Data Science Manager Jobs in California
Data Science Manager jobs in California rank among the most active in the country, with deep demand concentrated in technology, financial services, healthcare analytics, and entertainment across seniority levels from team lead to senior director. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego are the primary hiring centers, home to established employers such as Google, Wells Fargo, and Kaiser Permanente that consistently hire for these roles. Machine learning platform leadership, applied AI product analytics, and enterprise data governance are the specialties appearing most often in California postings. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
Find Data Science Manager JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 511+ Data Science Manager jobs
INTRODUCTION
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.
Rigorous evaluation of the Waymo Driver is a critical part of scaling our ride hailing service and achieving Waymo’s ambitious goals. In this role, you will lead a data science team specializing in evaluating the Waymo Driver’s ability to comply with rules of the road. Road rule-related behaviors are some of the most challenging to identify, and areas of work include understanding human baseline performance, partnering with ML engineers to improve detection capabilities, and delivering critical insight about the Driver’s current capabilities and opportunities for improvement.
In this hybrid role you will report to the DS Lead for Driving Quality.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
You will:
- Define and uphold a high bar for measurement rigor. Ensure we can confidently rely on the evaluation signals informing deployment and scaling decisions. Identify and work to resolve any gaps where current evaluation signals are not scaling with Waymo’s business or providing the necessary actionability for stakeholders.
- Develop and adapt our evaluation framework to accommodate road rules across multiple countries.
- Collaborate with leads in product, engineering, and systems engineering to align to unlock key Waymo deployment milestones. Be an opinionated partner informing roadmaps for engineering work to improve our measurement capabilities.
- Measure performance of the Waymo driver in new territories and hardware platforms, providing input on Waymo’s readiness to scale in new markets. Communicate these findings to senior stakeholders.
- Be an active technical contributor on the team, as well as a technical lead and/or manager to several data scientists. Frame and solve ambiguous problems by scoping technical priorities and innovating on statistical methods. Champion data science excellence and provide constructive technical feedback within the team and across Waymo.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
You have:
- Degree in a quantitative field (e.g. Statistics, Mathematics, Physics)
- Either a PhD in a quantitative field and 8+ years of industry experience, or 12+ years of industry experience solving data science problems.
- Experience as both a technical lead and a people manager.
- Experience working in highly cross-functional teams and championing data-driven culture.
- Expertise using advanced statistical methods in an applied setting; familiarity with ML systems/models
- Demonstrated knowledge of data analysis libraries and packages in Python, R, and/or SQL.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
We prefer:
- PhD in a quantitative field
- A demonstrated track record of independently driving data science projects to deliver business value
- Experience solving problems related to Autonomous Driving or Ride Hailing.
- Experience with large-scale evaluation frameworks for software development.
- Experience in adjacent relevant areas like Advanced Machine Learning, Traffic Modeling, Safety Evaluation or Prediction.
COMPENSATION
The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location or, if the role can be performed remote, the specific salary range for your preferred location, during the hiring process.
- Salary Range: $298,000—$368,000 USD
Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo’s discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.
LOCATION
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
JOB TYPE
FULL-TIME
WORK ARRANGEMENT
HYBRID
INTRODUCTION
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.
Rigorous evaluation of the Waymo Driver is a critical part of scaling our ride hailing service and achieving Waymo’s ambitious goals. In this role, you will lead a data science team specializing in evaluating the Waymo Driver’s ability to comply with rules of the road. Road rule-related behaviors are some of the most challenging to identify, and areas of work include understanding human baseline performance, partnering with ML engineers to improve detection capabilities, and delivering critical insight about the Driver’s current capabilities and opportunities for improvement.
In this hybrid role you will report to the DS Lead for Driving Quality.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
You will:
- Define and uphold a high bar for measurement rigor. Ensure we can confidently rely on the evaluation signals informing deployment and scaling decisions. Identify and work to resolve any gaps where current evaluation signals are not scaling with Waymo’s business or providing the necessary actionability for stakeholders.
- Develop and adapt our evaluation framework to accommodate road rules across multiple countries.
- Collaborate with leads in product, engineering, and systems engineering to align to unlock key Waymo deployment milestones. Be an opinionated partner informing roadmaps for engineering work to improve our measurement capabilities.
