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Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer Jobs in Tucson, AZ

Rocket Lab Corporation

Machine Learning Engineer II

Tucson, AZ · On-site

$92K - $126K/yr

Stay current with ML research and evaluate new tools, frameworks, and techniques WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR IN A SENIOR MACHINE LEARNING ENGINEER I: * Bachelor's degree and 2+ years of experience, master ...

Bespoke Labs

Machine Learning Engineer

Tucson, AZ · On-site

* Own model training and post-training pipelines end to end: SFT, RLHF, PPO, DPO, and reward model training in PyTorch * Build and maintain the infrastructure around RL training: rollout collection ...

Bespoke Labs

Machine Learning Engineer

Tucson, AZ · On-site

* Own model training and post-training pipelines end to end: SFT, RLHF, PPO, DPO, and reward model training in PyTorch * Build and maintain the infrastructure around RL training: rollout collection ...

Varsity Tutors

Machine Learning Tutor

Tucson, AZ · Remote

$18 - $40/hr

Deep knowledge of supervised learning, unsupervised learning, feature engineering, model selection ... Familiar with machine learning curricula and common challenges such as understanding bias-variance ...

Teaching with Telescopes

Principal AI Engineer

Tucson, AZ · On-site

$200 - $250/hr

Serve as the organization's senior technical authority for AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. * Mentor engineers, scientists, and technical teams in AI technologies, architecture, and ...

Rubin Obs

Principal AI Engineer

Tucson, AZ · On-site

$200 - $250/hr

Serve as the organization's senior technical authority for AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. * Mentor engineers, scientists, and technical teams in AI technologies, architecture, and ...

NOAO

Principal AI Engineer

Tucson, AZ

Serve as the organization's senior technical authority for AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. * Mentor engineers, scientists, and technical teams in AI technologies, architecture, and ...

NSF's NOIRLab

Principal AI Engineer

Tucson, AZ · On-site

$179K - $226K/yr

Serve as the organization's senior technical authority for AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. * Mentor engineers, scientists, and technical teams in AI technologies, architecture, and ...

AURA

Principal AI Engineer

Tucson, AZ · On-site

$179K - $226K/yr

Serve as the organization's senior technical authority for AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. * Mentor engineers, scientists, and technical teams in AI technologies, architecture, and ...

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Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer information

See Tucson, AZ salary details

$56.3K

$119.7K

$173.5K

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

As of Sep 7, 2026, the average yearly pay for senior staff machine learning engineer in Tucson, AZ is $119,657.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $98,800.00 and $135,700.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

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 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 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 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.

What are popular job titles related to Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs in Tucson, AZ?

For Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs in Tucson, AZ, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs in Tucson, AZ look for?

The top searched job categories for Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs in Tucson, AZ are:

What cities near Tucson, AZ are hiring for Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs?

Cities near Tucson, AZ with the most Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer job openings:

Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer jobs near you

Machine Learning Engineer II

Rocket Lab Corporation

Tucson, AZ • On-site

$92K - $126K/yr

Full-time

Posted 17 days ago

Rocket Lab rating

9.2

Company rating: 9.2 out of 10

Based on 14 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

4th of 72 rated aerospace companies

Job description

SPACE SYSTEMS

At Rocket Lab, we're not just launching rockets - we're building the future of space. Our Space Systems team builds everything from complete spacecraft, precision payloads to the components and subsystems that allow them to thrive in space, like solar panels, flight software, star trackers, optical systems, separation systems, radios, and more.

Our Space Systems team has enabled more than 1,700 missions, ranging from interplanetary exploration, in-space manufacturing to national security and defense initiatives. The team has built spacecraft, payloads, and components for missions to the Moon and Mars, working with partners including NASA, the Space Development Agency, and the U.S. Space Force. Whether it's a single high-performance spacecraft, constellation, or the vertically integrated components that help them get to space - our world class Space Systems team is empowering some of the boldest and most ambitious space missions.

MACHINE LEARNING ENGINEER II

Rocket Lab's Optical Systems division solves mission-critical space domain and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) challenges for Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) customers. Our vision is to revolutionize the space-based payload market with innovative and novel designs for space, terrestrial, and airborne environments. Building on more than 20 years of electro-optical and infrared systems innovation, Optical Systems delivers solutions to the warfighter for responsive, scalable sensing solutions across all orbital domains.

As a Machine Learning Engineer II based at our Optical Systems sites in Tucson, AZ, you will have the opportunity to support Tranche 3 of the U.S. Space Development Agency's (SDA) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) and beyond by building deep learning neural networks for advanced Electro-Optical (EO/IR) image processing.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

  • Contribute your experience to developing solutions for real-world problems.
  • Design, train, and deploy machine learning models for Optical Systems applications
  • Build and maintain ML pipelines for data ingestion, feature engineering, training, and inference.
  • Collaborate with other researchers/engineers on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision.
  • Preform rapid prototyping and enhanced development to be integrated into operational systems.
  • Perform troubleshooting, bug fixes, and maintenance of existing and new systems.
  • Stay current with ML research and evaluate new tools, frameworks, and techniques

 WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR IN A SENIOR MACHINE LEARNING ENGINEER I:

  • Bachelor's degree and 2+ years of experience, master's degree or a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or related field
  • Strong background in machine learning including model selection, architecting, training, validation, testing, and deployment
  • Experience in building deep learning neural network for computer vision, image processing, or video analysis (e.g., object detection, image segmentation, and tracking)
  • Strong math background, particularly linear algebra
  • Proficiency in Python
  • Experience with deep learning libraries (Keras, TensorFlow, Pytorch, etc)
  • Software engineering fundamentals: version control, testing, CI/CD, containerization
  • S. citizenship is required, due to program requirements
  • Ability to obtain and maintain an U.S. Government Security Clearance

NICE TO HAVE: 

  • Proficiency in C/C++/Rust
  • Experience curating quality, real-world datasets for training deep learning models
  • TS/SCI security clearance

This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.

What Rocket Lab employees say

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