Most Loved Workplace® Certified Job

Senior Applied ML Engineer - ML4Sys

Most Loved Workplace® Certified Job

92% of candidates apply because they are a Most Loved Workplace®

San Francisco, California

Engineering - Pipeline

About the Role

At Databricks, a Most Loved Workplace® certified employer in the Technology space, Democratizing data and AI for every organization worldwide.

RDQ127R59

Summary

As a Senior Applied ML Engineer on the Applied AI team at Databricks, you will use machine learning, scheduling, and optimization algorithms to maximize the efficiency and performance of our infrastructure. Your work will span the entire stack—from cluster management down to query compilation. You will solve complex, high-impact engineering problems to deliver highly optimized, cost-effective workloads for our customers.

Impact You Will Have

<ul>

<li>Accelerate Serverless Growth: Drive the scaling and efficiency of Databricks serverless compute products through advanced optimization techniques.</li>

<li>Build Systems: Design end-to-end ML4Sys solutions from the ground up within a lean team of domain experts to support&nbsp;</li>

<li>Shape Strategy: Define the roadmap for applied ML investments by collaborating with engineering and product leaders across Databricks.</li>

<li>Drive Deployment: Architect, train, and deploy state-of-the-art models that directly improve product performance and cost efficiency.</li>

<li>Scale Infrastructure: Build robust ML pipelines, data processing layers, model serving components, and production monitoring systems to help scale&nbsp;</li>

<li>Innovate: Research and implement novel modeling techniques tailored specifically to computer systems and distributed environments.</li>

</ul>

Minimum Qualifications

<ul>

<li>Education: Background in Computer Science and Master's degree in Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related computational field (AI, Bioinformatics, EE, Physics, etc).</li>

<li>ML Experience: Strong background in building, training, and deploying machine learning models in production.</li>

<li>Infrastructure Knowledge: Practical familiarity with cloud computing, distributed systems, and modern data processing frameworks.</li>

<li>Core Coding: Proficiency in Python, Scala, or Java.</li>

</ul>

Preferred Skills

<ul>

<li>Advanced Education: PhD in AI, Data Science, or a related technical discipline.</li>

<li>Industry Experience: 4+ years of machine learning engineering experience in high-velocity, high-growth environment.</li>

<li>Systems Domain: Strong understanding of computer architecture, distributed computing, cloud compute, database internals, or networking.</li>

<li>Optimization: Experience with operations research, forecasting, markov decision processes, or other optimization algorithms for sequential decision making.</li>

<li>Scale: Proven track record of optimizing large-scale distributed systems or cloud infrastructure via data-driven approaches.</li>

</ul>

&nbsp;<div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description">&nbsp;

Pay Range Transparency

Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles.&nbsp; Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page <a href="https://www.Databricks.com/sites/default/files/2024-08/us-pay-zone-mapping.pdf">here</a>.

&nbsp;</div><div class="title">Local Pay Range</div><div class="pay-range">$16,000&mdash;$21,000 USD</div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion">About Databricks

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&amp;T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/Databricks">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://x.com/Databricks">X</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@Databricks">YouTube</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/databricksinc/?hl=en">Instagram</a>. Benefits At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/154un3e8Xav4BceOSlcYFZRGEuQI54xMxVydRwQn54eQ/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.

Compliance

If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.</div>

Want to learn more about what it's like to work at Databricks? View our full profile.

Prefer to apply on the company's career site?

View Original Posting

Why This Is a Most Loved Workplace® Certified Job

Systemic Collaboration

As Databricks continues our rapid growth, we strive to maintain a culture as open and transparent as it was in Databricks’s early days. Making sure employees have regular access to our CEO and co-founders to hear directly about our vision and priorities helps our employees forge a connection between Databricks priorities and their daily work.

