Senior Data Scientist - Verification & Validation
At a glance
Senior Data Science role at Zoox. Foster City · full-time · $209,000–$285,000 base.
dataroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Build statistical evaluation methods that assess the performance and reliability of safety-critical AI systems
- Analyze validation data to provide evidence for complex operations and surface possible edge-case failures
- Turn analysis into guidance for development teams and go/no-go decisions by executive leaders
- Align engineering teams on performance measures and how data should be extracted
- Take evaluations from early prototypes and requirements through implementation and validation, while scaling data and simulation pipelines
What you bring
- A graduate degree in statistics, computer science, machine learning, applied mathematics, or a related quantitative discipline
- Strong Python and SQL skills, including experience producing code for production use
- Expertise in methods such as hypothesis testing, power analysis, spatiotemporal modeling, Bayesian inference, and multivariate analysis
- Background in large-scale data analysis and statistical modeling, with working knowledge of Git, unit tests, and collaborative development
Who this fits
This hands-on senior role suits a self-directed builder who can combine statistical rigor with software engineering and work through ambiguity. It is based in Foster City, with a hybrid arrangement.
From the employer
Zoox is on an ambitious journey to develop a full-stack autonomous vehicle system for cities. We are seeking a Senior Data Scientist to join a verification and validation team that evaluates safety-critical AI systems.
You will join a team of software and data engineers that leverage methods including log data analysis, simulation, and closed-course structured testing. You'll work cross-functionally with AI software, System Design and Mission Assurance, Simulation, Sensors, and other teams to develop, execute, and iterate on validation methods and pipelines. These pipelines evaluate safety-critical systems, are highly visible, and are an important critical path element of launching our service. The ideal candidate brings a hybrid of statistical rigor and engineering mindset to drive clarity from ambiguity, establish new processes, and propel the team forward. This is a deeply technical and hands-on role where you will be expected to be a self-sufficient builder and coder, not just a manager of projects.
In this role, you will:
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Design Evaluation Frameworks: Architect statistical methodologies for safety-critical AI systems to form objective, rigorous conclusions about their performance and reliability.
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Conduct Robust Analysis: Deliver validation evidence to support increasingly complex operations and identify potential edge-case failures.
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Inform Strategy: Deliver clear, data-driven insights to development teams to guide system improvement, and to executive leadership to inform milestone-level go/no-go decisions.
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Define Metrics: Drive alignment across engineering teams on performance metrics and data extraction strategies.
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Lead the Lifecycle: Manage all phases of evaluation including prototyping, requirements capture, design, implementation, and validation.
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Scale Pipelines: Partner with engineers to build and maintain scalable data processing and simulation pipelines, applying distributed computing to analyze petabytes of driving data.
Qualifications:
- MS or PhD in Statistics, Computer Science, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, or related quantitative field
- Proficiency in Python and SQL with experience in production-quality code
- Demonstrated expertise in statistical methodologies including hypothesis testing, power analysis, spatiotemporal modeling, Bayesian inference, and multivariate analysis.
- Experience with large-scale data analysis and statistical modeling
- Proficiency with Git, unit testing, and collaborative development practices
Bonus Qualifications:
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Hands-on experience with production machine learning pipelines: dataset creation, training frameworks, metrics pipelines
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Experience with modern data processing technologies such as Apache Spark, Spark SQL, and Databricks
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Experience with designing metrics and delivering actionable insights that drive business decisions
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