Principal Technical Lead Manager - AI Data Applications

Motional; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 240,000 - 330,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Remote-friendly option

Job summary

Motional seeks a Principal Technical Lead Manager to build and lead a new AI Data Application team. You will drive strategy and execution to accelerate ML dataset generation and data search applications, reducing cycle times for pipelines and models.

You will be a hands‑on leader, recruiting and mentoring engineers, shaping the technical vision for datasets, vector store queries, and APIs across teams. This role blends data systems expertise with strong leadership in a driverless future.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional experience building web applications.
• 3+ years in a technical lead or management role.
• Experience with search and data curation web apps; API and query federation (GraphQL, AWS Athena).

Responsibilities

• Build, lead, and manage a high‑performing team of full stack web engineers.
• Define team goals, priorities, and roadmap aligned with company objectives.
• Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and career development.
• Define vision and strategy for services and web platforms for metadata storage and search.
• Define AI adoption strategy for frontend codebase and UX projects to speed development.

Skills

TypeScript

Python

React

GraphQL

AWS Athena

REST

gRPC

Education

BS or MS in Computer Science

Tools

PostgreSQL

Job description

We are seeking an experienced and visionary Principal Technical Lead Manager to build and lead our new AI Data Application team. This pivotal role will drive the strategy, development, and execution of initiatives aimed at significantly accelerating our ML dataset generation and data search applications. 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.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead, and manage a high‑performing team of full stack web engineers.
• Define team goals, priorities, and roadmap in alignment with company objectives.
• Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and career development opportunities to team members.
• Define the technical vision and strategy for building services and web platforms for storing and searching metadata and forming datasets.
• Define AI adoption strategy for frontend codebase and UX projects to speed up development and time to market.
• Identify and evaluate cutting‑edge technologies and methodologies for querying through datasets stored in various types of databases (think images in vector store, metadata in Postgres, etc) and APIs owned by several teams across the company.
• Collaborate closely with data mining, ML researchers, and other data platform 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 building web applications
• 3+ years of experience in a technical lead or management role
• Extensive experience with building web applications for search and data curation needs.
• Extensive experience with API and query federation technologies such as GraphQL or AWS Athena.
• Strong programming skills in Typescript and Python.
• Strong knowledge of modern frontend technologies such as React.
• Strong knowledge of building REST and gRPC based services, ideally in Python.
• Prior experience with building web applications for engineering or machine learning needs.

Bonus Points (not required)

• Prior experience in autonomous vehicles (AV) is a plus.
• Prior experience with Bazel based build systems.
• Prior experience with developing frontend workflows using LLMs.

Benefits

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. 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: $240,000 USD - $330,000 USD

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

We encourage a hybrid schedule with in‑office time at one of our locations in Boston, Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas to support collaboration, or this role can be fully remote.

Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly‑hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.