Interested in this AI/ML Engineer role at Latitude AI?
Apply Now →Skills & Technologies
About This Role
Latitude AI (lat.ai) develops automated driving technologies, including L3, for Ford vehicles at scale. We’re driven by the opportunity to reimagine what it’s like to drive and make travel safer, less stressful, and more enjoyable for everyone.
When you join the Latitude team, you’ll work alongside leading experts across machine learning and robotics, cloud platforms, mapping, sensors and compute systems, test operations, systems and safety engineering – *all dedicated to making a real, positive impact on the driving experience for millions of people.*
As a Ford Motor Company subsidiary, we operate independently to develop automated driving technology at the speed of a technology startup. Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh with engineering centers in Dearborn, Mich., and Palo Alto, Calif.
Meet the team:
In the Intelligent Systems team, we convert photons into understanding, primarily via computer vision and machine learning. Our organization is responsible for all downstream tasks of the vehicle sensor suite onboard, as well as the full offboard/cloud infrastructure for machine learning at Latitude.
What you’ll do:
Scaling our machine learning models with data is vital to achieve optimal performance and to enable a safer and more sustainable future of transportation. In the Scalable ML team, we are looking at methods to improve the efficiency of model training, enabling ML developers to work efficiently with large volumes of data.
As a SWE for the Scalable ML team, you will:
- Design, and implement state\-of\-the\-art cloud services for data ingest, workflow orchestration, and distributed training at scale
- Develop solutions to generate, manage, and process large amounts of multi\-sensor training data for machine learning
- Drive advanced MLOps practices, including model artifact management, experiment tracking, and automated model deployment and testing strategies
- Collaborate closely with cross\-functional teams, perception experts, and roboticists to integrate ML pipelines and ensure the delivery of high\-quality, production\-ready software
- Mentor junior engineers and provide technical guidance to elevate the team's software development standards
What you'll need to succeed:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics or a related field and 4\+ years of relevant experience (or Master's degree and 2\+ years of relevant experience, or PhD)
- Strong track record of successfully delivering complex software projects from conception to production
- Proven expertise in developing and optimizing machine learning data pipelines, data generation, and distributed model training
- Experience designing, building, and operating large\-scale distributed systems and cloud infrastructure
- Strong proficiency in Python and/or C\+\+ for developing high\-performance, production\-quality software
Nice to have:
- Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a closely related field
- Hands\-on experience with distributed machine learning frameworks and tools such as Ray, PyTorch, Dagster, LakeFS, or PyArrow
- Experience with multi\-sensor data fusion and processing techniques relevant to autonomous driving applications
- Familiarity with safety\-critical software development principles in automotive or robotics domains
- Deep understanding of machine learning concepts, computer vision use cases, and the challenges of L2/L3 autonomy
What we offer you:
- Competitive compensation packages
- High\-quality individual and family medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Health savings account with available employer match
- Employer\-matched 401(k) retirement plan with immediate vesting
- Employer\-paid group term life insurance and the option to elect voluntary life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- Paid medical leave
- Unlimited vacation
- 15 paid holidays
- Daily lunches, snacks, and beverages available in all office locations
- Pre\-tax spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses
- Pre\-tax commuter benefits
- Monthly wellness stipend
- Adoption/Surrogacy support program
- Backup child and elder care program
- Professional development reimbursement
- Employee assistance program
- Discounted programs that include legal services, identity theft protection, pet insurance, and more
- Company and team bonding outlets: employee resource groups, quarterly team activity stipend, and wellness initiatives
Learn more about Latitude’s team, mission and career opportunities at lat.ai!
The expected base salary range for this full\-time position in California is $179,200 \- $268,800 USD. Actual starting pay will be based on job\-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Latitude employees are also eligible to participate in Latitude’s annual bonus programs, equity compensation, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.
Candidates for positions with Latitude AI must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a permanent basis. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is available for this position.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status.
\#LI\-CQ1
###### \#LI\-CQ1
Salary Context
This $179K-$268K range is above the median for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $184K across 1486 roles with salary data).
