Sr Manager, Machine Learning Engineering

Adobe; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 178,900 - 351,225; Full time

Job summary

Adobe is seeking a Manager for Applied Research in San Jose, California. You will lead a distributed team to train data for Generative AI, establishing strategies for data management and enhancing data pipelines.

The ideal candidate possesses a Master’s/Ph.D. in a relevant field and extensive experience in engineering leadership. The role offers a competitive salary range of $178,900 to $351,225 annually depending on experience.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of engineering leadership in ML data ops teams.
• Experience in building and optimizing ETL/ELT pipelines.
• Strong grasp of data privacy and ethical AI practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead a distributed team focused on training data for Generative AI.
• Define strategy for acquiring and processing datasets.
• Build scalable data pipelines across the training data lifecycle.

Skills

Leadership

Machine Learning Data Operations

Data Quality and Governance

Cloud Data Technologies

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Education

Master’s/Ph.D. in CS, Data Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Spark

Databricks

Snowflake

Job description

Overview

Adobe Firefly Foundry is a managed generative‑AI service that allows enterprises to train private Firefly models on their own intellectual property. As a Manager for Applied Research, you will translate cutting‑edge research into production‑ready capabilities and build a world‑class team.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a distributed team focused on training data for Generative AI.
• Define and execute strategy for acquiring, processing, curating, annotating, versioning, and ensuring quality of large‑scale datasets for Adobe Firefly.
• Build and maintain scalable, efficient data pipelines across the training data lifecycle.
• Collaborate with researchers, ML engineers, and PMs to align on data needs for new models.
• Champion data diversity, bias mitigation, and ethical AI practices.
• Evaluate and integrate tools and methodologies to enhance infrastructure and workflows.
• Influence model development through insights on data quality and availability.
• Provide technical leadership and foster a culture of innovation.
• Partner across teams to align data priorities and share best practices.

Qualifications

• Master’s/Ph.D. in CS, Data Science, Engineering, AI/ML, or related field—or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years in engineering leadership, managing data infrastructure or ML data ops teams.
• Deep understanding of ML data lifecycles, especially for generative models (GANs, diffusion).
• 7+ years building and optimizing large‑scale ETL/ELT pipelines and data warehousing.
• Expertise in data quality, governance, versioning, and annotation platforms.
• Proficiency with cloud data tech (AWS, Azure, GCP, Spark, Databricks, Snowflake).
• Strong grasp of data privacy, security, and ethical AI principles.
• Excellent leadership and cross‑functional collaboration skills.
• Experience with large‑scale image/video datasets.
• Preferred: Familiarity with MLOps tools (e.g., DVC), annotation platforms, and compliance standards.
• Experience in computer vision, multimedia, or creative content data ecosystems.
• Contributions to open‑source tools, publications, or patents in data management.
• Proven success supporting generative model training with robust data solutions.

Compensation

U.S. pay range: $178,900 – $351,225 annually. In California: $242,600 – $351,225. Pay varies by location and experience.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Adobe is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.