Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Search & Index

Wayve; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Equity and stock options

Relocation support

Job summary

Wayve is hiring for a Senior Backend/ML Systems engineer to architect and scale the search and indexing platform for billions of vectors and multimodal data. You will own end-to-end components, design ingestion pipelines, and deliver API-backed services for vector similarity and metadata filtering.

You will collaborate with ML, data, evaluation and platform teams, mentor engineers, and move fast in a hybrid Sunnyvale setup that combines office time with remote work when possible.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in backend, infra or ML systems building production systems.
• Hands-on experience with vector databases or ANN technologies such as FAISS, LanceDB or similar.
• Understanding multimodal embeddings and evaluation of search quality across relevance and performance.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and operate the search and indexing platform for data at scale (hundreds of thousands of hours of video and sensor data).
• Own complex components from design through production and mentor other engineers.
• Develop ingestion and indexing pipelines for video, sensor data, embeddings and metadata.
• Create backend services and APIs for vector similarity, semantic retrieval and metadata-filtered search.

Skills

Backend systems

ML systems

Vector databases

FAISS

LanceDB

Python

Distributed data pipelines

Tools

FAISS

LanceDB

APIs

Job description

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here’s what this particular role covers.

About Our Engineering Teams

The Search & Indexing team, part of Compute and Data Platform (AI Platform), makes Wayve's multimodal driving data discoverable. We build the indexing infrastructure behind vector and metadata-based retrieval, powering data curation, training set construction and ML research. You'd be the first hire in the team, in our Sunnyvale office.

Your day-to-day

You'll design, build and operate the search and indexing platform for hundreds of thousands of hours of video and sensor data, with the system scaling beyond 10B vectors. You'll work with the Technical Lead on architecture, own complex components from design through production, and help decide what to build versus buy. Expect to move fast: use off-the-shelf tools and ship an MVP in months, not quarters. You'll work with ML, Data, Evaluation and Platform teams, and support other engineers through code reviews and mentoring.

What You'll Be Working On

• Production search and indexing systems at billion-vector scale


• Ingestion and indexing pipelines across video, sensor data, embeddings and metadata


• Backend services and APIs for vector similarity, semantic retrieval and metadata-filtered search


• Evaluating and integrating embedding models, vector databases, ANN libraries and external vendors


• Evaluation frameworks measuring retrieval quality, recall, relevance, filtering accuracy, latency, freshness, scalability and cost


• Integrating search into training-set construction, data curation and research workflows

You Should Apply If

• You have 7+ years in backend, infrastructure or ML systems, building production systems


• You have hands‑on experience with vector databases or ANN technologies such as FAISS, LanceDB or similar


• You understand multimodal embeddings and have evaluated search quality across relevance, recall, filtering accuracy and performance


• You code strongly in Python or another systems language


• You have built search services, APIs, and large-scale ingestion and indexing pipelines


• You have delivered 0→1 systems in ambiguous problem spaces


• You are comfortable working across infra, ML and data curation

Nice To Have

• Large-scale ML pipelines or distributed data infrastructure


• Multimodal data, including video, images, sensor data and metadata


• Active learning, semantic retrieval or training-data selection workflows


• Autonomy, robotics or large-scale data infrastructure


• Evaluating technical vendors and working with external providers

More About Wayve

Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines.

Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

How we work - Locations & Flexible Working

Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives.

The Interview Process

• Initial call / recruiter screen (30 mins)


• Deep‑dive technical interviews [programming, system design & domain‑specific interviews; 3 hours total]


• Final interview: mission & values alignment (45 mins).

We’ll always explain the format and work around your availability.

What’s in it for you (Location dependant)

• Salaries benchmarked against the market annually


• Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve


• Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable


• Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands on in vehicle workshops and labs


• Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth


• Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more

A quick, honest note before you apply.

Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.

At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve. To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.