Sr. AI/Machine Learning Engineer - Supply Chain

This is a founding AI/ML role in Samsara's Supply Chain organization—a rare 0-to-1 opportunity to build AI/ML capabilities from the ground up and own demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and supplier risk modeling end-to-end.

You'll design, develop, and deploy advanced machine learning and statistical models that optimize our global supply chain. From forecasting demand to modeling supply risk using real-time IoT signals, you'll apply cutting-edge techniques to solve complex problems with direct business impact.

• 11 years of untapped operational data — ERP systems (e.g. NetSuite, E2DP, Propel), IoT sensor streams, Salesforce, Slack, Gong call insights, and real-world hardware telemetry
• Own the full stack: modeling, MLOps, deployment, monitoring—build production systems that drive real business decisions
• Real hardware supply chain: Complex multi-tier supplier networks, lead times, high-stakes NPI ramps
• Direct executive partnership: Report to our SVP of Operations, collaborating cross-functionally with teams in Product, Engineering, Procurement, and Finance

You'll shape the team's roadmap, scientific agenda, and modeling standards. Ideal for a deeply technical IC who thrives in ambiguity, thinks strategically, and enjoys end-to-end ownership.

• Your forecasting models will help prevent supply shortages for customers in construction, utilities, transportation, and public safety—industries that literally keep the world running
• Optimize inventory for hardware deployed across 98% of US roads and 70+ billion miles driven annually
• Drive sustainability initiatives by reducing waste and improving supply chain efficiency across global operations

• Build demand forecasting systems for highly variable, seasonal SKUs with intermittent patterns and long lead times
• Model supplier risk using real-time IoT telemetry, geopolitical signals, and market data—not just historical sales
• Design cost optimization algorithms balancing inventory carrying costs, expedite fees, and revenue risk across multiple regions
• Create anomaly detection systems for cellular connectivity spend and supply chain disruptions using multimodal data

• Access to 10+ trillion data points annually from connected operations
• Work with ERP data, IoT sensor streams, third-party market intelligence, and operational metrics
• Build features from unique real-world signals—vehicle diagnostics, utilization patterns, failure modes

• You are motivated by impact: Your work will drive smarter, faster, and more sustainable supply chain decisions across Samsara’s operations.
• You combine scientific rigor with real-world pragmatism: You’re skilled at navigating trade-offs between model complexity, performance, and maintainability.
• You want to work on hard problems: You’ll help tackle forecasting volatility, cost optimization, anomaly detection, and more using large, noisy, high-dimensional datasets. 
• You are a self-directed leader: You identify analytical white space, set multi-quarter plans, and mentor others through influence.
• You enjoy building models that matter: Your solutions will be deployed in production, drive decisions, and be regularly evaluated against business KPIs.

• Define the end-to-end AI transformation roadmap for supply chain alongside the SVP of Operations, aligning with company OKRs and executive stakeholders.
• Design, train, validate, and deploy ML models to production (demand forecasting, inventory optimization, supplier risk scoring, cellular spend prediction), ensuring robust MLOps practices and measurable ROI.
• Build predictive models to forecast demand, lead times, and cellular spend across Samsara's global supply network.
• Create novel features using large-scale ERP, IoT, and third-party datasets; build pipelines and ETL jobs to serve models and stakeholders.
• Deliver production-grade code that supports both batch and real-time inference with MLOps best practices.
• Act as the AI liaison to Product, Engineering, Procurement, and Finance—ensuring alignment on data requirements, integration, and change management.
• Drive enhancements to our data infrastructure and analytics platform to support real-time model training, monitoring, and inference at scale.
• Mentor junior scientists through code reviews and collaborative project work.
• Act as a key scientific voice in roadmap planning, experimentation frameworks, and modeling strategy discussions.
• Identify gaps in data, tools, and processes—and lead initiatives to close them.
• Establish governance frameworks, documentation standards, and quality controls for model development, validation, and lifecycle management.
• Partner with Ops management to drive adoption of AI tools, define new processes, and train supply chain teams on insights-driven workflows.
• Hire, develop and lead an inclusive, engaged, and high-performing team.
• Champion Samsara's cultural principles (Focus on Customer Success, Build for the Long Term, Adopt a Growth Mindset, Be Inclusive, Win as a Team) as we scale globally.

• 8+ years in applied data science or ML, ideally in supply chain, operations research, logistics, or manufacturing.
• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Data Science, EE, OR, or related technical field.

• Expert in statistical modeling and ML: time series forecasting, optimization, anomaly detection, causal inference.
• Strong Python coding skills and fluency in SQL; proven experience developing and deploying production ML systems.
• Proficiency in MLOps practices: automated testing, CI/CD, model versioning, monitoring, performance tracking.
• Experience building real-time inference pipelines and managing GPU/TPU resources for training at scale.
• Familiar with data visualization tools (Tableau, Power BI) and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure).

• • Passion for operational excellence, cost efficiency, and scalable solutions.
  • Exceptional problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills—able to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
  • Track record of collaborating cross-functionally and driving adoption of data-driven solutions.

• Deep Statistical Expertise: Able to design and validate experiments (A/B, multi-armed bandits) and apply Bayesian methods for uncertainty quantification.
• Time-Series Mastery: Proven track record building advanced forecasting models (e.g., Prophet, LSTMs, Transformer-based) for intermittent demand and seasonal patterns.
• Cost Optimization Mindset: Skilled in profiling ML workloads and driving down cloud/GPU spend through model compression (quantization, pruning) and serverless architectures.
• Cross-Region Scaling: Demonstrated ability to deploy low-latency inference across multiple geographic regions with fail-over and disaster-recovery strategies.
• Vendor & Open-Source Savvy: Experience evaluating and integrating third-party ML platforms and contributing to or leveraging relevant open-source projects.
• Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of supply chain concepts (S&OP, IBP, safety stock, EOQ), ERP systems (SAP, NetSuite, E2DP, Propel), and inventory optimization theory. Ideal background in consumer electronics or B2B hardware manufacturing.

At Samsara, we build for the people who keep the global economy moving. We want owners, not passengers, which is why our rewards are designed to fuel high-impact builders. Our compensation program delivers above-market total compensation through a combination of base salary, performance-based bonus/variable pay, and equity (for eligible roles) in a high-growth public company. We meaningfully differentiate pay for our top performers, who have the opportunity to earn above-market compensation that can outpace the broader market over time.

Beyond compensation, we provide the foundations that enable long-term success: a flexible, employee-led remote model, a professional development stipend, comprehensive health and parental leave plans, and more. If you’re ready to build for the long term and own the outcome, your journey starts here.

At Samsara, we embrace a flexible working model that caters to the diverse needs of our teams. Our offices are open for those who prefer to work in-person and we also support remote work where it aligns with our operational requirements. For certain positions, being close to one of our offices or within a specific geographic area is important to facilitate collaboration, access to resources, or alignment with our service regions. In these cases, the job description will clearly indicate any working location requirements. Our goal is to ensure that all members of our team can contribute effectively, whether they are working on-site, in a hybrid model, or fully remotely. All offers of employment are contingent upon an individual’s ability to secure and maintain the legal right to work at the company and in the specified work location, if applicable.

At Samsara, we welcome everyone regardless of their background. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, and other characteristics protected by law. We depend on the unique approaches of our team members to help us solve complex problems and want to ensure that Samsara is a place where people from all backgrounds can make an impact.

Samsara is an inclusive work environment, and we are committed to ensuring equal opportunity in employment for qualified persons with disabilities. Please email [email protected] or click here if you require any reasonable accommodations throughout the recruiting process.

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