- Measure performance of the Waymo driver in new territories and hardware platforms, providing input on Waymo’s readiness to scale in new markets. Communicate these findings to senior stakeholders.
- Be an active technical contributor on the team, as well as a technical lead and/or manager to several data scientists. Frame and solve ambiguous problems by scoping technical priorities and innovating on statistical methods. Champion data science excellence and provide constructive technical feedback within the team and across Waymo.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
You have:
- Degree in a quantitative field (e.g. Statistics, Mathematics, Physics)
- Either a PhD in a quantitative field and 8+ years of industry experience, or 12+ years of industry experience solving data science problems.
- Experience as both a technical lead and a people manager.
- Experience working in highly cross-functional teams and championing data-driven culture.
- Expertise using advanced statistical methods in an applied setting; familiarity with ML systems/models
- Demonstrated knowledge of data analysis libraries and packages in Python, R, and/or SQL.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
We prefer:
- PhD in a quantitative field
- A demonstrated track record of independently driving data science projects to deliver business value
- Experience solving problems related to Autonomous Driving or Ride Hailing.
- Experience with large-scale evaluation frameworks for software development.
- Experience in adjacent relevant areas like Advanced Machine Learning, Traffic Modeling, Safety Evaluation or Prediction.
COMPENSATION
The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location or, if the role can be performed remote, the specific salary range for your preferred location, during the hiring process.
- Salary Range: $298,000—$368,000 USD
Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo’s discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.
LOCATION
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
JOB TYPE
FULL-TIME
WORK ARRANGEMENT
HYBRID
See All 511+ Data Science Manager Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Data Science Manager JobsData Science Manager Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Data Science Manager Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Apple54
- TikTok21
- Walmart20
- Google15
- Amazon13
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software209
- Electronics & Hardware56
- Banking & Financial Services36
- Retail29
- Consulting & Professional Services21
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in data science manager jobs across California.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in data science, statistics, computer science, or a related quantitative field
- Five or more years of hands-on data science or analytics experience with at least two in a leadership role
- Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional data science teams and setting technical roadmap priorities
- Proficiency in Python or R, SQL, and modern machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch
- Experience deploying and monitoring production ML models in cloud environments such as AWS, GCP, or Azure
- Strong communication skills to translate complex model outputs into actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders
Data Science Manager Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a data science manager in California?
There is no state-issued license required to work as a data science manager in California. The typical path starts with a bachelor's or master's degree in data science, statistics, mathematics, or computer science, followed by several years as an individual-contributor data scientist or analyst. California employers look for progression into senior IC roles before a management transition, and a portfolio of shipped ML or analytics projects carries significant weight in the hiring process.
Which companies hire data science managers in California?
Employers hiring data science managers in California right now include Apple, TikTok, and Walmart, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of June 2026. California's concentration of technology headquarters, major financial institutions, and large integrated health systems means demand is distributed across multiple industries rather than limited to a single sector.
Which California cities have the most data science manager jobs?
San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles have the most data science manager openings in California. San Francisco leads because of its density of technology headquarters and venture-backed growth-stage companies, while Los Angeles reflects demand from entertainment analytics, fintech, and healthcare, and San Diego's presence is driven largely by biotech and defense technology employers concentrated in the area.
Are there remote data science manager jobs in California?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 28% of data science manager openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of June 2026, reflecting the desk-based and highly digital nature of the work. Roles focused on individual contributor management, model strategy, and analytics reporting tend to be the most remote-friendly, while positions requiring close collaboration with engineering or product teams in-office more often carry a hybrid requirement.
How can I get hired as a data science manager in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is transitioning from a senior data scientist or analytics engineer role at a California employer rather than applying directly to manager openings. Large California technology and healthcare employers frequently post lead data scientist or staff data scientist roles that carry informal mentorship duties and serve as a bridge to formal management. Building a visible portfolio of end-to-end ML projects, contributing to open-source work, and completing a credential such as a professional machine learning certificate from a recognized program strengthens a candidate's case significantly before pursuing management titles.
Where can I find and apply to data science manager jobs in California?
You can find and apply to data science manager jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current California openings. Find the roles that fit your background and apply directly from the listing.
See All 511+ Data Science Manager Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Data Science Manager Jobs