General Motors

Applied ML Validation Manager

General Motors  •  Sunnyvale, CA (Onsite)  •  2 months ago
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Job Description

Role

As an Applied ML Validation Manager on the Software Validation team within the AV organization, you will lead a team focused on building and operating behavior critics and human benchmarking capabilities for ML-driven autonomy systems. Your team will turn subjective human expectations about safe, comfortable, and intuitive driving into rigorous, scalable evaluation frameworks that directly inform model development and release decisions.

You will partner closely with autonomy, simulation, safety, and product teams to define how behavior is judged against human drivers and integrate behavior critic signals into validation pipelines, continuous release, and long-term performance monitoring.

About the Organization

TheAutonomous Vehicle (AV) organizationis dedicated to advancing the development of autonomous vehicles throughcutting-edgesimulation technologies and novel iterative development processes. 

TheSoftware Validationteam focuses on unlocking software launches and continuous release decisions via simulation-led verification and validation strategies, prototypes, and protocols. Our collaborative environment fosters innovation and excellence, allowing us to push the boundaries of what is possible in autonomous vehicle testing. 

Key Responsibilities

  • Lead and grow an Applied ML validation team focused on behavior evaluation and human benchmarking for autonomy ML systems.

  • Define the strategy and roadmap for evaluating ML behavior against human-like driving expectations across simulation, replay, and on-road environments.

  • Design, implement, and operate behavior critic frameworks that assess model actions and trajectories, turning qualitative human feedback into structured labels, metrics, and scorecards.

  • Develop and scale human benchmarking programs, including rater guidelines, calibration, and quality controls, to compare ML system performance against expert and typical human drivers.

  • Partner closely with autonomy, simulation, safety, and product teams to integrate behavior critic and human benchmarking outputs into training, offline validation, release gating, and reporting.

Basic Qualifications

  • 8+ years of experience and MS/PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a related field.

  • 2+ years of people management experience leading engineering, validation, or applied ML teams.

  • Strong programming and data skills in Python and common analysis/ML tooling (e.g., PyTorch).

  • Demonstrated experience designing and operating evaluation/validation pipelines for complex ML systems.

  • Proven ability to define, implement, and track metrics that capture system quality, reliability, safety, or user experience.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with autonomous driving, robotics, or other safety-critical domains, especially in validation, safety, or systems engineering roles.

  • Demonstrated background with simulation-based validation, including VLM critics, human benchmarking, and scalable evaluation for ML or autonomy systems.

  • Hands-on experience with agentic workflows used to accelerate analyses, automate documentation, or orchestrate complex data and metric pipelines.

  • Track record of building or scaling technical teams and tooling in fast-evolving domains, especially focused on evaluation, automation, and ML observability

About GM

Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us

We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

Benefits Overview

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Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)

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All employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran or protected veteran, or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal, state and local laws.

We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire

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General Motors

About General Motors

General Motors’ vision is to create a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion, and we have committed ourselves to leading the way toward this future. Today, we are in the midst of a transportation revolution, and we have the ambition, the talent and the technology to realize the safer, better and more sustainable world we want. As an open, inclusive company, we’re also creating an environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued for who they are. One team, where all ideas are considered and heard, where everyone can contribute to their fullest potential, with a culture based in respect, integrity, accountability and equality. Our team brings wide-ranging perspectives and experiences to solving the complex transportation challenges of today and tomorrow.

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Industry
Automotive & Mobility
Company Size
10,000+ employees
Headquarters
Detroit, Michigan
Year Founded
Unknown
Website
gm.com
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