Lead Machine Learning Engineer (Manchester)

The Fitch Group Emerging Technology AI Center of Excellence (COE) group is seeking a principal machine learning or AI engineer to be part of a team dedicated to building and supporting Generative AI, machine learning, deep learning and data science solutions across the organization. The position will be based out of our London or Manchester office.

Team Objectives

• Gen AI/ML technology implementation with business and product owners
• Emerging Tech Governance function covering policies, guidelines and processes to govern AI/ML enabled components and third‑party AI governance
• Lead and support other enterprise‑level AI exploration tools and capabilities
• Provide guidance and support for safe development and deployment of AI

What We Offer

• This will be a high‑impact role with significant visibility where the candidate will work on flagship Fitch products
• The candidate will have an excellent opportunity to work in the cutting‑edge field of machine learning and data science
• Fitch promotes an excellent work culture and is known for providing a good work‑life balance

Responsibilities

• Work closely or as part of the product squads to build, integrate, and deploy GenAI, multi‑AI‑Agents and data science solutions, encouraging best practices and knowledge sharing.
• Design and spearhead development of Gen AI, AI Agents, and MLOps platforms, applications, and solutions driven by GenAI, deep learning and machine learning to address business challenges and enhance product performance.
• Build standards and recommendations for the AI engineering tech stack and data science models across enterprise AI use cases, working with AI implementation, governance, and enterprise architecture squads to apply the appropriate standards.
• Keep abreast of the latest vendors and actively participate in vendor evaluations and tool assessments for relevant use cases, onboarding suitable solutions into the platform where appropriate.
• Effectively communicate advanced data science/ML concepts in simple language to business stakeholders, focusing on applicability to Fitch business.
• Develop and deploy machine learning and GenAI solutions to meet enterprise goals and support experimentation and innovation.
• Collaborate with data scientists to identify innovative machine learning and GenAI solutions that leverage data to meet business goals.
• Design and develop scalable solutions and GenAI and ML workflows that leverage machine learning, GenAI, and deep learning models to meet enterprise requirements.
• Participate in maintaining SLAs for production applications and support, creating metrics to continuously evaluate and improve performance of machine learning solutions.
• Build with AWS and Azure cloud computing services to provide necessary infrastructure, resources, and interfaces for data loading and LLM workflows.
• Use Python/Java and large‑scale data workflow orchestration platforms such as Airflow to construct software artifacts for ETL, interface with diverse data formats and storage technologies, and incorporate them into robust data workflows and dynamic systems.

Qualifications

• Work experience as an ML or AI engineer (5+ years)
• Prior experience developing production‑quality Python is essential
• Deep understanding of agentic AI systems and multi‑agent architectures
• Proficiency in machine learning and deep learning algorithms, including NLP, neural networks, multi‑class classification, decision trees, support vector machines
• Strong adherence to software and ML development fundamentals (e.g., code quality, automated testing, source version control, optimization)
• Prior experience building or enhancing GenAI frameworks and fine‑tuning LLMs
• Experience building or enhancing search and information retrieval systems
• Experience with containerization technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, AWS EKS
• Knowledge of popular cloud computing services (AWS and Azure), e.g., AWS Bedrock, S3, SageMaker, Azure AI Search, Azure OpenAI, Azure Blob Storage
• Master's degree or above in machine learning/data science, computer science, applied mathematics, or another research‑based field

Preferred Qualifications

• Passionate about the power of data and predictive analytics to drive better business outcomes for customers
• Proven ability to work effectively in a distributed environment and efficiently in a fast‑paced setting
• Familiarity with credit rating agencies, regulations, and data products worldwide
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
• Champion of good code quality and architectural practices
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work proactively and as a team player

Fitch Group is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and affirmative action employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, and other statuses protected by law.