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Derek G. Murray

Also known as Derek Murray

Derek G. Murray is a machine-learning engineer whose work has helped build software for model training at scale. He completed a computer science PhD at Cambridge in 2011 and worked at Microsoft Research Silicon Valley on Naiad, a distributed dataflow system. At Google Brain, he helped create TensorFlow and coauthored a 2016 paper about the large-scale machine-learning system; in 2021, he coauthored tf.data, a framework for machine-learning input pipelines. As of October 2026, he works on machine-learning frameworks in Google's Core ML group.

Now at
Google
Works
39
Citations
27,494
h-index
19
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2011

    A Cambridge computer science PhD

    He completes a PhD in computer science at the University of Cambridge in 2011 under Steve Hand. His earlier degrees are an MSc in High Performance Computing at the University of Edinburgh and a BSc in Computing Science at the University of Glasgow.

  2. 2011–2014

    Research on Naiad at Microsoft

    From 2011 to 2014, he is a researcher at Microsoft Research Silicon Valley. During his postdoctoral appointment there, he works on Naiad, a distributed system for data-parallel, cyclic programs that supports iterative and incremental computation.

  3. 2014–2020

    TensorFlow at Google Brain

    At Google Brain, he is a software engineer from 2014 to 2020 and helps create TensorFlow. In 2016, he coauthors the TensorFlow paper, which describes a machine-learning system operating at large scale and in heterogeneous environments.

  4. 2021

    The tf.data framework

    In 2021, he coauthors tf.data: A Machine Learning Data Processing Framework, a framework for building and executing efficient machine-learning input pipelines.

  5. As of October 2026

    Machine learning frameworks at Google

    He works on Machine Learning Frameworks in Google's Core ML group.

Career

  1. Since 2015Google
  2. 2014–2020Google BrainSoftware Engineer
  3. 2011–2014MicrosoftResearcher

Education

  1. 2011University of CambridgePhD in Computer Science
  2. University of EdinburghMSc in High Performance Computing
  3. University of GlasgowBSc in Computing Science

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. TensorFlow: A system for large-scale machine learning2016 · 16,017 citationsWith Andy Davis, Geoffrey Irving, Martin Abadi, Matthieu Devin, Michael Isard and Paul R. Barham
  2. TensorFlow: Large-Scale Machine Learning on Heterogeneous Distributed Systems2016 · 9,404 citationsWith Andy Davis, Chris Olah, Fernanda Viégas, Geoffrey Irving, Greg S. Corrado and Ian Goodfellow
  3. Naiad2013 · 656 citationsWith Frank McSherry, Martin Abadi, Michael Isard and Paul R. Barham
  4. CIEL: a universal execution engine for distributed data-flow computing2011 · 230 citations
  5. Scalability! but at what cost?2015 · 228 citationsWith Frank McSherry and Michael Isard

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. Google alumni founded or led 87 other organizations, the most among the labs we compareIncludes Derek G. Murray. We trace 212 organizations founded or led by AI lab alumni, and 223 career moves between the labs.
  2. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Google. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Google. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  4. Of 462 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 190 work there nowIncludes Google. Our estimates of where former Google and Google DeepMind people work now, including moves within Google.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Naiad: A Timely Dataflow System | Department of Computer Science and Technology cst.cam.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. About | mrry.github.io mrry.github.io. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Derek G. Murray | Google Research research.google. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. TensorFlow: A system for large-scale machine learning arxiv.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. tf.data: A Machine Learning Data Processing Framework arxiv.org. Checked 19 October 2026.