View full AI/ML Engineer salary data →Role Details
About This Role
AI/ML Engineers build and deploy machine learning models in production. They work across the full ML lifecycle: data pipelines, model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure. The role has evolved significantly over the past two years. Where ML Engineers once spent most of their time on model architecture, the job now tilts heavily toward inference optimization, cost management, and integrating LLM capabilities into existing systems. Companies want engineers who can ship production systems, and the experimenter-only role is fading fast.
Day-to-day, you're writing training pipelines, debugging data quality issues, setting up evaluation frameworks, and figuring out why your model performs differently in staging than it did on your dev set. The best ML engineers are obsessive about reproducibility and measurement. They instrument everything. They know that a model is only as good as the data feeding it and the infrastructure serving it.
Across the 2,799 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 71% of the market. At Latitude AI, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week might include: debugging a data pipeline that's silently dropping 3% of training examples, running A/B tests on a new model version, writing documentation for a feature flag system that lets you roll back model deployments, and reviewing a junior engineer's PR for a new evaluation metric. Meetings tend to be cross-functional since ML touches product, engineering, and data teams.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
Skills Required
Python and PyTorch dominate the requirements. Most roles expect experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and familiarity with ML frameworks like TensorFlow or JAX. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) has become a top-3 skill requirement as companies integrate LLMs into their products. Docker and Kubernetes show up in about a third of postings, reflecting the production focus of the role.
Beyond the core stack, employers increasingly want experience with experiment tracking tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases), feature stores, and vector databases. Fine-tuning experience is valuable but less common than you'd think from reading Twitter. Most production LLM work is RAG and prompt engineering, not fine-tuning. If you have both, you're in a strong position.
Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI/ML Engineer roles pay a median of $175,000 based on 11,128 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $227,500. This role's midpoint ($224K) sits 28% above the category median. Disclosed range: $179K to $268K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $200,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $252,000. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Engineering Manager ($293,500) and AI Safety ($274,200). By seniority level: Entry: $97,760; Mid: $159,385; Senior: $227,500; Director: $242,000; VP: $250,000.
Latitude AI AI Hiring
Latitude AI has 1 open AI role right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, US. Compensation range: $268K - $268K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 16% (460 positions) offer remote work, while 2,318 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,241 roles, $208,300 median); San Francisco (1,822 roles, $252,000 median); Los Angeles (1,611 roles, $188,900 median).
Career Path
Common paths into AI/ML Engineer roles include Data Scientist, Software Engineer, Research Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward ML Architect, AI Engineering Manager, Principal ML Engineer.
The fastest path into ML engineering is through software engineering with a self-directed ML education. A CS degree helps, but production engineering skills matter more than academic credentials. Build something that works, deploy it, and measure it. That portfolio project is worth more than a Coursera certificate. For career growth, the fork comes around the senior level: go deep on technical complexity (staff/principal track) or move into managing ML teams.
What to Expect in Interviews
Expect system design questions around ML pipelines: how you'd build a training pipeline for a specific use case, handle data drift, or design A/B testing infrastructure for model deployments. Coding rounds typically involve Python, with emphasis on data manipulation (pandas, numpy) and algorithm implementation. Take-home assignments often ask you to build an end-to-end ML pipeline from raw data to deployed model.
When evaluating opportunities: Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 2,799 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 98 entry-level, 1,283 mid-level, 1,092 senior, and 326 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 16% of the market (460 positions). The remaining 2,318 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $200,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $252,000. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. Highest-paying categories: AI Engineering Manager ($293,500 median, 30 roles); AI Safety ($274,200 median, 43 roles); Research Engineer ($260,000 median, 387 roles).
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 2,799 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (1,978), AI Software Engineer (197), Data Scientist (195). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (98) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,283) and senior (1,092) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 326 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 16% of all AI roles (460 positions), with 2,318 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $200,000. Top-quartile roles start at $252,000, and the 90th percentile reaches $307,500. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Engineering Manager roles lead at $293,500 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $142,800. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,433 postings), Aws (840 postings), Rag (663 postings), Azure (639 postings), Gcp (537 postings), Pytorch (445 postings), Prompt Engineering (418 postings), Claude (396 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get Weekly AI Career Intelligence
Salary data, skills demand, and market signals from 16,000+ AI job postings. Every Monday.