Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Agentic AI

About the teamThe Agentic AI team at Zillow is at the forefront of transforming the real estate industry by helping millions of people use AI assistants to find their next home. We aim to redefine the home shopping and transaction experience by providing an always-on assistant that integrates personalized user insights with Zillow’s knowledge. This lean, customer-focused team of engineers independently ships features and has the autonomy to move fast and make decisions.

About the role

As a Principal Machine Learning Engineer on the Agentic Artificial Intelligence team, you will get to: 

• Develop large-scale, fault-tolerant multimodal agentic experiences that reach millions of customers

• Design and develop multiple agent interaction modes, including Voice AI and Deep Research. 

• Pioneer robust evaluation frameworks, tracing systems, and safety guardrails to ensure our highly-visible AI agents remain trustworthy and responsible

• Remain on the cutting edge of emerging agentic paradigms and convert them into tangible product innovation

• Lead complex, multi-team initiatives, bridging the gap between applied research and highly scalable engineering

• Distill complex research findings and AI system architectures into actionable insights for a diverse audience, including executives and cross-functional partner teams

This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions.

In California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC the standard base pay range for this role is $204,400.00 - $326,600.00 annually. This base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont the standard base pay range for this role is $194,200.00 - $310,200.00 annually. The base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations.

In addition to a competitive base salary this position is also eligible for equity awards based on factors such as experience, performance and location. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location. Employees in this role will not be paid below the salary threshold for exempt employees in the state where they reside.

Who you are

As a Principal Machine Learning Engineer, you are a roll-up-the-sleeves and get-it-done technical leader who can marry state-of-the-art technology with large-scale engineering. We are looking for someone who has:

• A master's degree or above, or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, with emphasis on building products using frontier multimodal LLMs

• 5+ years of experience with a proven track record of deploying large-scale ML models, with the most recent 2-3 years building agent-based systems, multi-agent collaboration, or similar paradigms

• Experience developing engaging dialogue systems capable of long conversations, context-aware tool selection, and compliant response generation

• Experience building AI services capable of handling hundreds of millions of daily interactions with high availability, low latency, and robust fault tolerance

• Familiarity with various agentic AI frameworks, such as LangGraph, Agents SDK, AutoGen, and production ML infrastructure

• A track record of writing articles, patents, and publishing high-impact research is a strong plus

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to influence technical direction across teams and present to executive leadership

Get to know us

At Zillow, we’re reimagining how people move—through the real estate market and through their careers. As the most-visited real estate platform in the U.S., we help customers navigate buying, selling, financing and renting with greater ease and confidence. Whether you're working in tech, sales, operations, or design, you’ll be part of a company that's reshaping an industry and helping more people make home a reality.

Zillow is honored to be recognized among the best workplaces in the country. Zillow was named one of FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® in 2025, and included on the PEOPLE Companies That Care® 2025 list, reflecting our commitment to creating an innovative, inclusive, and engaging culture where employees are empowered to grow.

No matter where you sit in the organization, your work will help drive innovation, support our customers, and move the industry—and your career—forward, together.

Zillow Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact your recruiter directly.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable state and local law.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.