Expedia Group · 11 hours ago
Principal Machine Learning Scientist
USA - California - San Jose
Full-time
Onsite
Lead/Staff
$242K/yr - $338K/yr
10+ years expExpedia Group is a leader in global travel technology, dedicated to creating innovative solutions for travelers and partners. They are seeking a Principal Machine Learning Scientist to develop and optimize AI models for search and recommendations, focusing on cutting-edge technology and industry-leading solutions.
CommunitiesInternetReservationsTask ManagementTechnical SupportTicketingTourismTransportationTravel
Responsibilities
Drive the research, design, and deployment of advanced machine learning solutions for large-scale search and recommendation systems
Architect hybrid multi-modal retrieval frameworks, combining text, image, and structured data to power relevant and diverse content discovery
Develop and optimize multi-stage ranking pipelines, leveraging deep learning, generative retrieval, and other advanced algorithms to maximize relevance and engagement
Lead efforts on intent understanding, utilizing user queries, behavioral signals, and context for superior search and recommendation accuracy
Advance personalization strategies using embeddings, user-item modeling, and context-aware algorithms to tailor content to individual users
Pioneer cutting-edge sequential recommender systems that account for evolving user preferences, session context, and temporal dynamics
Design robust offline and online evaluation methodologies, including A/B testing, counterfactual estimation, and metric development
Collaborate closely with cross-functional engineering and product teams to translate business needs into machine learning problems and production-ready solutions
Mentor and guide a team of scientists, driving best-in-class research and deployment practices
Qualification
Required
PhD, or MS, in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent professional experience
10+ years of related industry experience
Experience building production-grade search, recommendation or personalization systems
Strong understanding of intent understanding techniques, retrieval methods, deep learning for recommendations, reinforcement learning, and causal inference
Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as TensorFlow, JAX, or PyTorch
Experience with large-scale distributed systems and big data technologies (e.g., Spark, Hadoop)
Familiarity with A/B testing and experimentation methodologies
Ability to work with large-scale, real-world data with attention to bias, fairness, and privacy
Excellent communication skills for both technical and non-technical audiences
Demonstrated ability to mentor and technically lead research or engineering teams
A passion for building user-centric AI products and a keen curiosity about advancing the state-of-the-art in search and recommendations
Preferred
Experience in the travel or e-commerce industry
Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)
Publications in top-tier ML conferences or journals
Contributions to open-source ML projects
Experience in personalization systems
Experience taking models from prototype to production in collaboration with Machine Learning Engineering teams
Benefits
Medical/dental/vision
Paid time off
Employee Assistance Program
Wellness & travel reimbursement
Travel discounts
International Airlines Travel Agent (IATAN) membership
Company
Expedia Group
At Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE), we believe travel is a force for good – it opens minds, builds connections, and bridges divides.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Expedia Group 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 (519)
2024 (410)
2023 (382)
2022 (629)
2021 (483)
2020 (366)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$4.25BKey Investors
TCV
2025-02-21Post Ipo Debt· $985M
2020-04-23Post Ipo Equity· $1.2B
2020-04-23Post Ipo Debt· $2B
Leadership Team
Ariane Gorin
Chief Executive Officer
Ramana Thumu
Chief Technology Officer
Recent News
2026-01-22
2026-01-16
Company data provided by crunchbase