Senior AI / ML Data Engineer - Layla AI

11105 Expedia, Inc.; Washington; On-site; USD 185,000 - 258,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision coverage

Wellness & travel reimbursement

Travel discounts

Job summary

Expedia Group's Layla team is seeking a Senior AI/ML Data Engineer to build the data foundations powering AI-native travel experiences. You will design, build, and operate scalable data pipelines, own data quality and observability, and support experimentation and model evaluation in production.

Collaborating with Product, Analytics, and ML/engineering teams, you will turn ambitious questions into dependable data and self-serve insights, while promoting engineering excellence and mentoring other

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.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Skills

SQL

Python

Data modeling

Data pipelines

Observability

Data quality

Mentoring

AI/ML systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science 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. We use the power of Expedia Group brands to empower strategic partners to nurture and grow the existing relationship with their audience. 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 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.
• 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 and travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) membership.

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.

Equal Opportunity

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.

Employment Notice

Employment opportunities and job offers at Expedia Group will always come from Expedia Group's Talent Acquisition and hiring teams. Never share sensitive personal information unless you are confident of the recipient. Expedia Group does not extend job offers via email or messaging tools to individuals with whom we have not made prior contact. Our email domain is @expediagroup.com.

Salary and Perks

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.

Learn More

Learn more about life at Expedia Group at https://careers.expediagroup.com/life.