed to support employees and their families, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, an Employee Assistance Program, wellness and travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) membership. Learn more about life at Expedia Group at Accommodation requests Expedia Group is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruiting experience. If you need an accommodation or adjustment due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please submit a request at About Expedia Group Expedia Group includes three flagship consumer brands - Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo - along with a leading B2B travel business and travel advertising offerings. Across our brands and business, we help travelers explore the world with confidence and ease. Important notice Employment opportunities and job offers at Expedia Group will always come from Expedia Group's Talent Acquisition and hiring teams. Never share sensitive personal information unless you are confident of the recipient. Expedia Group does not extend job offers via email or messaging tools to individuals with whom we have not made prior contact. Our email domain is @expediagroup.com. The official place to find and apply for roles is Equal Opportunity Expedia is committed to creating an inclusive work environment with a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. This employer participates in E-Verify. The employer will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee's I-9 to confirm work authorization. #J-18808-Ljbffr