Staff Tech Lead Manager, ML Data Services

Motional; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 225,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401k with company match

Life insurance

Pet insurance

Job summary

Motional is looking for a highly experienced Staff Tech Lead Manager in Pittsburgh to lead the development of our core machine learning data infrastructure. This role demands a blend of technical expertise and leadership capabilities, guiding a team focused on delivering scalable data solutions.

The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of software engineering experience, including managing teams and projects. Responsibilities include defining the technical roadmap, ensuring data quality, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. The role supports hybrid work with two in-office days required each week.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering focused on data systems.
• 3+ years of experience managing engineering projects.
• Experience designing and operating production-grade ML data pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical roadmap for the ML Data Service platform.
• Manage a team of software engineers, including hiring and performance reviews.
• Collaborate with ML model teams to deliver data solutions.

Skills

Large-scale data systems

Distributed systems

Machine learning infrastructure

Data processing technologies (Spark, Flink)

Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Team management and leadership

Education

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

Tools

Spark

Flink

Distributed databases

Job description

The ML Data Service team is seeking a highly experienced and motivated Staff Tech Lead Manager (TLM) to lead the development and operation of our core machine learning data infrastructure. This critical role requires a blend of deep technical expertise in machine learning systems, large-scale data processing, and proven leadership ability to manage both individual contributors and technical direction.

The ML Data Service team is responsible for providing reliable, high-quality, and easily accessible data for all ML use cases. As owners of the "Data Engineering" phase of the ML lifecycle, they manage the most critical input to any ML system: the data itself. Our infrastructure supports hundreds of data pipelines and petabytes of data, directly enabling the success of our flagship products.

What You’ll Do

• Define and drive the technical roadmap and long‑term strategy for the ML Data Service platform, ensuring it meets the evolving needs of ML engineers across the company.
• Serve as the top technical expert for the team, architecting complex, highly scalable, and fault‑tolerant systems for data ingestion, transformation, and serving.
• Lead the technical vision for the provision of diverse training data sources, including ingestion from real-world drive logs, resimulation outputs, autolabelling pipelines, and human labelling efforts.
• Drive the implementation of robust mechanisms for monitoring data quality, tracking data lineage, and ensuring overall data governance and compliance.
• Provide hands‑on technical guidance, design reviews, and mentorship to engineers, ensuring the adoption of best practices, high code quality, and operational excellence.

Management and Team Growth

• Manage a team of software engineers, including performance reviews, career development, coaching, and mentoring.
• Act as a technical leader‑manager hybrid, balancing 50% management duties with 50% technical leadership, architecture, and hands‑on coding/design.
• Drive hiring and recruitment efforts to attract, onboard, and retain top engineering talent, fostering a diverse and inclusive team culture.
• Champion engineering excellence, operational rigor, and a strong sense of ownership within the team.

Collaboration and Execution

• Collaborate closely with ML model teams and Infrastructure teams to understand data needs and deliver solutions that accelerate ML development cycles.
• Lead the execution of major projects, ensuring on‑time delivery and alignment with business objectives.
• Communicate complex technical concepts and strategic direction effectively to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, including executive leadership.

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with a strong focus on large‑scale data systems, distributed systems, or ML infrastructure.
• 3+ years of experience managing engineering projects with a track record of delivering efficient tools and infra. Manager experience of building and scaling high‑performing teams is a strong plus (including mentoring, performance management, and career development).
• Deep expertise in data processing technologies (e.g., Spark, Flink, Beam, distributed databases) and experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and operating production‑grade ML data pipelines or feature stores.

Hybrid: This role is hybrid from our Pittsburgh office and requires two in‑office days per week, ideally Tuesday and Thursday.

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: $225,000 USD - $275,000 USD

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.