Principal ML Scientist (GenAI)

TL;DR

Principal ML Scientist (GenAI): Leading the ML strategy and execution for LLM-powered AI Agent servicing across Expedia's customer service platforms with an accent on defining ML problems, designing state-of-the-art models, and productionizing scalable solutions. Focus on architecting the long-term science vision, driving cross-functional execution, and building a culture of scientific innovation in the organization.

Location: United States - Washington - Seattle. The company offers a flexible work model.

Salary: $231,000–$323,500 (annual)

Company

hirify.global powers global travel experiences through cutting-edge technology and groundbreaking solutions for travelers and partners.

What you will do

• Define and lead ML strategy for complex product areas, including generative AI.
• Formulate ill-defined business problems into well-posed ML problems and select appropriate modeling approaches.
• Design and implement state-of-the-art ML models (deep learning, LLM/GenAI) and own them through production.
• Partner with engineering to productionize models, improve data/feature pipelines, and ensure reliability and scalability.
• Lead experiment design and evaluation (A/B tests) to drive decisions with rigorous statistical analysis.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to ML scientists, data scientists, and ML engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field; or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of experience in applied ML/data science, including significant experience owning production models in complex domains.
• Deep expertise in machine learning algorithms and statistical modeling (gradient-boosted trees, deep learning, representation learning).
• Strong Python skills and experience with major ML libraries (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, scikit-learn) and data tools (Spark, SQL).
• Proven track record of shipping production ML systems at scale and driving measurable product or business impact.
• Experience designing and interpreting experiments (A/B tests), with solid grounding in statistics.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex ML concepts to diverse audiences and drive alignment.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Operations Research, or a related quantitative field.
• Experience in personalization, search & recommendations, ranking, marketplace optimization, pricing, fraud/risk modeling, NLP, LLMs, or generative AI.
• Experience architecting end-to-end ML systems (data/feature pipelines, model training, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring).
• Familiarity with MLOps practices and platforms (feature stores, CI/CD for models, model monitoring & alerting).

Culture & Benefits

• Full benefits package including exciting travel perks, generous time-off, parental leave, and flexible work model.
• Access to career development resources to fuel employees' passion for travel.
• Wellness & travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and an International Airlines Travel Agent (IATAN) membership.
• Fosters an open culture where everyone belongs and differences are celebrated, guided by company Values and Leadership Agreements.