Technical Manager, Machine Learning

Job Description

Do you want to be part of a growing data intelligence organization that is helping to shape the daily game experiences of millions and millions of players? Niantic, the developer of Pokémon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is looking for a Technical Manager capable of leading both engineers and scientists who rapidly deploy Machine Learning models and interventions to planet-scale mobile games. This is a high-impact, team effort that delivers elevated gameplay to all of Niantic’s Augmented Reality driven titles where the planet is our game board.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage infrastructure engineers, data engineers, and scientists with empathy, respect, and passion - helping Niantic build a diverse, inclusive workplace.
• Own Niantic's entire Machine Learning pipeline - all infrastructure components - and be responsible for its design, improvement, management, monitoring, function, performance, and output.
• Responsible for supporting the work of all Machine Learning scientists including facilitation of efficient development, testing, deployment, and improvement of game models and interventions.
• Actively drive career development and team building; mentor engineers and scientists to deepen and broaden skillsets; promote use of standard tools and methods; write code for non-time-critical software components.
• Collaborate with product managers, marketing, and management to prioritize and coordinate timely deployments of new interventions from conception to release.

Qualifications

• Successful candidate will have an MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent experience. At least 5 years of real-world experience developing, deploying, and managing Machine Learning pipelines, leading data and infrastructure engineers, and supporting teams of scientists.
• Previous technical leadership experience including mentorship, project coordination, architecture design, on-schedule implementation, deployment planning, and communication to leadership.
• Solid foundation in Machine Learning science and statistics and a strong understanding of current methods, when to apply them, and the technical tradeoffs inherent in each decision.
• Demonstrated experience leading design, development and deployment of Machine Learning science and intervention pipelines.
• Demonstrated experience with large scale data processing (e.g. BigQuery, Spark, Hive, DataFlow/Beam), particularly in a machine learning context.
• Expert in Java and Python programming, repeated success deploying production systems, and able to learn new technologies quickly.

Plus If...

• Deep understanding of the Google Cloud stack, particularly BigQuery, BigTable, Spanner, Data Store and DataFlow.
• Experience coordinating the deployment of large numbers of ML models in a pipeline of mobile games at scale.

Join the Niantic team!

Niantic is the world’s leading AR technology company, sparking creative and engaging journeys in the real world. Our products inspire outdoor exploration, exercise, and meaningful social interaction.

Originally formed at Google in 2011, we became an independent company in 2015 with a strong group of investors including Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Alsop Louie Partners. Our current titles include pioneering global-control game Ingress, record-breaking AR game Pokémon GO, and recently released third title, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

Niantic is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We believe that cultivating a workplace where our people are supported and included is essential to creating great products our community will love. Our mission emphasizes seeking and hiring diverse voices, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in the technology industry, and we consider this to be one of the most important values we hold close.

We're a hard-working, fun, and exciting group who value intellectual curiosity and a passion for problem-solving! We have growing offices located in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Bellevue, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Hamburg, and Zurich.