Machine Learning Manager

Our client is a non-profit organization committed to advancing research and creating technical solutions that enable safe-by-design AI systems.

They are seeking an experienced Machine Learning Manager to join a growing team working at the forefront of AI safety and advanced machine learning research.

As both a people manager and technical leader, you will lead a team of highly skilled ML research scientists and engineers while driving complex research and engineering projects. You will operate within a collaborative, matrix-style environment, bridging cutting-edge scientific research with large-scale engineering execution.
This is an opportunity to play a key leadership role in shaping research direction, developing high-performing teams, and tackling challenging problems at the frontier of machine learning and AI safety.

People Management

• Lead, mentor and inspire a team of highly skilled ML research scientists and engineers.
• Partner with technical leaders and talent acquisition teams to scale the organisation.
• Drive technical hiring, including active sourcing, interviewing and onboarding.
• Coach and develop team members, helping them deliver their best work while building new skills and expertise.
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative and intellectually rigorous team environment.
• Provide strong and empathetic leadership while maintaining a healthy and productive working culture as the organisation scales.

Technical Leadership

• Lead cross-functional project teams tackling complex and often highly ambiguous scientific and engineering challenges.
• Provide technical direction across machine learning and deep learning research projects.
• Manage and optimise research workflows to ensure rigorous, reproducible results at frontier model scale.
• Help define and advance the research agenda, maintaining momentum towards significant technical breakthroughs.
• Identify and overcome complex technical challenges and roadblocks.
• Collaborate across research and engineering teams, translating theoretical concepts into practical, scalable implementations.
• Bridge the gap between advanced scientific research and large-scale engineering execution.

Required Skills & Qualifications

Background & Experience

• PhD in a relevant field, such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Machine Learning or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in machine learning and/or deep learning.
• 5+ years of experience leading technical projects and people.
• Demonstrable experience leading machine learning or deep learning research projects.
• Strong experience working with foundation models and modern AI architectures.
• Experience working on complex, open-ended research problems.

Leadership & Role Fit

• Strong interest in AI safety and advanced machine learning research.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific concepts for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong problem-solving skills and resilience when working through ambiguous or technically challenging problems.
• Proven ability to push the boundaries of technical research while maintaining a sustainable and healthy working environment.
• Ability to operate effectively within a collaborative, matrix-style organisation.
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to work effectively across research, engineering and leadership teams.

What You’ll Bring
We are looking for a technically strong and experienced ML leader who can combine deep machine learning expertise with exceptional people leadership.
You will be comfortable operating at both strategic and technical levels, able to challenge existing thinking, guide complex research programmes and build an environment in which highly capable researchers and engineers can do their best work.