Software Engineering Manager - AI Data Engine

Role Description

We are seeking an experienced and visionary Staff Level Technical Lead Manager to build and lead our new AI Data Engine team. This pivotal role will drive the strategy, development, and execution of initiatives aimed at significantly accelerating our ML dataset generation and our data warehouse stack. The ultimate goal is to drastically reduce the development cycle for new pipelines, ML models and get us operationally prepared for a driverless future!

You will be a hands-on leader, blending deep technical expertise in data systems and infrastructure with strong leadership and people management skills. You will recruit, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvements.

What You'll Be Doing

• Team Leadership & Management:
  • Build, lead, and manage a high-performing team of data and infrastructure engineers focused on building out Motional’s Data Stack.
  • Define team goals, priorities, and roadmap in alignment with company objectives.
  • Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and career development opportunities to team members.
• Technical Strategy & Execution:
  • Define the technical vision and strategy for storing metrics and generating ML datasets for large computer vision and behavioral models.
  • Identify and evaluate cutting-edge technologies and methodologies for speeding up data loaders for training, ingestion of metrics, and querying of large datasets for everything from dashboards to training.
• Cross-functional Collaboration:
  • Collaborate closely with ML research, ML Training platform, and data engineering teams to understand their needs and integrate solutions seamlessly.
  • Communicate complex technical concepts and strategies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science or related field
• 8+ years of professional experience in data platform engineering
• 3+ years of experience in a technical lead or management role with 3-7 direct reports
• Extensive experience with managing large (petabyte plus) scale data platforms such as data warehouses, object storage, and ML training data stores.
• Extensive experience with workflow orchestration frameworks such as Airflow or Step Functions.

Requirements

• Strong programming skills in Python. C++ experience is a plus.
• Deep knowledge of data storage formats such as Parquet, Iceberg, and Lance and understand their tradeoffs.
• Strong knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP) solutions and their product offerings.
• Prior experience with building data warehouses or lakehouse architectures at a machine learning or robotics company.

Bonus Points (not required)

• Prior experience in autonomous vehicles (AV) is a plus.
• Prior experience with Bazel based build systems.

Benefits

• Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range

$172,000 — $229,000 USD

Company Description

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.

• Our journey is always people first.
• We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect.
• Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.
• We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation.
• We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization.
• Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet.
• Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives.