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Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

$107K - $146.90K/yr

The Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer will focus on recommender systems and collaborate with cross-functional teams to define and execute machine learning strategies for personalized content ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

$107K - $146.90K/yr

Spotify is a leading music streaming platform, and they are seeking a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer to focus on recommender systems modeling. This role involves defining and executing the ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

$107K - $146.90K/yr

The Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer will focus on recommender systems modeling and collaborate with cross-functional teams to define and execute the machine learning technical strategy for ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Mountain View, CA ยท On-site

$65.25 - $84/hr

Come join Intuit as a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer (MLE). Senior Staff MLEs deliver end-to-end AI solutions that span multiple domains and products, influencing the strategic direction of ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Mountain View, CA ยท On-site

$65.25 - $84/hr

Come join Intuit as a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer (MLE). Senior Staff MLEs deliver end-to-end AI solutions that span multiple domains and products, influencing the strategic direction of ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

New York, NY ยท On-site

$114.30K - $157K/yr

This Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer will focus on recommender systems modeling at the intersection of generative recommenders and foundational understanding of personalization across music ...

Senior/Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Redwood City, CA ยท On-site

$127.90K - $175.70K/yr

About the Role As a Senior/Staff Machine Learning Engineer, you will be working on a myriad of challenges related to robot task and action planning. You will leverage techniques from machine learning ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

New York, NY ยท On-site +1

$114.30K - $157K/yr

This Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer will focus on recommender systems modeling at the intersection of generative recommenders and foundational understanding of personalization across music ...

Senior / Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Austin, TX ยท On-site

$124.40K - $171.50K/yr

About the Role We are hiring experienced Machine Learning Engineers across Senior, Staff, and Principal levels. to site onsite in Austin, Texas. Whether you're a strong individual contributor ready ...

Senior / Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Austin, TX ยท On-site

$124.40K - $171.50K/yr

About the Role We are hiring experienced Machine Learning Engineers across Senior, Staff, and Principal levels. to site onsite in Austin, Texas. Whether you're a strong individual contributor ready ...

OR

$104.40K - $143.40K/yr

We are looking for a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer to help lead this transformation. In this role, you will define the technical vision for how machine learning powers the Instacart shopping ...

Senior / Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Austin, TX ยท On-site

$124.40K - $171.50K/yr

They are seeking experienced Machine Learning Engineers to drive the development and deployment of ... At Staff and Principal levels, you will drive alignment across functions, mentor junior and senior ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Palo Alto, CA ยท Remote

$122.80K - $168.70K/yr

Great Company, Great Culture, Great Rewards and Great Careers GEICO is seeking a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer to help shape how Generative AI enhances customer and associate experiences ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Bethesda, MD ยท On-site

$111.80K - $153.60K/yr

Great Company, Great Culture, Great Rewards and Great Careers GEICO is seeking a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer to help shape how Generative AI enhances customer and associate experiences ...

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Seattle, WA ยท Remote

$118.90K - $163.30K/yr

Great Company, Great Culture, Great Rewards and Great Careers GEICO is seeking a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer to help shape how Generative AI enhances customer and associate experiences ...

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Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer information

See salary details

$59.5K

$126.6K

$183.5K

How much do senior staff machine learning engineer jobs pay per year?

As of May 29, 2026, the average yearly pay for senior staff machine learning engineer in the United States is $126,557.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $104,500.00 and $143,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, you need deep expertise in machine learning algorithms, statistical analysis, software engineering, and a relevant advanced degree (often MS or PhD). Mastery of tools such as Python, TensorFlow, PyTorch, distributed computing frameworks, and experience with cloud platforms is typically required. Strong leadership, communication, and project management skills distinguish top performers in this role. These abilities are crucial for designing scalable ML solutions, leading teams, and driving impactful business outcomes.

What are the primary challenges a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer faces when leading large-scale ML projects?

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineers often navigate complex challenges such as aligning cross-functional teams, ensuring model scalability, and maintaining data integrity across evolving pipelines. They are responsible for setting technical direction, mentoring junior engineers, and driving collaboration between data scientists, software engineers, and product managers. Balancing hands-on technical work with high-level architectural decisions, while also keeping up with rapid advancements in the field, is key to success in this role.

What does a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer do?

A Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer leads the design, development, and deployment of complex machine learning systems within an organization. They work closely with cross-functional teams to identify business challenges that can be addressed with machine learning and guide the technical strategy for implementing solutions. Their responsibilities often include mentoring junior engineers, setting best practices, overseeing large-scale projects, and ensuring models are robust, scalable, and ethically implemented. Additionally, they may contribute to research and development, staying up-to-date with the latest advancements in the field.

What is the difference between Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer vs Machine Learning Engineer?

AspectSenior Staff Machine Learning EngineerMachine Learning Engineer
CredentialsBachelor's/Master's/PhD in CS, AI, or related; experience in ML frameworksBachelor's/Master's in CS, AI, or related; some experience in ML
Work EnvironmentLeadership roles, cross-team collaboration, strategic planningImplementation, model development, experimentation
Industry UsageTech companies, research labs, large enterprisesStartups, tech firms, research projects

The Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer typically holds a more senior, strategic role with leadership responsibilities, while the Machine Learning Engineer focuses on developing and deploying ML models. Both roles require strong technical skills, but the senior position involves guiding projects and mentoring teams.

More about Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs
What cities are hiring for Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs? Cities with the most Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer job openings:
What states have the most Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs? States with the most job openings for Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs include:
Infographic showing various Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer job openings in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 63% Full Time, 29% Part Time, 2% Temporary, and 6% Contract. Highlights an 94% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 4% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $126,557 per year, or $60.8 per hour.
Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer

Palo Alto Networks

Santa Clara, CA โ€ข On-site

$134.40K - $184.30K/yr

Full-time

Posted 6 days ago


Job description

Job Summary:
Palo Alto Networks is a leading cybersecurity company committed to protecting the digital way of life. They are seeking a Sr Staff Machine Learning Engineer to lead efforts in leveraging machine learning and AI for threat detection and to design innovative security solutions using generative AI and large language models.
Responsibilities:
โ€ข AI-Driven Detection & Automation: Lead end-to-end machine learning projects for threat detection. Design, build, and deploy innovative security solutions leveraging Generative AI and agentic systems. Develop intelligent agents and workflows to automate threat hunting, accelerate malware analysis, and streamline threat intelligence processes.
โ€ข Research & Publication: Disseminate cutting-edge research findings and contribute to the security community by publishing results in technical blogs, industry white papers, and academic papers, particularly on topics related to malware analysis and AI in security.
โ€ข Collaboration & Communication: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including security researchers, engineers and product teams, to integrate your findings in reversing to product PoC and threat research.
Qualifications:
Required:
โ€ข Bachelorโ€™s, Masterโ€™s, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related field.
โ€ข 6+ years of industry experience building, training, and deploying machine learning models into production environments.
โ€ข Proven track record of taking ML projects from initial research/prototyping through to successful production rollout, particularly in the Cybersecurity domain.
โ€ข Solid foundational knowledge of machine learning algorithms and deep learning architectures (e.g., Sequence models, GNNs, Transformers).
โ€ข Strong proficiency in Python for ML development, with experience writing clean, scalable, and testable production code.
โ€ข Familiarity with or willingness to work in Systems-level languages (e.g., C++, Go, or Rust) for performance-critical components.
โ€ข Deep hands-on experience with PyTorch, TensorFlow, or other ML Frameworks.
โ€ข Experience with MLOps Infrastructure, such as containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and ML lifecycle tools (MLflow, Kubeflow, Airflow, or similar).
โ€ข Ability to autonomously debug complex issues in both ML model performance and distributed software systems.
โ€ข Clear and effective communication skills, with the ability to explain technical ML concepts to cross-functional partners.
Preferred:
โ€ข Experience with model evaluation, tuning, and handling imbalanced datasets (a common challenge in malware detection).
โ€ข Bonus: Applied experience fine-tuning Large Language Models (LLMs) or building agentic AI workflows.
Company:
Palo Alto Networks is a cybersecurity company that offers cybersecurity solutions for organizations. Founded in 2005, the company is headquartered in Santa Clara, USA, with a team of 10001+ employees. The company is currently Late Stage.