Director, Machine Learning Engineering in London

Credit Acceptance is proud to be an award-winning company with local and national workplace recognition in multiple categories. Our world-class culture is shaped by dedicated Team Members who share a drive to succeed as professionals and together as a company. A great product, amazing people and our stable financial history have made us one of the largest used car finance companies nationally. Our Engineering and Analytics Team Members utilize the latest technology to develop, monitor, and maintain complex practices that help optimize our success. Our Team Members value being challenged, are encouraged to express their ideas, and have the flexibility to enjoy work-life balance. We build intrinsic value by partnering with all functions of our business to support their success and make strategic business decisions. We focus on professional development and continuous improvement while enjoying a casual work environment and Great Place to Work culture.

The AIML Director is a senior technology leader responsible for defining and driving the enterprise strategy across AI, Machine Learning, and Generative AI. This role owns the long-term roadmap for AI/ML solutions, platforms, models, and engineering capabilities. The Director will lead a high-performing organization across data science, machine learning engineering, or GenAI/platform engineering (depending on assignment), ensuring scalable, secure, and innovative solutions that deliver measurable business impact.

The Director operates as a cross-functional thought leader, partnering with Product, Engineering, Analytics, Infrastructure, and executive stakeholders to advance the company's AI maturity and accelerate responsible, value-oriented AI adoption.

• Strategic Leadership: Define and communicate the long-term vision for ML/AI applications and engineering, aligning with corporate strategy. Partner with senior executives, product, and engineering leaders to prioritize initiatives and allocate resources effectively.
• Execution & Delivery: Oversee design, development and deployment of enterprise-scale ML/AI solutions, inference pipelines, and respective technical roadmaps. Ensure operational excellence in ML/LLM Ops, including automation, observability, and lifecycle management in partnership with the AIML platform engineering team.
• Innovation: Champion adoption of cutting-edge techniques (Deep learning, recommendation engine architecture, graph neural networks, causal inference, LLMs, RLs, etc). Drive responsible AI practices, model interpretability, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Team Development: Build and mentor a high-performing organization of managers and senior engineers. Foster a culture of continuous learning, experimentation, and engineering craftsmanship.
• Governance & Risk: Establish standards for security, scalability, and architectural integrity across ML/AI systems. Implement robust governance for data privacy, ethical AI, and risk mitigation.

• Customer Empathy: The ability to understand the perspectives, pain points, and experiences of customers.
• Engineering Excellence: Bringing great craftsmanship and thought leadership to deliver an outstanding product that delights customers and solves for the business.
• One Team: A collaborative approach across the organization, where individuals work together seamlessly, without boundaries, as a single, cohesive team.
• Owner's Mindset: Adopting a set of behaviours that reflect a sense of responsibility, accountability, strategic thinking, and a proactive approach to managing your domain.

• Education & Experience: PhD in Computer Science, Statistics and related field with 10+ years in Machine Learning engineering (preferred); or MS with 12+ years of experience. Minimum 5 years in senior leadership roles managing managers and large engineering teams.
• Technical Expertise: Proven track record in building production-grade ML systems with strong problem-solving skills. Hands-on experience building different types of models and scientific solutions. Deep knowledge of ML lifecycle tools, distributed systems, and cloud-native architectures.
• Leadership Skills: Passion to solve problems and drive value-based transformative changes. Ability to influence C-suite stakeholders and communicate complex technical concepts clearly. Experience in strategic planning, budgeting, and organizational scaling.

Benefits: Excellent benefits package that includes 401(K) match, adoption assistance, parental leave, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive medical/dental/vision and many nonstandard benefits that make us a Great Place to Work.

Our Company Values: To be successful in this role, Team Members need to be positive, respectful, insightful, direct, and earnest.

To create an environment where people do their best work, we focus on the dimensions of Organizational Health. All leaders must identify the right people, set clear expectations, train team members, performance manage, create the right environment, and maintain the right number of team members needed to build an effective team.

Expectations: Remain compliant with our policies processes and legal guidelines. All other duties as assigned. Attendance as required by department.

Credit Acceptance is dedicated to providing a safe and inclusive working environment for all. As part of our Culture of Compliance, we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and value our culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of the person's age, race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status, criminal history, or any other legally protected characteristic.