VP, Engineering at Odyssey (Palo Alto, CA)
Odyssey· Palo Alto, CA·
Role details
Job description
Who we are
Odyssey is an AI lab pioneering general world models: causal, multimodal systems that learn to predict and interact with the world over long horizons. This foundational technology promises to revolutionize robotics, science, healthcare, education, gaming, defense, and beyond. Odyssey’s founders previously pioneered the most complex application of physical AI: self-driving cars. They’ve now brought together a world-class research team from DeepMind, Tesla, Waymo, Meta, Apple, and Wayve, who have made significant contributions to language models (DeepMind Gemini), video models (DeepMind Veo), world models (Wayve GAIA), and autonomous systems (Tesla FSD). Odyssey has raised significant venture capital from GV, Amazon, AMD, EQT, NVIDIA, Natural Capital, In-Q-Tel, Elad Gil, Jeff Dean, Guillermo Rauch, Garry Tan, Kyle Vogt, and researchers from OpenAI, DeepMind, MSL, Recursive, and Thinking Machines.
What we're looking for
You'll lead our ML platform and infrastructure group, spanning our data platform, evaluation systems and tooling, and compute. This leader will serve as a trusted partner to the founders and stakeholders across product and technology, and will report directly to our CTO and co-founder.
What you'll do
- Own the roadmap and vision for the ML platform across data, evaluation, and compute topics. This consists of software systems, tooling, and infrastructure.
- Build and scale the engineering group, across multiple teams and locations
- Partner closely with the Research team, Applied ML team, and other technical leaders so platform work stays tied to research velocity
- Make the prioritization calls between researchers, leadership and product
- Stay close enough to the technical details to drive product vision and get hands on with the code when needed
Who you are
- 10+ years of engineering experience with deep expertise in data, evaluation, and compute infrastructure.
- You've worked in an ML systems org and know first-hand what slows ML development down.
- You’ve led engineering groups of 20 or more across multiple teams and locations
- Based in Palo Alto or London, in office 3+ days a week, ideally full time
- Energized by working in a fast-paced startup environment and by the company, the mission and platform
Why work at Odyssey
- Culture and autonomy: Odyssey prizes "autonomy and ownership" – deep work with accountability, and the freedom to tackle meaningful, open-ended scientific problems odyssey.ml/careers.
- Team: Collaborate with researchers and engineers from leading labs who have driven major AI advancements. Strong peer group focused on original science odyssey.ml/careers.
- Work policy: Hybrid model – employees work from physical offices in Palo Alto, London, or Zurich. No remote-only option; typical time on-site not specified builtin.com.
- Compensation & benefits: Competitive salary and equity grants reflecting the demands of breakthrough AI research. Benefits include healthcare, disability insurance, 401(k), generous parental leave, PTO, company socials, and wellness initiatives builtin.com.
- Notable for job seekers: Rapidly scaling (raised $310M, hiring across research, engineering, product, and operations). Opportunity to shape a nascent category (world models) from the ground up.