Senior ML Engineer Jobs in San Mateo, CA
Senior ML Engineer jobs in San Mateo are concentrated in the Hillsdale and Bay Meadows districts as well as the city's growing biotech and fintech corridors, with strong demand across financial services, healthcare technology, and enterprise software. Employers hiring right now include Roblox, BigHat Biosciences, and Upstart. See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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About Upstart
At Upstart, we're united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence.
As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that's both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 3,000 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress.
We're proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn't mean distant. We're intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you'll have the support to work in the way that works best for you.
If you're energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we'd love to hear from you.
The Team:
Upstart is looking for a Director of Product, Machine Learning & Decisioning Platforms to help us achieve our mission of enabling effortless credit based on true risk. This role will lead the product strategy and team responsible for the platforms that power Upstart's credit decisioning and machine learning platform capabilities. This is a highly technical, platform-focused product leadership role at the core of Upstart's business. You will manage and develop a team of experienced product managers, set strategy across multiple interconnected product areas, and partner closely with engineering and machine learning leaders to evolve the systems underlying pricing, underwriting, model deployment, and ML innovation.
The ideal candidate is a strong product leader and coach who can bring structure to complex, ambiguous problems; connect technical decisions to business and customer outcomes; and create alignment across teams. While you will remain close to the product, this role is primarily focused on setting direction, developing talent, and enabling your team to deliver high-impact results.
How you'll make an impact
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of product managers, setting clear priorities and raising the quality of product management across the organization.
- Define the product strategy and roadmap for the platforms powering Upstart's credit decisioning and machine learning capabilities.
- Partner with engineering and machine learning leaders to improve model development, versioning, deployment, forecasting, experimentation, and monitoring.
- Evolve underwriting and decisioning systems to better connect customer information, model outputs, and business outcomes.
- Identify opportunities to apply machine learning across the business, validate them through focused MVPs, and build the strongest opportunities into scalable products.
- Create scalable processes for evaluating, onboarding, and integrating data vendors and other ML capabilities.
- Balance near-term execution with long-term platform investment, making thoughtful trade-offs across impact, risk, technical complexity, and speed.
- Build alignment across teams and ensure machine learning is incorporated into product strategy from the start.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in a technical field or equivalent practical experience.
- 8+ years of product management experience, including experience leading technical or platform products.
- Experience managing and developing product managers, ideally across multiple interconnected teams.
- Strong technical fluency and experience partnering with engineering, machine learning, and data science teams.
- Demonstrated ability to set strategy, navigate ambiguity, and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to connect technical and product decisions to business outcomes, particularly in credit, lending, or financial services.
- A track record of building strong teams and raising the quality of product management practices.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience as a data scientist, machine learning engineer, or other machine learning individual contributor.
- Experience with model lifecycle management, decisioning systems, experimentation, optimization, or real-time inference platforms.
- Experience building or scaling online financial products, particularly in consumer lending or credit.
Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote
Time zone requirements The team operates on the East/West coast time zones.
Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions' cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.
#LI-REMOTE
#LI-Director
What you'll love
At Upstart, our benefits are designed to support your health, financial well-being, family, and personal growth. Here's what you can expect:
- Competitive compensation, including base pay, bonus opportunities, and annual equity grants that vest quarterly
- Retirement benefits to help you plan for the future, including a 401(k) or Group Retirement Savings Plan with a company match of $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 annually (USD in the US, CAD in Canada)
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discounted stock purchase options for eligible employees (US only)
- Comprehensive health coverage designed to support you and your family, including medical, dental, vision, and wellness resources for US and supplemental health coverage for Canada.
- Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart for eligible plans (US only)
- Income protection benefits, including life insurance and disability coverage for added financial security
- Paid time off, sick leave, and company holidays, in line with local requirements
- Paid family and parental leave to support caregiving and major life moments (duration varies by country)
- Family-centered benefits to support fertility, parenthood, and caregiving needs
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering mental health support and life-centered resources
- Financial wellness resources, including access to financial planning tools and a financial concierge service (US Only)
- Annual wellness allowance to support your physical and emotional well-being and personal development, based on what matters most to you
- Annual productivity allowance to invest in relevant tools and resources you need to do your best work, no matter where you work from
- Connection and community through team events, all-company updates, and employee resource groups (ERGs)
- Onsite perks, including catered lunches and fully stocked micro-kitchens when working from one of our offices in the Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, and New York City (opening Summer 2026!)
For roles based in Canada, please note that we are not currently able to hire in Quebec.
Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. Just as we are dedicated to improving access to affordable credit for all, we are committed to inclusive and fair hiring practices.
If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please email candidate_accommodations@upstart.com
https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy
About Upstart
At Upstart, we're united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence.
As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that's both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 3,000 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress.
We're proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn't mean distant. We're intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you'll have the support to work in the way that works best for you.
If you're energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we'd love to hear from you.
The Team:
Upstart is looking for a Director of Product, Machine Learning & Decisioning Platforms to help us achieve our mission of enabling effortless credit based on true risk. This role will lead the product strategy and team responsible for the platforms that power Upstart's credit decisioning and machine learning platform capabilities. This is a highly technical, platform-focused product leadership role at the core of Upstart's business. You will manage and develop a team of experienced product managers, set strategy across multiple interconnected product areas, and partner closely with engineering and machine learning leaders to evolve the systems underlying pricing, underwriting, model deployment, and ML innovation.
The ideal candidate is a strong product leader and coach who can bring structure to complex, ambiguous problems; connect technical decisions to business and customer outcomes; and create alignment across teams. While you will remain close to the product, this role is primarily focused on setting direction, developing talent, and enabling your team to deliver high-impact results.
