Software Engineering Manager -Data Platform
Motional
$172,000 - $229,000 / year
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Description
Mission Summary:
We are seeking an experienced and visionary Staff Level Technical Lead Manager to build and lead our new Data Platform team. This pivotal role will drive the strategy, development, and execution of initiatives aimed at significantly accelerating our ML dataset generation and our data warehouse stack. The ultimate goal is to drastically reduce the development cycle for new pipelines, ML models and get us operationally prepared for a driverless future!
You will be a hands-on leader, blending deep technical expertise in data systems and infrastructure with strong leadership and people management skills. You will recruit, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvements.
What You'll Be Doing:
- Team Leadership & Management:
- Build, lead, and manage a high-performing team of data and infrastructure engineers focused on building out Motional’s Data Stack.
- Define team goals, priorities, and roadmap in alignment with company objectives.
- Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and career development opportunities to team members.
- Technical Strategy & Execution:
- Define the technical vision and strategy for storing metrics and generating ML datasets for large computer vision and behavioral models.
- Identify and evaluate cutting-edge technologies and methodologies for speeding up data loaders for training, ingestion of metrics, and querying of large datasets for everything from dashboards to training.
- Cross-functional Collaboration:
- Collaborate closely with ML research, ML Training platform, and data engineering teams to understand their needs and integrate solutions seamlessly.
- Communicate complex technical concepts and strategies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
What We're Looking For:
- Experience:
- BS or MS in Computer Science or related field
- 8+ years of professional experience in data platform engineering
- 3+ years of experience in a technical lead or management role with 3-7 direct reports
- Extensive experience with managing large (petabyte plus) scale data platforms such as data warehouses, object storage, and ML training data stores.
- Extensive experience with workflow orchestration frameworks such as Airflow or Step Functions.
- Technical Skills:
- Strong programming skills in Python. C++ experience is a plus.
- Deep knowledge of data storage formats such as Parquet, Iceberg, and Lance and understand their tradeoffs.
- Strong knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP) solutions and their product offerings.
- Prior experience with building data warehouses or lakehouse architectures at a machine learning or robotics company.
Bonus Points (not required):
- Prior experience in autonomous vehicles (AV) is a plus.
- Prior experience with Bazel based build systems.
We encourage a hybrid schedule with in-office time at one of our locations in Boston, Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas to support collaboration, or this role can be fully remote.
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.
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 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.
Benefits
- health insurance
- 401(k)
- stock options
- life insurance
About this role
Motional is building out a new Data Platform team and seeking a hands-on technical leader to own its strategy and execution. You'd report at the staff level, responsible for recruiting and managing a team of data and infrastructure engineers while defining the technical vision for the company's ML dataset generation and data warehouse stack. The role blends deep technical leadership with people management—you'll mentor engineers, set team priorities aligned with company goals, and drive initiatives to accelerate ML model development and operational readiness for autonomous vehicle deployment.
The work spans three interconnected areas: building and scaling Motional's data infrastructure to handle petabyte-scale workloads, evaluating and implementing cutting-edge technologies for data storage and orchestration, and collaborating across ML research and training platform teams to integrate solutions seamlessly. You'll need 8+ years in data platform engineering, 3+ years leading technical teams with 3–7 direct reports, and deep expertise in large-scale data warehouses, workflow orchestration (Airflow or Step Functions), and cloud infrastructure on AWS or GCP. Strong Python skills are essential; experience with data formats like Parquet and Iceberg, plus background in ML or robotics companies, will be particularly valuable.
This is a hybrid role based in Boston, Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas, with flexibility for remote work. The salary range is $172,000–$229,000, plus potential bonus and equity. Candidates with autonomous vehicle experience or familiarity with Bazel build systems are especially well-positioned.
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Pay for this role
$172,000 to $229,000 per year
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