Senior Machine Learning Engineer (AI Platform)

Senior Machine Learning Engineer (AI Platform) role at OVO

Role Overview

• Team: ML Engineering
• Salary banding: £74,000 – £105,600
• Experience: Expert
• Working pattern: Full-Time
• Reporting to: Delivery & Growth Lead
• Sponsorship: Unfortunately we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.
• This role in 3 words: Cross-collaboration, Design, Ownership.
• Top 3 qualities for this role: Adaptability, communication, technical skill

Depending on the needs of your business area, we expect hub‑based people to be in the office at least once a week, and to go to OVO Connection events in‑person. You’ll be assigned to the closest of our three hub offices (Bristol, Glasgow, or London), unless your role requires field‑based work. Each hub has accessible spaces to park your laptop, is designed to inspire people, help them connect and bring big ideas to life.

At OVO, we are on a mission to solve one of humanity’s biggest challenges, the climate crisis. We need diverse people from all abilities, gender identities, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations, life experiences and backgrounds. Everyone belongs at OVO.

Our team’s vision is to pioneer a sophisticated AI platform, centralising the operation of all OVO’s ML models. Our goal is to empower our company with superior AI solutions. Whether we are solving climate change or another sophisticated challenge, we aim to make a difference. Be part of this progressive journey with us.

This role in a nutshell

As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer, you will focus on designing, building, and deploying machine learning solutions that drive business value. You will develop new features and functionalities on the OVO AI Platform, which is used by engineers and data scientists as a foundation to deliver their AI models and use cases.

Your key outcomes will be

• Architect, design, and deploy new features, and functionality on the OVO AI Platform to enable users to deliver high‑quality machine learning, and artificial intelligence models at scale.
• Team up with multi‑functional teams, including product managers, software developers, and business analysts, to align machine learning initiatives with business goals.
• Mentor, and drive technical direction for machine learning engineering, and data science colleagues building innovative AI solutions.
• Stay up‑to‑date with the latest ML trends, tools, and technologies to ensure the team’s technical approach is innovative.
• Foster an inclusive team environment where everyone feels valued and excited to contribute.
• Communicate optimally with collaborators to explain concepts and drive informed decision making.

Within your first 3 months

• Gain a comprehensive understanding of our AI platform and associated MLOps principles.
• Begin collaborating on various projects, providing insights and advice on ML standard processes and software engineering guidelines.
• Contribute to the development and enhancing our systems.
• Guide and educate other teams about effective ML practices and MLOps strategies.

Systems

Google Cloud Platform services (Vertex AI), GitHub.

Qualifications

• Experience leading technical ML projects.
• Excellent production‑level programming skills in Python, including solid experience with software testing (unit, integration, system), and knowledge of test‑driven development; other languages are a plus.
• Proficiency in ML frameworks, such as scikit‑learn, XGBoost, Tensorflow, or PyTorch.
• Proficiency with Cloud platform(s), such as Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, or Azure.
• Experience in designing and deploying ML pipelines in production environments; knowledge of Kubeflow Pipelines is a plus.
• Deep understanding of ML principles, monitoring, security, and data preprocessing techniques.
• Familiarity with software engineering practices, such as design patterns, CI/CD, version control, containerisation, infrastructure as code/Terraform; knowledge of Kubernetes is a plus.
• Excellent leadership and mentoring skills.
• Strong communication traits, able to explain technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical team members.
• Problem‑solving demeanor, with the ability to excel in a collaborative, fast‑paced environment.
• Open‑mindedness, cultural sensitivity, and a commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace.

Benefits & Compensation

We’ll pay you between £74,000 and £105,600, depending on your specific skills and experience.

You’ll be eligible for an on‑target bonus of 15%. We have one OVO bonus plan that focuses on the collective performance of our people to deliver our Plan Zero goal.

We also offer plenty of green benefits and progressive policies to help you feel like you belong at OVO…and there’s flex pay. We’ll give you 9% Flex Pay on top of your salary – 4% of this is auto enrolled into your pension, and the remaining 5% is yours to do what you like with.

Here’s a taster of what’s on offer:

• 34 days of holiday (including bank holidays).
• Health: Healthcare cash plan or private medical insurance depending on your career level, critical illness cover, life assurance, health assessments, and more.
• Wellbeing: Gym membership, travel insurance, workplace ISA, will writing services, dental insurance, and more.
• Lifestyle: Extra holiday buying, discount dining, home & tech loans, and supporting your favourite charities with give‑as‑you‑earn donations.
• Home: Get up to £400 towards any OVO Energy plan, plus great discounts on solar, smart thermostats and EV chargers.
• Commute: Nab a great deal on ultra‑low emission car leasing, plus our cycle to work scheme and public transport season ticket loans.
• Belonging: To find better ways to support our people, we need to listen to each other’s experiences and find ways to build a truly inclusive and diverse workplace.

We’d be thrilled if you tick off all our boxes, yet we also believe it’s just as important we tick off all of yours. And if you think you have most of what we’re looking for but not every single thing, go ahead and hit apply. We’d still love to hear from you!

If you have any additional requirements, there’s a space to let us know on the application form; we want to make the process as easy and comfortable for you as possible.

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