Haipeng Gao    Ph.D.

 
About
Haipeng Gao is an accoplished expert in AI/ML who is passionate about solving large-scale, high-impact business problems using machine learning and AI. His expertise includes machine learning, optimization, and modern LLM-based methods, with particular experience in (ads) marketplace , trust and safety, and monetization domains.
Alongside his industry work, he contributes to the AI/ML community through teaching and technical book writing.

View published books on Amazon.
 
Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ph.D. in Statistics & Operations Research, 2019
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU
M.S. in Mathematics, 2015
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
B.S. in Mathematics, 2012
 
Industry Experience
Indeed | Foster City, CA (remote)
Staff Machine Learning Engineer, June 2025 - present
LinkedIn | Mountain View, CA
Senior AI Engineer, April 2024 - June 2025
TikTok | San Jose, CA
Machine Learning Engineer, June 2022 - April 2024
PayPal | San Jose, CA
Senior Data Scientist, May 2019 - June 2022
 
Academic Service
San Jose State University | San Jose, CA
Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Jan 2022 - June 2022
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill, NC
Instructor, Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Jan 2017 - Dec 2018
Awarded Department Excellence in Teaching Award, Dec 2018
 
Patents
Google Patents
Minimum Accepted Bids Prediction as Demand Side Platform. LinkedIn.
Federated Learning for Media Content Recommendation. TikTok.
Multi-Layer Artificial Intelligence Models for Progressive Predictions During Data Pipeline Management. PayPal.
 
Publications
Google Scholar
Stochastic Cusp Catastrophe Model and Its Bayesian Computations. Journal of Applied Statistics, 2021.
Bayesian Inference for Stochastic Cusp Catastrophe Model With Partially Observed Data. Mathematics, 2021.
 
Books
Soccer Analytics with Machine Learning: Learning Predictive Modeling Techniques with Sports Data. O'Reilly Media, 2025. [Amazon, O'Reilly]
Machine Learning Engineer: Things to Know Before You Start. [Amazon, Apple Books]