Director, Engineering - AV Labs

About the Role

As the Director of Engineering, you will lead the development of the AI models, algorithms, and semantic engines that power our data capabilities. You will direct a world-class engineering organization focused on building advanced AI foundation models and scalable algorithms that process multi-modal sensor data to add rich semantics to our massive driving data. You aren't just solving known problems; you are overseeing the intelligence behind our L4 data and evaluation engine. Your organization will build the core technologies—spanning cutting-edge machine learning models, perception algorithms, and causal behavior engines—that enable deep scene understanding and unparalleled data mining capabilities for our autonomous partners.

What You’ll Do

• Organizational Leadership & Team Building: Build, scale, and lead a high-performing engineering organization comprising AI modeling, machine learning, and autonomy engineers. Foster a culture of technical excellence, high velocity, and rigorous scientific execution
• AI Models & Algorithms Strategy: Provide the overarching technical vision for the AI models and autonomy algorithms that enrich our L4 data lake. You will guide the organization in building scalable model architectures that can extract high-fidelity semantic meaning and behavioral causality from complex urban edge cases
• Modeling for Semantic Data: Oversee the development of cutting-edge AI models and semantic data processing algorithms. You will ensure these models are robust, highly accurate, and capable of training and running state-of-the-art AI models to support a comprehensive, highly structured taxonomy for our autonomous database
• Cross-Functional Executive Leadership: Act as a critical leader within AV Labs, partnering closely with Product, Operations, and other Uber executives to align AI model development and algorithmic architecture with business goals

What You’ll Need

• 12+ years of engineering experience in AI modeling, applied ML, or Autonomous Systems
• 5+ years of experience managing engineering teams, including experience managing managers and leading large-scale ML/AI engineering organizations
• Proven track record of delivering highly scalable algorithms, advanced AI models, and large-scale ML solutions from conception to production
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related fields

Bonus Points If

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related field
• Deep understanding of AI foundation models, modern ML architectures, and large-scale data processing for model training
• Prior experience in the Autonomous Vehicle (AV) industry, specifically related to offline evaluation, simulation, or autonomous data mining
• Strong background in building models and algorithms that process, structure, and query massive datasets to enable advanced machine learning and scene understanding
• Demonstrated ability to drive technical strategy and influence cross-functional roadmaps in a highly matrixed, fast-paced organization

About the Team

Uber is launching AV Labs to accelerate the autonomous technology ecosystem. We're building out a high-velocity team of multi-disciplinary experts to turn real-world operations into high-quality data for our autonomous partners. This team is focused on the hardest problem in AV today: unlocking real-world, long-tail driving data. Autonomy is now a data race—and Uber has an edge: We collect rare, real-world driving data at a scale and capital efficiency no one else can match.

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For San Francisco, CA-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD$302,000 per year - USD$336,000 per year.

For Sunnyvale, CA-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD$302,000 per year - USD$336,000 per year.

For all US locations, you will be eligible to participate in Uber's bonus program, and may be offered an equity award & other types of comp. All full-time employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan. You will also be eligible for various benefits. More details can be found at the following link https://jobs.uber.com/en/benefits.

Ready to Ride?

This isn't the kind of place where you follow a playbook — it's where you help write one. If you're driven by impact, energized by challenge, and ready to shape how the world moves — we'd love to hear from you.

You may be eligible for bonuses, equity, and other compensation, as well as a range of benefits. Explore our benefits.

Offices remain key to collaboration and Uber's culture. Unless approved for full remote work, employees must spend at least 50% of their time in-office. Some roles, like those at greenlight hubs, require full-time in-office presence. Ask your Recruiter for details about this role's requirements.

Uber is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing this form.