Senior AI / ML Data Engineer - Layla AI

Expedia Group; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 258,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Paid time off

Wellness & travel reimbursement

Travel discounts

Job summary

Expedia Group’s Layla team seeks a Senior AI/ML Data Engineer to build data foundations powering Layla’s travel-planning experiences. You will design scalable data pipelines, own data quality, and collaborate with product, analytics, and ML engineering teams.

You will apply AI/ML concepts responsibly, support experimentation, and mentor others. This Seattle-based role offers access to Expedia’s comprehensive data ecosystem and travel-scale platform.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of relevant professional data engineering experience.
• Strong data engineering expertise, including advanced SQL and data modeling, and experience designing and operating production data pipelines.
• Proficiency with Python for data engineering work.
• Familiarity with supporting AI/ML systems in production and applying AI/ML concepts to real-world products responsibly.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate reliable, scalable data pipelines powering Layla’s AI-native travel experiences.
• Own data quality, reliability, and observability for critical datasets in production.
• Build and support data foundations for experimentation and model evaluation.
• Enable production use of AI/ML systems, including feature pipelines, evaluation datasets, and monitoring.
• Partner with Product, Analytics, and ML/engineering teams to turn questions into dependable data and self-serve insights.
• Mentor other engineers on best practices for data engineering and AI/ML readiness.

Skills

Advanced SQL

Data modeling

Production data pipelines

Python

Data quality

AI/ML in production

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or related field

Tools

dbt

BigQuery

Snowflake

Looker

Metabase

Job description

At Expedia Group, we help travelers explore the world, one journey at a time. As a global travel company powered by passionate people, trusted partnerships, and leading technology, we connect travelers, partners, and advertisers through our consumer brands, B2B network, and travel advertising business. Here, you'll do meaningful work that helps millions of people discover, book, and experience travel with more ease, confidence, and joy. Our five Behaviors-Traveler First, Think Big, Operate with Excellence, Ownership Mindset, and Succeed Together-help foster a supportive environment where people can grow their careers and have the flexibility, benefits, and support to do their best work. Join us and build for travelers everywhere.

Introduction to the Product Team

The Product Team creates high-quality end-to-end experiences for travelers, partners, and Expedia Group. Our customer-first mindset focuses on developing products that encourage loyalty and repeat business from our travelers and partners. We partner closely with teams across Expedia Group to achieve growth and results for our customers and company. We connect Travelers to new experiences, through trusted relationships.

Strategic Partnerships and Affiliates

breadth of solutions which include cashback, travel offers, loyalty exchange, co-branded sites, Affiliate APIs and EG’s Affiliate Program, bring a partners’ audience onto EG sites, thereby increasing EG’s traffic and exposure.

Introduction to the Layla Team

Layla is an AI-native travel-planning and booking company, now part of Expedia Group’s Product organization. Through a conversational travel assistant, Layla helps travelers move from inspiration to a complete, bookable itinerary — flights, hotels, activities, and the day-by-day detail — in minutes. As part of Expedia Group, the team combines Layla’s planning and personalization capabilities with Expedia Group’s global supply, first-party traveler insights, marketplace scale, and booking technology. The team is small and senior by design and operates with startup pace: you own a surface, ship it, and see the impact on real travelers within weeks — with decisions driven by data and AI tooling used in practice every day.

Senior AI / ML Data Engineer

As a Senior AI / ML Data Engineer, you will build the data foundations that power Layla’s AI-native travel experiences — the reliable pipelines, high-quality datasets, and experimentation and evaluation support that let the team ship and improve AI/ML systems in production with confidence. In this role, you will:

• Design, build, and operate reliable, scalable data pipelines that power Layla’s AI-native trip-planning and booking experiences across Layla and Bellboy.
• Own data quality, reliability, and observability across critical datasets, establishing well-documented, trustworthy data models that other teams can confidently extend.
• Build and support the data foundations for experimentation and model evaluation, enabling honest, timely readouts that inform product and AI/ML decisions.
• Enable the production use of AI/ML systems — supporting feature and data availability, evaluation datasets, and monitoring — while applying AI/ML concepts responsibly.
• Partner closely with Product, Analytics, and ML/engineering teams to turn ambiguous questions into dependable data and self-serve answers.
• Advocate for engineering excellence in data — testing, documentation, and reusable patterns — and mentor other engineers on best practices.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related technical field; or equivalent related professional experience.
• 8+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Strong data engineering expertise, including advanced SQL and data modeling, and experience designing and operating production data pipelines.
• Proficiency with Python for data engineering work.
• Demonstrated ability to own data quality, reliability, and observability for critical datasets in production.
• Familiarity with supporting AI/ML systems in production — such as data/feature pipelines, evaluation datasets, or experimentation — and applying AI/ML concepts to real-world products responsibly.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with a modern data stack (for example, a transformation framework such as dbt, a cloud warehouse such as BigQuery or Snowflake, and BI tools such as Looker or Metabase).
• Experience building and maintaining experimentation frameworks and product analytics for a consumer product with real paid acquisition.
• Experience with attribution modeling, including an understanding of its limitations.
• Experience supporting production AI/ML or generative-AI systems (feature pipelines, evaluation, or monitoring), with attention to safety and responsible use.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools (for example, Claude or similar) to improve productivity, quality, and delivery speed.
• Experience in travel, marketplace, or e‑commerce domains, or building a data/analytics function from scratch.

Benefits and perks

• Expedia Group offers benefits and perks designed to support employees and their families, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, an Employee Assistance Program, wellness & travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) membership.
• Expedia Group is proud to offer a wide range of benefits to support employees and their families, including medical/dental/vision, paid time off, and an Employee Assistance Program. To fuel each employee’s passion for travel, we offer a wellness & travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and an International Airlines Travel Agent (IATAN) membership.

The total cash range for this position in Seattle is $184,500.00 to $258,000.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $295,000.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.

The total cash range for this position in Austin is $184,500.00 to $258,000.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $295,000.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.

Starting pay for this role will vary based on multiple factors, including location, available budget, and an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experience.

Pay ranges may be modified in the future.

Accommodation requests

Expedia Group is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruiting experience. If you need an accommodation or adjustment due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please submit a request at https://expedia.service-now.com/askeg?id=job_accommodation.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group includes three flagship consumer brands - Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo - along with a leading B2B travel business and travel advertising offerings. Across our brands and business, we help travelers explore the world with confidence and ease. Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE) powers travel for everyone, everywhere through our global platform. Driven by the core belief that travel is a force for good, we help people experience the world in new ways and build lasting connections. We provide industry-leading technology solutions to fuel partner growth and success, while facilitating memorable experiences for travelers. Expedia Group's family of brands includes: Brand Expedia®, Hotels.com®, Expedia® Partner Solutions, Vrbo®, trivago®, Orbitz®, Travelocity®, Hotwire®, Wotif®, ebookers®, CheapTickets®, Expedia Group™ Media Solutions, Expedia Local Expert®, CarRentals.com™, and Expedia Cruises™. For more information, visit www.expediagroup.com.

Equal Opportunity

Expedia is committed to creating an inclusive work environment with a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. This employer participates in E‑Verify. The employer will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee's I‑9 to confirm work authorization.