Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Qodea Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Qodea is a global technology group built for what's next, offering high calibre professionals the platform for high stakes work, the kind of work that defines an entire career. You will join the exclusive roster of talent that global leaders call when deadlines seem impossible and solutions absolutely have to work.

As Principal Machine Learning Engineer, you will shape the next generation of our data and machine learning capabilities, focusing on data quality, enrichment, and intelligent linking of products and information. Your role will define architectural strategy, lead transformative initiatives, and operate at scale on platforms infused with machine learning and semantic intelligence to unlock deep insights from complex data.

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• Lead the architecture and evolution of scalable, high-performance data pipelines and ML systems, focusing on data ingestion, transformation, quality checks, and enrichment
  
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to a cross‑functional team of ML Engineers, Data Scientists and Infrastructure Engineers, ensuring alignment with architectural standards and driving a culture of high quality and operational excellence
  
• Drive cross‑functional initiatives to integrate modern Machine Learning and AI technologies (including semantic understanding, natural language processing and large language models) to automate data quality, link canonical products and create intelligent data enrichment solutions
  
• Define strategies to enhance the performance, reliability, and observability of data and ML services, ensuring robust, high‑quality data outputs
  
• Design and implement frameworks for evaluating data quality and the effectiveness of ML models through both offline metrics and online validation
  
• Champion engineering best practices and mentor engineers across teams, raising the bar for code quality, data governance and ML system design
  
• Shape long‑term technical direction by staying ahead of trends in AI, ML, data engineering and distributed systems and bringing these innovations into production within the Knowledge domain
  

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• Extensive experience designing and leading the development of large‑scale distributed data and/or ML backend systems
  
• Hands‑on experience with ETL pipeline design and optimisation for complex data sets is a strong advantage
  
• Deep familiarity with technologies such as Apache Beam, Pub/Sub, Redis and other large‑scale data processing frameworks
  
• Expertise in backend development with Python and Scala; knowledge of Node.js or Golang is a plus
  
• Proficient with both SQL and NoSQL databases, and experience with data warehousing solutions
  
• Demonstrated experience building robust APIs (REST, GraphQL) and operating in modern cloud environments (GCP preferred), using Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD and observability tools
  
• Proven ability to lead and influence engineering direction across teams and functions, particularly in a data‑centric and ML‑driven environment
  
• Strong communication skills and the ability to align diverse technical stakeholders around a cohesive vision for data quality and knowledge extraction
  

Compensation and Financial Wellbeing

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• Competitive base salary
  
• Matching pension scheme (up to 5%) from day one
  
• Discretionary company bonus scheme
  
• 4 × annual salary Death in Service coverage from day one
  
• Employee referral scheme
  
• Tech Scheme
  

Health and Wellness

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• Private medical insurance from day one
  
• Optical and dental cash‑back scheme
  
• Help@Hand app: access to remote GPs, second opinions, mental health support and physiotherapy
  
• EAP service
  
• Cycle to Work scheme
  

Work‑Life Balance and Growth

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• 36 days annual leave (inclusive of bank holidays)
  
• An extra paid day off for your birthday
  
• Ten paid learning days per year
  
• Flexible working hours
  
• Market‑leading parental leave
  
• Sabbatical leave (after five years)
  
• Work from anywhere (up to 3 weeks per year)
  
• Industry‑recognised training and certifications
  
• Bonusly employee recognition and rewards platform
  
• Clear opportunities for career development
  
• Length of Service Awards
  
• Regular company events
  

At Qodea, we champion diversity and inclusion. We believe that a career in IT should be open to everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability or neurotype. We value the unique talents and perspectives that each individual brings to our team, and we strive to create a fair and accessible hiring process for all.

Seniority level: Mid‑Senior level

Employment type: Full‑time

Job function: Information Technology

Industries: IT Services and IT Consulting