Model Evaluation Manager

Zoox; Foster City (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid parental leave

Health insurance

Work from home opportunities

Flexible paid time away

Job summary

Zoox is seeking a Manager of Model Validation & Verification (VnV) for Behavior Autonomy in Foster City, CA. You will lead a multi-disciplinary team of data scientists and engineers to evaluate, benchmark, and validate ML models and behavioral algorithms driving our autonomous vehicle stacks.

You will own evaluation pipelines, safety-focused metrics, and release gating, collaborating with Planning, Prediction, and ML Operations teams to ensure robust, data-driven decisions for fleet deployment.

Qualifications

• Masters or PhD in CS, Robotics, Applied Statistics or related field.
• 3+ years engineering management in Data Science, ML, or V&V teams.
• 7+ years of technical experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or AI/ML.

Responsibilities

• Lead an engineering and data science team focusing on evaluating, benchmarking, and validating ML models and behavioral algorithms for AV prediction and planning stacks.
• Own validation pipelines, offline/online evaluation, and suppression budgets with safety guardrails.
• Partner with Autonomy Software, Prediction, Planner, and ML Ops teams to set data-driven release criteria.

Skills

Python

C++

ML Platforms

Distributed Systems

Reinforcement Learning

Generative AI

Simulation Frameworks

Model Evaluation

Validation Infrastructure

Autonomous Vehicles

Robotics

Data Science Leadership

Education

Master's degree in CS, Robotics, Applied Statistics or related field

PhD preferred in CS, Robotics, Applied Statistics or related field

Tools

Python ML environments

C++ / distributed systems

Job description

• As the Manager of Model Validation & Verification (VnV) for Behavior Autonomy, you will lead an engineering and data science team responsible for evaluating, benchmarking, and validating the machine learning models and behavioral algorithms that drive our autonomous vehicle (AV) prediction and planning stacks
• You will own the statistical frameworks, offline/online evaluation metrics, and validation pipelines that ensure our behavioral models operate safely, comfortably, and predictably
• Operating at the intersection of Data Science, Machine Learning, and Safety Engineering, you will partner closely with Autonomy Software, Prediction, Planner, and ML Operations teams to establish data driven release criteria for our AV fleet
• Team Leadership & Execution: Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of Data Scientists, ML Validation Engineers, and Software Engineers while driving roadmaps, sprint execution, resource allocation, and high-throughput model releases with rigorous safety guardrails. Culture of Rigor: Foster a culture of statistical excellence, healthy skepticism, proactive risk tracking, and data-driven decision-making
• Validation Strategy & Methodologies: Define and execute end-to-end validation strategies across offline evaluation, open/closed-loop simulation, and shadow-mode fleet benchmarking to ensure robust behavioral model performance. Statistical uncertainties, and regressions into clear, data-driven recommendations for release gating and executive leadership
• Metrics, Release Gating & Rigor: Oversee metric development and standardization with System Safety and Autonomy teams, establishing quantitative go/no-go release criteria for Behavioral Planner and Prediction ML models while fostering statistical rigor and proactive risk management
• Cross-Functional & Infrastructure Partnership: Partner closely with Planner, Prediction, MLOps, and Developer Efficiency teams to translate behavioral requirements into measurable validation targets, streamline dataset and evaluation pipelines, and optimize runtime and compute costs
• Executive Communication & Decision-Making: Translate complex model performance trade-offs, statistical uncertainty, regressions, and safety risks into clear, data-driven recommendations for release decisions and executive leadership

Benefits

• Paid parental leave
• Affinity groups and sports clubs
• Work from home opportunities
• Health insurance
• Our crew’s health and happiness is our first priority. We offer comprehensive health and mental health support, a wellbeing program, and unlimited and flexible paid time away
• We invest in our crew—and their families—for the long term. That includes generous family planning support, caregiver support, and strong cash compensation with great equity upside
• We look after our crew when they’re in the office too. Our famous food program is a great example, featuring a daily changing menu of local and sustainable dishes
• There’s a busy calendar of social events at Zoox, with more sports teams than you can count. And, of course, playing with robots is an important part of the job description

Software & Systems Literacy: Strong technical foundation in Python and modern data/ML platforms, with exposure to or conceptual literacy in large-scale production codebases (C++ or distributed systems). Proven ability to partner with systems software engineers, review technical architecture, and understand compute/performance trade-offs, Track record of leading teams evaluating complex robotic systemsExperience: Masters or PhD in CS, Robotics, Applied Statistics or a related field and 3+ years of direct engineering management experience leading Data Science, Machine Learning, or V&V engineering teams, alongside 7+ years of technical experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or AI/MLDomain Knowledge: Strong background in ML model validation, behavioral evaluation frameworks, system-level performance benchmarking, and statisticsTechnical Depth: Proven familiarity with modern C++/Python ML environments, simulation frameworks, high-throughput ML evaluation pipelinesCross-Functional Leadership: Demonstrated ability to navigate complex organizational trade offs between release velocity, compute cost, and safety rigorExperience with reinforcement learning, generative AI, or distributed ML systemsExperience building large-scale simulation, model evaluation, or validation infrastructureExperience with autonomous vehicles, robotics, or other safety-critical systems