Principal Machine Learning Engineer – Autonomy

Machine Learning, Engineering

San Francisco, California |

Sunnyvale, California

Full Time

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About the Role

As a Principal ML Engineer, you will be at the forefront of Physical AI, developing core components of our Autonomous Driving stack. You will set the technical direction for the development and implementation of state-of-the-art machine learning across the autonomy pipeline. You aren't just solving known problems; you are identifying the next generation of challenges in AV, designing the architectural foundations to solve them, and raising the bar for technical excellence across the entire engineering organization. You will collaborate with engineers across big data, compute, and cloud engineering to build platforms that harness scale and real-world complexity to reimagine how the world moves.

What You’ll Do

• Strategic Autonomy Development: Lead the strategy for Autonomous Driving Algorithm Development, ensuring our stack is robust, safe, and capable of handling the most complex urban edge cases
• Next-Generation Autonomy: Provide the overarching technical vision for our multi-modal autonomy systems. You will lead the design of state-of-the-art foundation models to achieve highly accurate, real-time understanding of the world, and seamlessly translate this semantic understanding into cutting-edge Physical AI models that dictate safe, human-like decision-making and trajectory generation
• Architecture & System Design: Design and oversee the implementation of complex, large-scale ML systems, ensuring seamless integration between upstream sensor data and downstream actuation, while relentlessly optimizing deep learning models for strict onboard latency, compute, and kinematic constraints
• Technical Mentorship & Influence: Mentor senior and lead engineers, fostering a culture of rigorous experimentation and engineering excellence. You will influence the technical direction of multiple teams
• Cross-Organizational Leadership: Act as a bridge between AV Labs and other Uber engineering units to ensure that autonomous technology is successfully integrated and deployed at scale

What You’ll Need

• 10+ years of working experience in the ML, Robotics, or Autonomous Systems industry (building upon the base 8+ years expected for advanced roles)
• Proven experience leading large-scale technical projects from conception to production
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related fields
• Expert-level proficiency in Python and Linux environments
• Deep expertise in modern AI/ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch)

Bonus Points If

• PhD degree in Robotics or Machine Learning with a focus on Autonomous Driving
• Extensive experience with C++, CUDA, and high-performance system optimization
• Deep understanding of the Robot Operating System (ROS) or similar autonomous middleware
• Experience building and scaling "Foundation Models" for physical world interaction
• Recognized expertise in the field (e.g., relevant patents, open-source contributions, or publications)

About the Team

Uber is launching AV Labs to accelerate the autonomous technology ecosystem. We're building out a high-velocity team of multi-disciplinary experts to turn real-world operations into high-quality data for our autonomous partners. This team is focused on the hardest problem in AV today: unlocking real-world, long-tail driving data. Autonomy is now a data race—and Uber has an edge: We collect rare, real-world driving data at a scale and capital efficiency no one else can match.

For San Francisco, CA-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD$302,000 per year - USD$336,000 per year.

For Sunnyvale, CA-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD$302,000 per year - USD$336,000 per year.

For all US locations, you will be eligible to participate in Uber's bonus program, and may be offered an equity award & other types of comp. All full-time employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan. You will also be eligible for various benefits. More details can be found at the following link https://jobs.uber.com/en/benefits.

Uber's mission is to reimagine the way the world moves for the better. Here, bold ideas create real-world impact, challenges drive growth, and speed fuels progress. What moves us, moves the world - let's move it forward, together.

Uber is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing this form.

Offices continue to be central to collaboration and Uber’s cultural identity. Unless formally approved to work fully remotely, Uber expects employees to spend at least half of their work time in their assigned office. For certain roles, such as those based at green-light hubs, employees are expected to be in-office for 100% of their time. Please speak with your recruiter to better understand in-office expectations for this role.

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