Manager, Onboard Behavior Encoder

Zoox is hiring a Manager, Onboard Behavior Encoder in Foster City, United States. It pays $254k-$366k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Zoox.

Level's read on this job

Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this role: the job is building AI systems.
Level classifies it as a senior role.
Level lists 224 other open roles at Zoox.

AI in this role

The Onboard Behavior Model Architecture team is responsible for developing deep learning models that leverage data and compute at large scale to train driving models. We learn and predict behaviors from large scale expert data and large scale reinforcement learning to produce a ML driver that is safe, comfortable, and completes the mission. In this role, you will collaborate closely with the Onboard Perception, Cost Planner, Simulation, Validation, Data Science, Systems Engineering, QA, and ML Infra teams.

In this role, you will:

Lead a Team: Manage, mentor, and grow a team of individual contributors, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
Develop Strategy: Develop and organize our overall strategy for Onboard Behavior ML Models for generating driving plans for our autonomous vehicle. You will interface with multiple partner teams to identify opportunities for model improvements within their problem area. You’ll be setting the short and long term technical direction for the team and collaborate on broader company-wide directions.
Provide technical guidance and leadership in the design and development of training models at large scale and work with partner teams on ensuring their efficient inference.
Monitor Performance: Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of work packages and drive continuous improvement.
Manage Resources: Manage the allocation of resources within the team, ensuring that projects are staffed appropriately and that team members have the necessary tools and support to succeed.

Qualifications

Expertise with Reinforcement Learning and Machine Learning for at least one of these areas: Planning, LLMs, VLAs/VLMs, recommendation systems.
Extensive experience with programming and algorithm design, strong mathematics skills.
MS or PhD degree in computer science or related field.
5+ years of experience with production Machine Learning pipelines, with at least 3 years in a leadership or management role.

Bonus Qualifications

Conference or Journal publications in Machine Learning or Robotics related venues.
Prior experience working with autonomous vehicles or robotics, diffusion models, large scale training.

How we rate this

Manager, Onboard Behavior Encoder at Zoox rates 96 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.