Wayve · 1 day ago
Principal Engineer, Model Dev Platform
Sunnyvale, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Lead/Staff
10+ years expWayve is the leading developer of Embodied AI technology, focused on enhancing automated driving systems. The Principal Engineer for the Model Development Platform will own the architecture that powers the AI model lifecycle, ensuring reliability and scalability while collaborating with cross-functional teams to align technical vision with company goals.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Autonomous VehiclesElectric VehicleMachine Learning
Responsibilities
Design and evolve the overarching architecture of the model development platform, ensuring system-wide reliability, observability, and scalability. Define key performance, latency, and availability targets across diverse components and drive the engineering standards needed to achieve them
Work across disciplines—from front-end web UIs to large-scale distributed training, from Spark-based data pipelines to experiment scheduling algorithms using linear optimization—to unify the platform’s architecture and ensure smooth interoperability between systems
Dive deep into the thorniest technical challenges faced by individual subteams, bringing your expertise in distributed systems, large-scale compute, and system design to bear. Drive architectural reviews and propose pragmatic solutions that balance innovation with operational simplicity
Develop and refine systems that optimize how models are tested—whether in simulation or on-road—balancing constraints like hardware availability, safety requirements, and research priorities. Use algorithmic techniques (e.g., linear programming, heuristic optimization) to improve throughput and turnaround time
Architect data processing pipelines capable of ingesting, transforming, and enriching petabytes of sensor data from the global fleet. Ensure efficient compute utilization across heterogeneous environments (GPU, CPU, cloud, and edge), supporting both rapid prototyping and large-scale production training
Serve as a mentor and coach for engineers across the organization—developing technical talent, improving design practices, and fostering a culture of learning and technical excellence. Act as a trusted advisor to senior engineers and a role model for engineering craft
Partner with Product Management, Research, and Operations to align technical architecture with user needs and product vision. Co-develop the long-term roadmap for the Model Dev Platform, balancing innovation with reliability and maintainability
Qualification
Required
Technical Leadership at Scale – 10+ years of experience designing and building large-scale distributed systems, ML/AI infrastructure, full stack web application, or developer platforms, including at least 3 years as a staff or principal-level engineer
Architectural Depth & Breadth – Proven ability to design systems spanning web platforms, ML pipelines, and large-scale compute orchestration (e.g., Spark, Ray, Kubernetes, Airflow, MLflow)
Reliability & Performance Mindset – Experience driving platform reliability improvements, defining SLAs/SLOs, and building self-healing and observable systems that operate at 'four nines' availability or better
Hands-On Systems Design – Deep understanding of distributed computing, workflow orchestration, data modeling, and API design, with the ability to write and review production-quality code
Collaborative Influence – Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills; ability to guide engineers, managers, and researchers toward unified technical direction
Mentorship & Culture – Demonstrated success in mentoring engineers across levels and cultivating a culture of engineering excellence
Education – Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (advanced degree preferred, or equivalent experience)
Preferred
Optimization & Scheduling Expertise – Experience applying algorithmic or mathematical optimization (e.g., linear programming, graph algorithms) to operational or scheduling problems
ML Ops & Experimentation Systems – Familiarity with end-to-end model lifecycle tooling, from data ingestion and training CI to model artifact tracking and evaluation workflows
Domain Experience – Prior exposure to autonomous systems, robotics, or other safety-critical domains
Full-Stack Fluency – Experience with modern web frameworks (e.g., React, Flask, FastAPI) and how they integrate into backend systems
Data Governance – Understanding of data privacy, compliance, and secure handling practices for large-scale sensor data
Company
Wayve
Wayve develops AI software for automated driving that learns from data to navigate environments.
201-500 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Wayve has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (34)
2024 (5)
2023 (1)
2022 (3)
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageTotal Funding
$1.26BKey Investors
Innovate UKUberSoftBank
2025-07-28Grant
2024-08-29Series C
2024-05-06Series C· $1B
Leadership Team
Alex Kendall
Co-Founder & CEO
Max Warburton
Chief Financial Officer
Recent News
Tech Xplore
2026-01-07
2026-01-05
2025-12-28
Company data provided by crunchbase