Staff Tech Lead Manager, ML Data Services

Pittsburgh Robotics Network; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); Hybrid; USD 172,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

401k with company match

Health savings accounts

Pet insurance

Job summary

Motional is seeking a Staff Tech Lead Manager for ML Data Services to lead the development and operation of our core ML data infrastructure. This is a hybrid role across Boston and Pittsburgh with two in-office days per week.

You will define the technical roadmap, architect scalable systems for data ingestion and training data provisioning, mentor engineers, and drive data governance and collaboration with ML model teams to accelerate development cycles.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with large-scale data systems
• 3+ years of engineering leadership/management experience
• Experience designing and operating production ML data pipelines or feature stores

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the technical roadmap and long-term strategy for the ML Data Service platform.
• Architect scalable, fault-tolerant data ingestion, transformation, and serving systems.
• Lead the provision of diverse training data sources including real-world drive logs and labelling pipelines.
• Drive data quality, lineage, governance, and compliance mechanisms.
• Provide hands-on technical guidance, design reviews, and mentorship to engineers.

Skills

Large-scale data systems

Distributed systems

ML infrastructure

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Spark

Flink

Beam

Distributed databases

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

Careers

Open Positions

Our teams are made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers, and doers. Together, we can change the world.

All Motional open positions and applications will be posted here on the official website.

Background

Infrastructure

Staff Tech Lead Manager, ML Data Services

Office locations

Boston, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Remote U.S. Only

Full-time

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.

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. Manger 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.

This role is hybrid from our Boston and Pittsburgh offices 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. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.

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

$172,000—$225,000 USD

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.

Our journey is always people first.

We aren’t just developing driverless cars; we’re creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.

Higher purpose, greater impact.

We’re creating first‑of‑its‑kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do.

Scale up, not starting up.

Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully‑autonomous cross‑country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest‑standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges.

Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit www.Motional.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Motional is powered by a uniquely talented, highly experienced team with a diverse set of skills across engineering, robotics, machine‑learning, and artificial intelligence.

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.