Sr Manager, Machine Learning Engineering

Job Level

M50

Employee Role

People Manager

The Opportunity

Adobe Firefly Foundry is a managed generative-AI service purpose-built for enterprises that need to scale content creation without compromising brand safety or workflow efficiency. By letting customers train private Firefly models on their own intellectual property—under strict data isolation and copyright indemnification—and deploy those models directly into Adobe Creative Cloud, Experience Cloud, and proprietary platforms via Firefly Services APIs, Foundry closes the gap left by consumer‑grade GenAI tools and empowers brands to deliver ten‑times the creative output at professional quality.

As a Manager for Applied Research at Adobe, you will be the technical and strategic steward of this platform, translating state‑of‑the‑art research into secure, production‑ready capabilities, championing them in customer and industry settings, and building the world‑class team that will turn vision into reality.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a distributed team focused on training data for Generative AI.
• Define and execute strategy for acquiring, processing, curating, annotating, versioning, and ensuring quality of large-scale datasets for Adobe Firefly.
• Build and maintain scalable, efficient data pipelines across the training data lifecycle.
• Collaborate with researchers, ML engineers, and PMs to align on data needs for new models.
• Champion data diversity, bias mitigation, and ethical AI practices.
• Evaluate and integrate tools and methodologies to enhance infrastructure and workflows.
• Influence model development through insights on data quality and availability.
• Provide technical leadership and foster a culture of innovation.
• Partner across teams to align data priorities and share best practices.

Qualifications

• Master’s/Ph.D. in CS, Data Science, Engineering, AI/ML, or related field—or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years in engineering leadership, managing data infrastructure or ML data ops teams.
• Deep understanding of ML data lifecycles, especially for generative models (GANs, diffusion).
• 7+ years building and optimizing large-scale ETL/ELT pipelines and data warehousing.
• Expertise in data quality, governance, versioning, and annotation platforms.
• Proficiency with cloud data tech (AWS, Azure, GCP, Spark, Databricks, Snowflake).
• Strong grasp of data privacy, security, and ethical AI principles.
• Excellent leadership and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Experience with large-scale image/video datasets.

Preferred

• Familiarity with MLOps tools (e.g., DVC), annotation platforms, and compliance standards.
• Experience in computer vision, multimedia, or creative content data ecosystems.
• Contributions to open-source tools, publications, or patents in data management.
• Proven success supporting generative model training with robust data solutions.

#FireflyGenAI

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 California, the pay range for this position is $242,600 - $351,225

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.

Internal Opportunities

Creativity, curiosity, and constant learning are celebrated aspects of your career growth journey. We’re glad that you’re pursuing a new opportunity at Adobe!

Put your best foot forward:

1. Update your Resume/CV and Workday profile – don’t forget to include your uniquely ‘Adobe’ experiences and volunteer work.
2. Visit the Internal Mobility page on Inside Adobe to learn more about the process and set up a job alert for roles you’re interested in.
3. Check out these tips to help you prep for interviews.
4. If you are applying for a role outside of your current country, ensure you review the International Resources for Relocating Employees on Inside Adobe, including the impacts to your Benefits, AIP, Equity & Payroll.

Once you apply for a role via Workday, the Talent Team will reach out to you within 2 weeks. If you move into the official interview process with the hiring team, make sure you inform your manager so they can champion your career growth.

Adobe Culture & Benefits

At Adobe, you will be immersed in an exceptional work environment that is recognized around the world. You will also be surrounded by colleagues who are committed to helping each other grow through our unique Check-In approach where ongoing feedback flows freely. If you’re looking to make an impact, Adobe's the place for you. Discover what our employees are saying about their career experiences on the Adobe Life blog and explore the meaningful benefits we offer.

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.

Equal Employment Opportunity

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.

Accessibility

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 or call +1 408‑536‑3015.

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.