Zillow · 2 weeks ago
Principal Machine Learning Engineer
United States
Full-time
Remote
Lead/Staff
$204K/yr - $327K/yr
10+ years expZillow is building the next generation of AI experiences for customers navigating real estate decisions. The Principal Machine Learning Engineer will set the technical direction for the Agentic Data Platform, architect scalable systems, and lead cross-organizational initiatives to enhance Zillow's agentic experiences.
MarketplacePublishingReal EstateOnline PortalsPropTechRental Property
Responsibilities
Set the technical direction. Define and own the multi-quarter architecture roadmap for the agentic data foundations (Context engineering, Agentic memory, and AI workflows) that power Zillow's agentic experiences
Architect and ship at scale. Design, prototype, and ship systems that handle hundreds of millions of agent interactions with high availability, low latency, and predictable cost. Stay hands-on in code and production when it matters
Drive cross-organization execution. Lead complex, multi-team initiatives across Agentic AI and Platform teams - aligning on architecture, surfacing dependencies, and driving outcomes through influence rather than direct authority
Communicate to every level. Translate complex platform trade-offs, ambiguous customer problems, and emerging agentic paradigms into clear, actionable insights for engineering peers, product partners, Directors, and VPs
Grow senior technical talent. Mentor Senior and Staff engineers, raise the bar on technical judgment and architecture decisions, and shape the engineering culture of the org
Qualification
Required
10+ years building, scaling, and operating large-scale data and ML infrastructure (production-grade pipelines, feature stores, and model-serving layers), with 1 to 2 of those recent years shipping agent-based or LLM-powered systems to production
3+ years as a technical leader spanning multiple organizations
Hands-on experience designing and shipping agentic AI in production — orchestration, tool use, memory and context engineering, retrieval (embeddings, hybrid search, ranking) and evaluation
You understand how LLM-based systems fail in production and how to engineer around it
Platform engineering background in scaling and abstracting large-scale data and ML infrastructure
Expert in distributed systems architecture, and operational excellence
You've designed systems that hold up under massive scale and tight SLOs
Expert-level Python; deep experience with agentic frameworks (LangGraph, LangChain, Agents SDK, AutoGen), large-scale data processing (Spark, Databricks, Airflow, Temporal), vector stores, and cloud Infrastructure (AWS preferred)
Proven ability to set technical direction across organizational boundaries, build trust with engineering, science, and product leaders, and articulate complex trade-offs clearly to engineering peers and executives
You drive outcomes through influence, not authority
Preferred
Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field, with emphasis on building distributed systems and AI
Experience building data platform for agentic systems or real‑time AI applications
Experience working with regulated, private, or sensitive data at scale
Experience designing evaluation, tracing, or safety frameworks for LLM‑based production systems
Benefits
In addition to a competitive base salary this position is also eligible for equity awards based on factors such as experience, performance and location.
Employees in this role will not be paid below the salary threshold for exempt employees in the state where they reside.
Company
Zillow
Zillow is an online real estate marketplace for finding and sharing information about homes, real estate, and mortgages. It is a sub-organization of Zillow Group.
5001-10000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Zillow 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
81%
Represents job field similar to this job
Engineering and Development
Product Management
Management and Executive
Accounting and Finance
Marketing
Customer Service and Support
Creatives and Design
Sales
Human Resources
Trends of Total Sponsorships
*2026 (39)
2025 (179)
2024 (150)
2023 (171)
2022 (256)
2021 (239)
2020 (195)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$96.63MKey Investors
Legg MasonPAR Capital ManagementBenchmark,TCV
2016-08-01Post Ipo Equity
2014-04-01Post Ipo Equity
2012-12-12Post Ipo Equity· $4.13M
Leadership Team
Lloyd Frink
Co-Founder & Co-Executive Chair
Rich Barton
Co-founder and Co-Executive Chair
Recent News
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2026-07-10
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