How you'll make an impact
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of product managers, setting clear priorities and raising the quality of product management across the organization.
- Define the product strategy and roadmap for the platforms powering Upstart's credit decisioning and machine learning capabilities.
- Partner with engineering and machine learning leaders to improve model development, versioning, deployment, forecasting, experimentation, and monitoring.
- Evolve underwriting and decisioning systems to better connect customer information, model outputs, and business outcomes.
- Identify opportunities to apply machine learning across the business, validate them through focused MVPs, and build the strongest opportunities into scalable products.
- Create scalable processes for evaluating, onboarding, and integrating data vendors and other ML capabilities.
- Balance near-term execution with long-term platform investment, making thoughtful trade-offs across impact, risk, technical complexity, and speed.
- Build alignment across teams and ensure machine learning is incorporated into product strategy from the start.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in a technical field or equivalent practical experience.
- 8+ years of product management experience, including experience leading technical or platform products.
- Experience managing and developing product managers, ideally across multiple interconnected teams.
- Strong technical fluency and experience partnering with engineering, machine learning, and data science teams.
- Demonstrated ability to set strategy, navigate ambiguity, and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to connect technical and product decisions to business outcomes, particularly in credit, lending, or financial services.
- A track record of building strong teams and raising the quality of product management practices.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience as a data scientist, machine learning engineer, or other machine learning individual contributor.
- Experience with model lifecycle management, decisioning systems, experimentation, optimization, or real-time inference platforms.
- Experience building or scaling online financial products, particularly in consumer lending or credit.
Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote
Time zone requirements The team operates on the East/West coast time zones.
Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions' cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.
#LI-REMOTE
#LI-Director
What you'll love
At Upstart, our benefits are designed to support your health, financial well-being, family, and personal growth. Here's what you can expect:
- Competitive compensation, including base pay, bonus opportunities, and annual equity grants that vest quarterly
- Retirement benefits to help you plan for the future, including a 401(k) or Group Retirement Savings Plan with a company match of $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 annually (USD in the US, CAD in Canada)
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discounted stock purchase options for eligible employees (US only)
- Comprehensive health coverage designed to support you and your family, including medical, dental, vision, and wellness resources for US and supplemental health coverage for Canada.
- Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart for eligible plans (US only)
- Income protection benefits, including life insurance and disability coverage for added financial security
- Paid time off, sick leave, and company holidays, in line with local requirements
- Paid family and parental leave to support caregiving and major life moments (duration varies by country)
- Family-centered benefits to support fertility, parenthood, and caregiving needs
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering mental health support and life-centered resources
- Financial wellness resources, including access to financial planning tools and a financial concierge service (US Only)
- Annual wellness allowance to support your physical and emotional well-being and personal development, based on what matters most to you
- Annual productivity allowance to invest in relevant tools and resources you need to do your best work, no matter where you work from
- Connection and community through team events, all-company updates, and employee resource groups (ERGs)
- Onsite perks, including catered lunches and fully stocked micro-kitchens when working from one of our offices in the Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, and New York City (opening Summer 2026!)
For roles based in Canada, please note that we are not currently able to hire in Quebec.
Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. Just as we are dedicated to improving access to affordable credit for all, we are committed to inclusive and fair hiring practices.
If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please email candidate_accommodations@upstart.com
https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy
See All 896+ Senior ML Engineer Jobs in San Mateo
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Find Senior ML Engineer JobsSenior ML Engineer Job Market in San Mateo
Who's Hiring
- Roblox529
- BigHat Biosciences81
- Upstart41
- Skild AI41
- Guidewire41
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software448
- Gaming & Esports41
- Artificial Intelligence41
Senior ML Engineer Jobs in San Mateo: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a senior ml engineer job in San Mateo?
The strongest path into San Mateo's senior ml engineer market is through the city's dense cluster of fintech companies, healthcare technology firms, and enterprise software shops concentrated in the Bay Meadows and Hillsdale areas. Candidates who bring experience with production model deployment, ML infrastructure, or recommendation systems have a clear edge locally, as San Mateo employers tend to hire for applied, revenue-driving ML work rather than pure research.
Which companies hire senior ml engineers in San Mateo?
Employers hiring senior ml engineers in San Mateo right now include Roblox, BigHat Biosciences, and Upstart, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. The local employer base skews toward mid-sized technology companies and established financial services firms, many of which have built in-house ML teams to support product and data initiatives.
Are there remote senior ml engineer jobs in San Mateo?
Yes, senior ml engineer roles are among the more remote-friendly positions in technology because the core work revolves around code, data pipelines, and model training rather than physical presence. About 92% of senior ml engineer openings tied to San Mateo are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, reflecting how broadly the local tech sector adopted flexible arrangements. Roles focused on experimentation, model evaluation, and research tend to offer the most location flexibility.
How can I get a senior ml engineer job in San Mateo with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in San Mateo is targeting ML engineer or data scientist roles at the city's mid-sized fintech and healthtech companies, which often hire candidates who can demonstrate strong project work even without extensive industry tenure. Contributing to open-source ML projects, building a portfolio on public datasets relevant to financial or clinical domains, and pursuing internships at San Mateo's product-driven technology firms all help candidates break in locally.
Which industries hire the most senior ml engineers in San Mateo?
Most senior ml engineer openings in San Mateo sit in Technology & Software, Gaming & Esports, and Artificial Intelligence, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. San Mateo's position between Silicon Valley and San Francisco makes it a natural home for fintech platforms and enterprise software companies that rely heavily on production machine learning to power their core products.
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