Sr Staff ML Engineer - Applied AI

About the role

We are building AI-native discovery experiences across Mobility and Delivery. Search, recommendations, and conversational AI are central to how millions of users discover rides, restaurants, grocery items, and retail products every day. We are hiring a Senior Staff ML Engineer to define the multi-year technical vision and architecture for foundation models powering these experiences.

Responsibilities

• Define and champion the multi-year technical vision and architecture for foundation models across Search, Recommendations, and Conversational AI.
• Set the architectural standard and drive system design for critical, high-leverage ML platforms across Mobility and Delivery.
• Lead cross-team initiatives spanning Retrieval, Ranking, Personalization, and LLM-powered assistants, resolving complex technical trade-offs across organizational boundaries.
• Define long-term investment areas (build vs fine-tune vs partner models) with clear business rationale and long-term viability.
• Provide principal-level technical leadership, mentoring Staff and Senior Staff engineers, and setting the bar for technical excellence across the entire AI organization.

Requirements

• Masters degree or Ph.D in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics
• 12+ years of ML experience, including significant work on large-scale deep learning systems.
• Demonstrated ownership of high-impact ML systems in search, recommendations, or conversational AI.
• Deep expertise in transformers, retrieval systems, ranking, and embedding architectures.
• Strong experience with PyTorch and distributed training.
• Proven ability to set the technical strategy for a large organization and influence product roadmaps at the executive level.
• Strong product intuition and ability to connect model improvements to business outcomes.

Qualifications

• Track record of successfully launching multi-year, multi-org ML initiatives that drove step-change business outcomes.
• Successfully championed and driven the adoption of multi-year technical roadmaps across multiple large engineering organizations.
• Elevated engineering standards through mentorship and technical leadership, establishing org-wide best practices.

Skills

• Strong understanding of transformer architectures and their applications in search, recommendation, and conversational AI.
• Experience with large-scale distributed machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch and TensorFlow.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and drive strategic initiatives.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills to articulate technical ideas to non-technical stakeholders.

Benefits

You will be eligible to participate in Uber's bonus program, and may be offered an equity award & other types of compensation. All full-time employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan. You will also be eligible for various benefits.

Pay

The base salary range for this role is USD $267,000 per year - USD $297,000 per year.

Schedule

Offices remain key to collaboration and Uber's culture. Unless approved for full remote work, employees must spend at least 50% of their time in-office. Some roles, like those at greenlight hubs, require full-time in-office presence. Ask your Recruiter for details about this role's requirements.