Principal Data Scientist

Safeway; Pleasanton (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Weekly wages

Early wage access

Associate discounts

Health benefits

Time off

Career development

Inclusive environment

Job summary

Albertsons Companies in Pleasanton, CA is seeking a senior AI/ML leader to drive end-to-end deep learning initiatives. You will architect scalable frameworks, govern model development, and mentor teams while partnering with Business and Engineering leaders to deliver measurable AI value.

The role emphasizes distributed training, large-model deployments, and enterprise-grade inference across cloud platforms, with a focus on retail and customer insights.

Qualifications

• PhD strongly preferred in a quantitative field.
• Master's degree with exceptional industry research may be considered.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end deep learning solutions from problem framing to deployment within Databricks Lakehouse.
• Serve as technical authority for Graph Neural Networks and related architectures across high-impact business problems.
• Architect scalable ML platforms with reusable frameworks and governance.

Skills

Deep Learning

GNNs

Graph Representation Learning

Foundation Models/LLMs

PyTorch/TensorFlow

Spark/PySpark

Python

Distributed GPU

Education

PhD in CS/AI/ML

MS with exceptional industry experience

Tools

Databricks Lakehouse

Delta Lake

MLflow

Unity Catalog

Spark

NVIDIA CUDA

Job description

Why choose us?

Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Join us for an exciting opportunity at Albertsons Companies, where innovation and customer service go hand-in-hand! At Albertsons Companies, we are looking for someone who’s not just seeking a job, but someone who wants to make an impact. In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to lead, innovate, and contribute to the growth of a company that values great service and lasting customer relationships. This position offers the chance to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment that’s constantly evolving.

Bring your flavor

Building the future of food and well-being starts with you. Join our team and bring your best self to the table.

The position will be based in Pleasanton, CA.

Main Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of end-to-end deep learning solutions, from problem formulation and model architecture selection through deployment and continuous optimization within the Databricks Lakehouse platform.
• Serve as the technical authority for Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), graph representation learning, and advanced deep learning architectures, driving innovation and adoption across high-impact business problems.
• Architect scalable machine learning and deep learning platforms, establishing reusable frameworks, standards, and best practices for model development, deployment, and lifecycle management.
• Define and implement robust evaluation, explainability, and model governance frameworks to ensure model quality, transparency, and business impact.
• Lead the development and optimization of distributed training, large-scale data processing, and inference systems using Spark and modern AI infrastructure.
• Drive the fine-tuning, adaptation, and product ionization of foundation models, large language models (LLMs), and other advanced AI architectures leveraging enterprise data assets.
• Partner with Data Science, Engineering, Product, and Business leaders to translate strategic opportunities into scalable AI solutions that deliver measurable value.
• Influence AI strategy, technical roadmaps, and architectural decisions while mentoring senior practitioners and advancing organizational AI capabilities.

Required Qualifications

Education

• PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Operations Research, or a related quantitative field strongly preferred.
• Master's degree with exceptional equivalent industry research and leadership experience may be considered.

Experience

• 12 plus years of experience developing and deploying machine learning and deep learning solutions in production environments.
• 8 plus years of experience leading advanced deep learning research, experimentation, and enterprise-scale implementation efforts.
• Demonstrated experience operating as a Principal Scientist, Principal AI Engineer, Distinguished Engineer, Research Lead, or equivalent senior technical individual contributor.

Technical Expertise

Deep Expertise In

• Deep Learning
• Graph Neural Networks (GNNs)
• Graph Representation Learning
• Graph Embeddings
• Knowledge Graphs
• Graph Transformers
• Foundation Models and LLMs

Expert-level hands-on proficiency in PyTorch and/or TensorFlow.

Extensive Experience Building Large-scale Distributed Machine Learning Solutions Using

• Apache Spark
• PySpark
• Databricks Lakehouse
• Delta Lake
• MLflow
• Unity Catalog
• Expert knowledge of model training, optimization, serving, and lifecycle management across distributed GPU environments.
• Proven experience designing enterprise-grade inference systems balancing accuracy, latency, reliability, scalability, and operational cost.
• Advanced proficiency in Python and machine learning ecosystems including NumPy, Pandas, Scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, and related frameworks

Research & Thought Leadership

• Strong publication record in leading machine learning, artificial intelligence, graph machine learning, or data science conferences and journals.
• Proven track record translating advanced research into measurable business outcomes.
• Demonstrated technical leadership through patents, publications, conference presentations, open-source contributions, or recognized industry thought leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

Deep expertise in advanced graph learning architectures including:

• Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs)
• GraphSAGE
• Graph Attention Networks (GATs)
• Heterogeneous Graph Neural Networks
• Temporal Graph Networks
• Graph Transformers

• Experience building and deploying LLM, generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), multimodal AI, and agentic AI solutions.
• Experience operating large-scale AI platforms on AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform.
• Experience with Ray, Kubernetes, Docker, Nvidia CUDA ecosystem, Triton Inference Server, and distributed GPU infrastructure.
• Experience designing streaming inference architectures using Kafka, Structured Streaming, and real-time decisioning systems.
• Experience leading enterprise AI transformations across multiple business units.
• Background in retail, e-commerce, supply chain, customer intelligence, recommendations, fraud detection, network optimization, or large-scale graph applications.
• Recognized industry subject matter expert with demonstrated influence beyond immediate organizational boundaries
• We also provide a variety of benefits including:
• Competitive wages paid weekly
• Access to up to 50% of your earned wages before payday, via our partnership with Stream
• Associate discounts
• Health and financial well-being benefits for eligible associates (Medical, Dental, 401k and more!)
• Time off (vacation, holidays, sick pay). For eligibility requirements please visit myACI Benefits
• Leaders invested in your training, career growth and development
• An inclusive work environment with talented colleagues who reflect the communities we serve

ACI Values

A copy of the full job description can be made available to you.