Positive Vision for the Future

Databricks’ culture principles are derived from an internal study of the behaviors that have led to high impact work at Databricks. These values have a direct impact on company culture and play a large part in connecting teams across the organization. We believe in being customer-obsessed, truth-seeking, operating from first principles, having a bias for action, and putting Databricks first. Our co-founders are fully involved in day-to-day operations, including business and technical reviews, working alongside our team members to ensure that we are always aligned with our values.

Alignment of Values

Databricks’ CEO and Co-founder, Ali Ghodsi leads by example with a focus on truth-seeking and first principles thinking, two of Databricks’ core values that stay true to Databricks’s origins in academia. He champions the importance of data and reason to question biases and inform decisions. Ali remains hands-on with research and development and hosts company-wide weekly all hands, with a CEO “ask me anytime” session at the beginning of every agenda. His transparency and accessibility are core to the open and collaborative culture of Databricks.

Respect

At Databricks, we cultivate an environment where all employees can bring their unique selves and are empowered to do the best work of their careers. To ensure all voices are heard and ideas are valued, we conduct annual culture and pulse surveys and host all-hands Q&As to collect feedback from all employees. We then report back to Databricks on the specific changes implemented from the feedback collected to ensure employees feel heard and that their feedback is valued. In addition, we invest in our seven Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that offer support and employee engagement events for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds and allies.

Killer Outcomes

Databricks prioritizes offering an exceptional employee experience by investing in tools, workspaces, and community-building. Our collaboration-first, hybrid model offers flexibility with in-person touchpoints like our annual employee kickoff, weekly CEO all-hands with happy hours, and monthly team building budgets. We are especially focused on maintaining a culture of transparency, honesty, and trust, with leaders actively engaging across channels like Slack and all hands while also championing inclusion efforts through ERG sponsorship. These initiatives help our team feel connected, valued, and empowered to do their best work.

What It's Like to Work Here

zap Bias for Action

lightbulb First Principles Innovation

users Collaborative Excellence

target Truth-Seeking Rigor

compass Generational Mission Focus

Certified for: Global Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces®, Certified Most Loved Workplaces® 2025, Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces® 2025

Frequently Asked Questions About Working at Databricks

Common questions candidates ask about this role and Databricks's workplace

With the Data Intelligence Platform, Databricks democratizes insights to everyone in an organization. Built on an open lakehouse architecture, the Data Intelligence Platform provides a unified foundation for all data and governance, combined with AI models tuned to an organization’s unique characteristics. Now, anyone in an organization can benefit from automation and natural language to discover and use data like experts, and technical teams can easily build and deploy secure data and AI apps and products. With origins in academia and the open source community, Databricks was founded in 2013 by the original creators of the lakehouse architecture and open source projects Apache Spark™, Delta Lake, MLflow and Unity Catalog.

Please review the specific job listing or contact Databricks's recruiting team for details on remote or hybrid work options for this role.

Salary information may vary by role and location. Please check the specific job listing or discuss compensation during the interview process.

Databricks is an established organization in its industry. The company is a certified Most Loved Workplace®, highlighting a strong, positive culture and committed workforce.

Key benefit categories include: Health & Wellness, Work-Life Balance, Office & Lifestyle, Professional Development, Financial. You can view more details on their CertCheck profile.

The day-to-day environment is guided by core values such as Bias for Action and First Principles Innovation and Collaborative Excellence.

The company has committed to inclusive practices including: Customer Obsession with Integrity and Empowering Every Team Member.

They score particularly well in the area of Systemic Collaboration. They have earned Most Loved Workplace® certifications including: Global Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces® and Certified Most Loved Workplaces® 2025.

Databricks currently has 808 open positions. They are hiring across departments like Field Engineering - Other, Delivery Solutions Architects, Enterprise Sales. You can view all current openings at certcheck.mostlovedworkplace.com/companies/databricks/jobs.

The interview process typically involves an initial recruiter screen followed by team interviews. Please contact Databricks's recruiting team for specific details on this role's process.