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Manager - Model Evaluation

Zoox· Software – Autonomy Software
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Hybrid (Foster City, CA)$237k - $338kFull-timePosted 1mo ago

About the role

Manager of Model Validation & Verification (VnV) for Behavior Autonomy leading an engineering and data science team to evaluate, benchmark, and validate ML models and behavioral algorithms for autonomous vehicle prediction and planning stacks.

Responsibilities

  • Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of Data Scientists, ML Validation Engineers, and Software Engineers while driving roadmaps, sprint execution, resource allocation, and high-throughput model releases with rigorous safety guardrails.
  • Foster a culture of statistical excellence, healthy skepticism, proactive risk tracking, and data-driven decision-making.
  • Define and execute end-to-end validation strategies across offline evaluation, open/closed-loop simulation, and shadow-mode fleet benchmarking to ensure robust behavioral model performance, including handling statistical uncertainties and regressions to provide data-driven recommendations for release gating.
  • Oversee metric development and standardization with System Safety and Autonomy teams, establishing quantitative go/no-go release criteria for Behavioral Planner and Prediction ML models.
  • Partner with Planner, Prediction, MLOps, and Developer Efficiency teams to translate behavioral requirements into measurable validation targets, streamline dataset and evaluation pipelines, and optimize runtime and compute costs.
  • Translate complex model performance trade-offs, statistical uncertainty, regressions, and safety risks into clear, data-driven recommendations for release decisions and executive leadership.

Qualifications

  • Masters or PhD in CS, Robotics, Applied Statistics or a related field and 3+ years of direct engineering management experience leading Data Science, ML, or V&V engineering teams, alongside 7+ years of technical experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or AI/ML.
  • Strong background in ML model validation, behavioral evaluation frameworks, system-level performance benchmarking, and statistics.
  • Strong technical foundation in Python and modern data/ML platforms, with exposure to or conceptual literacy in large-scale production codebases (C++ or distributed systems). Proven ability to partner with systems software engineers, review technical architecture, and understand compute/performance trade-offs, track record of leading teams evaluating complex robotic systems.
  • Proven familiarity with modern C++/Python ML environments, simulation frameworks, high-throughput ML evaluation pipelines.
  • Demonstrated ability to navigate complex organizational trade offs between release velocity, compute cost, and safety rigor.

Skills

Required:Team LeadershipValidation StrategyData-Driven Decision MakingPython
Nice to have:C++

Benefits

  • Zoox offers a comprehensive package of benefits, including paid time off (sick leave, vacation, bereavement), unpaid time off, Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights, Amazon RSUs, health insurance, long-term care insurance, long-term and short-term disability insurance, and life insurance.
Last updated Oct 21, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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