Senior Manager, Machine Learning Engineering

Seattle
Full-time
$178,900 - $351,225
Posted Nov 11, 2026

Skills

Large Language Models
Machine Learning
Product Management
AWS
Google Cloud
Microsoft Azure

Job description

The Opportunity

At Adobe, we are applying cutting-edge AI to reimagine document experiences and transform knowledge work. We are looking for an exceptional engineering leader to build and lead this team. You will set the technical direction, grow a group of strong ML and software engineers, and turn ambitious, ambiguous ideas into products customers use and trust. This is a high visibility role, with real ownership, and the chance to shape how agentic AI shows up across Adobe’s document products.

What You’ll Do

•Define a multi-horizon strategy for our agentic, memory, and retrieval capabilities, grounded in what is possible now and what is coming.

•Partner with Product Management to shape the roadmap, communicate what is feasible today and in the near future, and translate customer problems into well-scoped, measurable projects.

•Act as a bridge between Adobe’s research labs, product, design, and engineering teams so that efforts are aligned and amplified, and incubated work transitions smoothly to production.

•Hire, develop, and retain a diverse team of engineers and ML practitioners. Set clear expectations, give candid feedback, and create growth paths for senior and early-career engineers alike.

•Own the full lifecycle of ML product development: system design, data and ML pipelines, evaluation, productization, and MLOps.

•Establish rigorous evaluation practices for agent, memory, and retrieval quality, including benchmarks, LLM-as-a-judge approaches, offline and online metrics, and regression testing.

•Build a culture of disciplined engineering and fast experimentation, with deep engagement with customers and a bias toward measurable impact.

•Manage scope, risk, and delivery using data, analytics, and creative problem solving. Promote responsible AI, security, privacy, and cost-aware design.

What You Need to Succeed

Required Qualifications

•10 years of experience applying modern AI/ML techniques to build ML features or products, including technical leadership of teams and projects.

•6 years of people management experience

•Hands-on experience managing engineers or ML practitioners, including hiring, performance management, and career development.

•Experience delivering ML or GenAI systems from 0→1 through production and ongoing iteration.

•Strong technical foundation in machine learning, software engineering, and distributed systems, sufficient to guide architecture decisions and review designs with senior engineers.

•Familiarity with LLM-based applications, including retrieval-augmented generation, agentic architectures, and evaluation of generative systems.

•Track record of delivering high-quality, cloud-scale, data-driven products that are widely adopted by large customer bases.

•Demonstrated ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders, and to lead effectively in a high-growth, matrixed organization.

•An ability to think strategically, look around corners, and create a vision for the current quarter, the year, and five years down the road.

•A relentless pursuit of great customer experiences and continuous improvements to the product.

•Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

•Experience building or managing teams working on memory systems, retrieval and search infrastructure, or agent frameworks.

•Experience with LLM evaluation methodologies, prompt optimization, and observability for LLM and agent workflows.

•Experience with MLOps tooling, experiment tracking, and model lifecycle management on AWS, GCP, or Azure.

•Experience running incubation or zero-to-one teams, including taking early prototypes through to scaled product adoption.

•Track record of collaborating with research organizations and translating research into product.

•Experience in document, productivity, or knowledge-work products.

About Adobe

Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.

Our 30,000 employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.

Let’s Adobe together

At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture , focus on people, purpose and community , Adobe for All , comprehensive benefits programs , the stories we tell , the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email accommodations adobe.com .

AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:

Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.

At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience .

Expected Pay Range:

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several  U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $178,900 - $351,225 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process. In Washington, the pay range for this position is $215,600 - $312,200

At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC base commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices:

California :

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

Colorado:

Application Window Notice

If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.

Massachusetts:

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.