The posting
Latitude AI (lat.ai) is building the future of Ford’s autonomy roadmap to make travel safer, less stressful, and more enjoyable for everyone. Bringing this vision to scale, our fully in-house developed hands-free ADAS platform will debut on the all-new Ford Fathom in 2027.
When you join the Latitude team, you’ll work alongside leading experts across machine learning and robotics, cloud platforms, mapping, sensors and compute systems, test operations, systems and safety engineering – all dedicated to redefining the relationship between people and their vehicles for millions of customers.
As a Ford Motor Company subsidiary, we operate independently to develop automated driving technology at the speed of a technology startup. Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh with engineering centers in Dearborn, Mich., and Palo Alto, Calif.
Meet the team:
In the Intelligent Systems team, we convert photons into understanding, primarily via computer vision and machine learning. Our organization is responsible for all downstream tasks of the vehicle sensor suite onboard, as well as the full offboard/cloud infrastructure for machine learning at Latitude.
What you’ll do:
Scaling our machine learning models with data and fast infrastructure is vital to achieve optimal performance and to enable a safer and more sustainable future of transportation. The Scalable ML team builds the data generation, orchestration, and distributed training infrastructure that lets our ML developers work efficiently with large volumes of data, and it sits at the intersection of several infrastructure teams: ML Platform, Jobs Platform, Cloud Platform, and High Performance Computing.
In this role, you will manage the Scalable ML team while also setting the technical strategy for how our data and training infrastructure interoperates with those adjacent platform teams. This is a job for someone who can both run a high-performing engineering team and act as the technical bridge across organizations that do not report to them.
- Lead and mentor a team of software engineers, driving high technical standards and continuous skill development for scalable machine learning infrastructure.
- Define and own the multi-quarter technical strategy for data generation, orchestration, and distributed training, including where that strategy depends on or shapes the roadmaps of other teams.
- Represent Scalable ML team in org-level planning and architecture decisions, resolving cross-team tradeoffs on shared infrastructure such as GPU scheduling and quota, job orchestration, storage, and compute cost.
- Drive the implementation of advanced MLOps practices, including model artifact management, experiment tracking, and automated model deployment and testing strategies, at a standard that other teams adopt.
- Build and maintain durable technical partnerships with peer managers and architects on ML Platform, Jobs Platform, Cloud Platform, and HPC teams to design and review shared-infrastructure changes jointly.
- Hold the team and its systems to a high reliability bar, including how incidents that cross team boundaries get root-caused, fixed, and prevented.
What you'll need to succeed:
- A Bachelor's and 10 years experience or Master's Degree and 8 years experience in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.
- Minimum of 10 years of experience in software development, with at least 5 years in a Staff/Principal engineering or senior technical leadership role.
- A track record of setting technical strategy and direction across multiple teams or organizations, not just within a single team.
- Extensive experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems and cloud infrastructure for machine learning, including direct experience with the kind of cross-team dependencies that come from shared compute (GPU scheduling/quota, job orchestration, multi-tenant clusters).
- Proven expertise in developing and optimizing machine learning data pipelines, including data generation, management, and distributed training.
- Strong proficiency in Python for developing high-performance, production-quality software.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and align peer teams and leaders without direct authority over them.
- Track record of successfully delivering complex, multi-org software initiatives from conception to production, emphasizing scalability, reliability, and organizational alignment.
Nice to have (optional):
- Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a closely related field.
- Hands-on experience with distributed machine learning frameworks and tools such as Ray, PyTorch, Dagster, LakeFS, or PyArrow.
- Experience with multi-sensor data fusion and processing techniques relevant to autonomous driving applications.
- Familiarity with safety-critical software development principles in automotive or robotics domains.
- Deep understanding of machine learning concepts, computer vision use cases, and the challenges of L2/L3 autonomy.
What we offer you:
- Competitive compensation packages
- High-quality individual and family medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Health savings account with available employer match
- Employer-matched 401(k) retirement plan with immediate vesting
- Employer-paid group term life insurance and the option to elect voluntary life insurance
- Paid parental leave and Adoption/Surrogacy support program
- Paid medical leave
- Unlimited vacation and 15 paid holidays
- Daily lunches, snacks, and beverages available in all office locations
- Pre-tax spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses
- Pre-tax commuter benefits
- Monthly wellness stipend
- Backup child and elder care program
- Professional development reimbursement
- Employee assistance program
- Discounted programs that include legal services, identity theft protection, pet insurance, and more
- Company and team bonding outlets: employee resource groups, quarterly team activity stipend, and wellness initiatives
Learn more about Latitude’s team, mission and career opportunities at lat.ai!
The expected base salary range for this full-time position in California is $253,120 - $379,680 USD. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Latitude employees are also eligible to participate in Latitude’s annual bonus programs, equity compensation, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.
Candidates for positions with Latitude AI must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a permanent basis. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is available for this position.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status.
