Staff Machine Learning Engineer - DashPass

About the Team

DashPass is DoorDash’s subscription loyalty program that delivers lower delivery fees and a host of additional benefits and value to a large subscriber base of both paid and sponsored subscriptions. DashPass subscribers enjoy lower delivery fees, faster ETAs, 3rd party partnerships, and special discounts and promotions to get maximum value of their membership.

Several teams are part of the DashPass org including Growth, Habituation, Member Experience, Exclusive Offers, and Partnerships. All of these teams require personalized targeting of offers and promotions to entice active Doordash consumers to sign up for DashPass and actively engage with their subscription in a personalized way, as well as reduce churn by offering personalized incentives to DashPass subscribers to keep using their subscription.

We are forming a new team that will leverage AI and advanced ML to power decision making in real-time - from personalized sign up promotions to progressive reward systems, and to pre-cancel offers that retain subscribers. 

DashPass is continuously building new benefits and offerings to drive more value for our subscribers, and personalization is our next big bet to help efficiently grow our subscriber base to 2030 and beyond.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to drive the design and development of large-scale ML/optimization systems to target personalization efforts across the DashPass Subscriber journey.

You're excited about this opportunity because...

• Contribute to Causal inference modeling to measure the incremental impact of DashPass Subscriber acquisition and retention strategies.
• Incentive optimization frameworks that personalize progressive rewards to improve spend efficiency.
• Budget allocation and forecasting models that identify optimal spend across acquisition, referrals, and retention.
• Partner closely with Product, Data Science, and Engineering teams to design experiments, model frameworks, and production ML systems that directly impact DashPass subscriber growth metrics.
• Provide technical mentorship and guidance to engineers and cross-functional partners - leading through influence, not management.
• Build and deploy 0→1 ML systems that improve subscriber outcomes and marketplace health.
• Set best practices for model training, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring

This is a highly impactful IC role for someone who enjoys combining economic intuition, large-scale ML modeling, and system design to solve complex real-world optimization problems.

We’re excited about you because you have…

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or a related field.
• 8+ years of industry experience building production-scale ML systems.
• Proficiency in using AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Cursor) in the full software development lifecycle, including designing, generating code, testing, monitoring and releasing software
• Strong understanding of probability theory, statistics, and machine learning fundamentals.
• Strong programming skills in Python, Java, or C++, and experience with ML frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or XGBoost.
• Interest in building and leading a new team that has broad impact across a wide range of problem spaces to support a critical business line.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and drive complex technical projects end-to-end.
• Excellent communication skills - able to explain technical concepts to product, business, and engineering audiences.
• Experience in subscriptions growth or marketplace systems is a plus.

Notice Regarding Use of AI and Automated Tools:  To streamline our hiring process, DoorDash utilizes an automated recruitment tool called Gem.

How it works: Gem assists our recruiting team by evaluating job related qualifications and characteristics in connection with hiring. The tool is designed and used to support - rather than replace - human decision-making; trained personnel make final decisions with meaningful human review and oversight, and DoorDash does not use Gem or other AI-enabled tool  in a manner that has the effect of subjecting applicants or employees to discrimination based on any protected characteristic or proxy or for engaging in any protected activity under applicable law.

Data Retention, Privacy & Bias Audit: Data collected during this process is retained in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy and applicable state laws. In compliance with New York City Local Law 144, the independent bias audit summary for Gem is publicly available for review at our Careers Page. 

Notice to Applicants for Jobs Located in NYC or Remote Jobs Associated With Office in NYC Only

We use Covey as part of our hiring and/or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT in NYC. As part of the hiring and/or promotion process, we provide Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound from August 21, 2023, through December 21, 2023, and resumed using Covey Scout for Inbound again on June 29, 2024.

The Covey tool has been reviewed by an independent auditor. Results of the audit may be viewed here: Covey

Compensation

The successful candidate's starting pay will fall within the pay range listed below and is determined based on job-related factors including, but not limited to, skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions.  Base salary is localized according to an employee’s work location. Ranges are market-dependent and may be modified in the future.

In addition to base salary, the compensation for this role includes opportunities for equity grants. Talk to your recruiter for more information.

DoorDash cares about you and your overall well-being. That’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits package to all regular employees, which includes a 401(k) plan with employer matching, 16 weeks of paid parental leave, wellness benefits, commuter benefits match, paid time off and paid sick leave in compliance with applicable laws (e.g. Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act). DoorDash also offers medical, dental, and vision benefits, 11 paid holidays, disability and basic life insurance, family-forming assistance, and a mental health program, among others.

To learn more about our benefits, visit our careers page here.

See below for paid time off details:

• For salaried roles: flexible paid time off/vacation, plus 80 hours of paid sick time per year.
• For hourly roles: vacation accrued at about 1 hour for every 25.97 hours worked (e.g. about 6.7 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 3.4 hours/month if working 20 hours/week), and paid sick time accrued at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked (e.g. about 5.8 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 2.9 hours/month if working 20 hours/week).

The national base pay ranges for this position within the United States, including Illinois and Colorado.

I4

$137,100—$201,600 USD

I5

$167,800—$246,800 USD

I6

$203,500—$299,300 USD

About DoorDash

At DoorDash, our mission to empower local economies shapes how our team members move quickly, learn, and reiterate in order to make impactful decisions that display empathy for our range of users-from Dashers to merchant partners to consumers. We are a technology and logistics company that started by enabling door-to-door delivery, and we are looking for team members who can help us go from a company that is known as the place you order food to a company that people turn to for any and all goods.

DoorDash is growing rapidly and changing constantly, which gives our team members the opportunity to share their unique perspectives, solve new challenges, and own their careers. We're committed to supporting employees’ happiness, healthiness, and overall well-being by providing comprehensive benefits and perks including premium healthcare, wellness expense reimbursement, paid parental leave and more.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We’re committed to growing and empowering a more inclusive community within our company, industry, and cities. That’s why we hire and cultivate diverse teams of people from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that true innovation happens when everyone has room at the table and the tools, resources, and opportunity to excel.

Statement of Non-Discrimination: In keeping with our beliefs and goals, no employee or applicant will face discrimination or harassment based on: race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, gender, marital/domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, or veteran status. Above and beyond discrimination and harassment based on “protected categories,” we also strive to prevent other subtler forms of inappropriate behavior (i.e., stereotyping) from ever gaining a foothold in our office. Whether blatant or hidden, barriers to success have no place at DoorDash. We value a diverse workforce - people who identify as women, non-binary or gender non-conforming, LGBTQIA+, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, differently-abled, caretakers and parents, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Thank you to the Level Playing Field Institute for this statement of non-discrimination.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and any other state or local hiring regulations, we will consider for employment any qualified applicant, including those with arrest and conviction records, in a manner consistent with the applicable regulation.

If you need any accommodations, please inform your recruiting contact upon initial connection.

Notice to Applicants for Jobs Located in NYC or Remote Jobs Associated With Office in NYC Only

We used Covey as part of our hiring and/or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT in NYC. As part of the hiring and/or promotion process, we provided Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound from August 21, 2023, through December 21, 2023.  We resumed using Covey Scout for Inbound again on June 29, 2024, and ceased using Covey Scout for Inbound on April 30, 2026.

The Covey tool has been reviewed by an independent auditor. Results of the audit may be viewed here:  https://getcovey.com/nyc-local-law-144.