Senior Machine Learning Scientist – Applied

Senior Machine Learning Scientist – Applied Payments

Join Expedia Group as a Senior Machine Learning Scientist focused on Payments. In this role, you will transform complex, high‑volume payment challenges into scalable, production‑ready machine learning solutions that power millions of secure transactions worldwide.

$/yr – $/yr (Seattle)

Expedia Group designs cutting‑edge technology to make travel smoother and more memorable. We support a diverse, inclusive culture and offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes travel perks, generous time‑off, parental leave, a flexible work model, and career development resources.

Payments at Expedia Group sits at the intersection of trust, conversion, and global scale. Every millisecond counts and every decision impacts traveler experience, authorization rates, cost to serve, and platform reliability.

• Lead ML for Payments:
  Serve as the technical lead for a small, focused ML group supporting Payments. Set the roadmap, shape best practices, and mentor 1–2 scientists/engineers.
• Partner deeply with Product & Payments Engineering:
  Co‑define problems, uncover hidden ML opportunities, and align on KPIs such as authorization rates, false decline reduction, latency/SLA adherence, and cost optimization.
• Ship production models end‑to‑end:
  Own problem framing, data exploration, feature engineering, model selection, training/validation, offline/online evaluation, deployment, and ongoing monitoring.
• Choose the right tools:
  Apply binary classification, anomaly detection, and multi‑armed bandits when they provide measurable value; avoid over‑engineering.
• Elevate reliability & safety:
  Implement robust monitoring (drift, stability, performance, fairness), incident playbooks, and model lifecycle hygiene.
• Tell the data story:
  Communicate findings and trade‑offs to technical and non‑technical stakeholders; influence priorities with clear narratives and evidence.
• Raise the bar:
  Contribute to ML standards, reusable features, and internal communities of practice across Expedia Group.

• Bachelor's, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering, or a related technical field; or equivalent professional experience.
• Professional experience: 7+ years with a Bachelor’s, 5+ years with a Master’s, or 4+ years with a PhD in data science or machine learning roles.
• Proficient coding skills in Python or Scala; clean, maintainable, optimized ML code.
• Deep understanding of supervised learning, anomaly detection, and model evaluation techniques.
• Experience deploying ML models in production environments.
• Ability to translate ambiguous business problems into actionable ML solutions.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Experience in payments or financial systems, including domain complexity.
• Familiarity with multi‑armed bandits, anomaly detection, and binary classification models.
• Leading ML initiatives with a product‑focused mindset and cross‑functional collaboration.
• Exposure to cloud‑based ML infrastructure and data pipelines (AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Contributions to technical communities (publications, open‑source projects, tech talks).
• Strong business acumen and ability to connect ML outcomes to strategic goals.

Expedia Group offers a full benefits package including medical/dental/vision coverage, paid time off, an Employee Assistance Program, wellness and travel reimbursement, and travel discounts. For full details, view the benefits page on our site.

If you need assistance with any part of the application or recruiting process due to a disability, or other physical or mental health conditions, please reach out to our Recruiting Accommodations Team through the Accommodation Request portal.

Expedia is committed to creating an inclusive work environment with a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. This employer participates in E‑Verify. The employer will provide the Social Security Administration and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security with information from each new employee's I‑9 to confirm work authorization.