Build the foundations for machine learning in a business investing in AI and automation. As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer, you'll combine hands-on delivery with technical leadership, mentoring early-career ML engineers and establishing how the team develops, deploys and maintains models.
Your first priority will be automating workflows in a core product. Over the first three to six months, you'll focus on replacing manual, click-by-click processes with reliable automation, reducing the need for clients to log in and complete those steps themselves.
This is a permanent, full-time role with technical leadership and mentorship responsibilities, not direct people management.
What You'll Do
Lead the technical delivery of product workflow automation, working alongside junior ML engineers.
Establish end-to-end ML workflows, standard operating procedures and best practices for model development and deployment.
Build and integrate algorithms and models, choosing between custom development, pre-built models and existing AI capabilities to suit the problem.
Mentor your teammates through hands-on collaboration, code guidance and sharing your technical and domain knowledge.
Work with the broader data team to structure data and accelerate AI adoption.
What You'll Bring
Substantial hands-on experience in machine learning and data science, including developing and deploying models.
Strong Python skills and experience with ML frameworks such as PyTorch.
Experience guiding junior technical colleagues and helping them develop their skills.
The ability to turn business problems into practical ML solutions and establish development practices others can follow.
Experience with Snowflake, particularly its built-in AI/ML capabilities, would be valuable but is not essential.
The Team And Opportunity: You'll work with early-career ML engineers within a broader data team that includes DBAs and data engineers.
This is an opportunity to shape the foundations rather than inherit an established ML function, working with generally clean, well-maintained data and large international datasets.
Interview Process: The planned process starts with a conversational catch-up, followed by an in-depth technical interview with the team's data science specialists.
Note: To apply for this position, you must currently hold a valid New Zealand work visa, or be a NZ Resident or Citizen. We are unable to consider applicants who do not meet these criteria.
About placeMe IT
placeMe IT is all about connecting the right candidate with the right job in IT. We promote diversity in the workplace and have a human-first approach, striving for meaningful connections. If you feel like you don't cover every base for this role, that's fine and natural; we encourage you to apply anyway. It's rare that somebody ticks every box!