Member of Technical Staff, Lead Researcher
About The Position
DoorDash is building an AI Research org from the ground up, and we're hiring our founding researchers. This is not a role inside an existing team — it's a role that defines what the team becomes. You'll have an outsized influence on the research agenda, hiring, culture, infrastructure choices, and how research connects to the rest of DoorDash. DoorDash sits on a uniquely valuable substrate for AI research: a real-world, multi-sided marketplace operating at massive scale, with millions of consumers, merchants, and Dashers generating data that no academic lab and few companies can access. We want to build a research org that takes that seriously — one that produces work the broader field cares about, and that fundamentally reshapes how local commerce works. You should apply if you want to do ambitious, publishable research in an environment with the data, compute, and operational reach to actually deploy what you build.
Requirements
- A strong research track record: first-author publications at top ML venues, or equivalent demonstrated output (widely-used systems, influential open-source work, or research artifacts adopted at scale)
- Experience leading ambitious research projects end-to-end, from problem framing through to results that other people built on
- Taste: the ability to identify which problems are worth working on, when an approach is exhausted, and when a result is real
- A builder's instinct: comfortable working close to real systems and real data, not just on benchmarks
- Excitement about the founding-team aspects of the role: hiring, agenda-setting, culture-building, and partnering across functions
- Impact, you want to ship frontier systems to production and see your work being leveraged by hundreds of millions of consumers
- Excellent written and verbal communication, and a track record of mentoring or developing other researchers
- PhD in a relevant field is typical but not required. We weigh demonstrated research output and judgment far more heavily than credentials.
Responsibilities
- Set the research agenda for one or more areas of DoorDash AI Research, in close collaboration with the founding team and leadership
- Lead high-impact research projects end-to-end — from problem framing through publication and, where appropriate, production deployment
- Help build the team — interview, recruit, and mentor researchers, engineers, and fellows joining the org
- Shape the org's culture and operating model — how we publish, how we collaborate with product teams, how we balance open research with proprietary work
- Partner across DoorDash with ML platform, product, and operations teams to identify the highest-leverage research bets and translate findings into real-world impact
Benefits
- 401(k) plan with employer matching
- 16 weeks of paid parental leave
- wellness benefits
- commuter benefits match
- paid time off
- paid sick leave
- medical, dental, and vision benefits
- 11 paid holidays
- disability and basic life insurance
- family-forming assistance
- mental health program
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
Education Level
Ph.D. or professional degree
