Machine Learning Engineering Manager

Cleo; City of London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A fintech company in London seeks a Machine Learning Engineering Manager to lead a team of ML engineers in deploying cutting-edge models. The role involves solving complex problems, guiding team development, and driving innovative ML solutions that enhance user interactions. Candidates should have extensive ML experience, team management skills, and a solid coding background. The company offers competitive pay and a flexible hybrid work environment.

Benefits

Competitive compensation package

Flexible work arrangements

Equity top-ups and performance reviews

25 days annual leave

Private Medical Insurance

Regular team socials

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in ML production.
• Experience managing data scientists and ML engineers.
• Knowledge of LLMs and agent design.
• Ownership of ML roadmap.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate ML contributions to core problems.
• Identify model and product improvements.
• Manage and develop ML engineers.
• Build headcount plan for growth.

Skills

Building and deploying Machine Learning models

Managing high-performing teams

Experimenting with new technologies

Writing production-quality Python code

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

OpenSearch

Job description

Join to apply for the Machine Learning Engineering Manager role at Cleo.

About Cleo

At Cleo, we're not just building another fintech app. We're embarking on a mission to fundamentally change humanity's relationship with money. Imagine a world where everyone, regardless of background or income, has access to a hyper‑intelligent financial advisor in their pocket. That's the future we're creating.

About The Company

Cleo is a rare success story: a profitable, fast‑growing unicorn with over $200 million in ARR and growing over 2x year‑over‑year. This isn't just a job; it's a chance to join a team of brilliant, driven individuals who are passionate about making a real difference. We have an exceptionally high bar for talent, seeking individuals who are not only at the top of their field but also embody our culture of collaboration and positive impact. If you’re driven by complex challenges that push your expertise and want to shape something truly transformative while sharing in Cleo’s success, this might be your perfect fit.

About The Role

You’ll join the existing data science function here at Cleo—a thoughtful and collaborative team of ML engineers, analysts, and data engineers with significant industry experience at the heart of everything we do. You’ll build and deploy production models that developers will feed directly into the product. This position is essential in the expansion of both product and business. We are highly data‑driven, whether that be understanding natural language, deriving insights from financial data, or determining which financial product is best suited to a user. We have interesting problems to solve on an ever‑increasing scale. You’ll be working on a hugely impactful workstream, focused on the machine learning that underpins our Chat feature, shaping how Cleo uses LLMs to have more engaging, accurate, and personalised conversations about money.

What you’ll be doing

• Understanding core problems faced by our Chat team and coordinating the ML function’s contribution to solving them.
• Finding opportunities for model and product improvements in Cleo’s extensive datasets of customer behaviour.
• You’ll be responsible for people management of the ML engineers in your squads, coaching and developing them to deliver on the roadmap.
• You’ll build out the headcount plan and will be responsible for all hiring and team development within your area to support our growth.

About You

• Extensive experience building and deploying Machine Learning models to production.
• Experience managing and developing high‑performing teams of data scientists and ML engineers.
• Habits of keeping abreast of the latest research and experimenting productively with new technologies, including LLMs and LLM agent design.
• Experience owning an ML roadmap, driving new ideas through to seeing business impact.
• Ability to write production‑quality Python code and a willingness to be somewhat hands‑on.

Nice to haves

• Domain knowledge of NLP, including evaluating LLM systems and fine‑tuning LLMs or other transformer models.
• A strong ability to communicate findings to non‑technical stakeholders in a concise and engaging manner.
• Experience with containers and container orchestration: Kubernetes, Docker, and/or Mesos.
• Experience using vector databases such as OpenSearch.

The recruitment process

• Interview with a Recruiter (30 mins)
• Interview with the Hiring Manager (30 mins)
• Technical Interview (30 mins)
• White‑boarding session (60 mins)
• Technical Discussion (45 mins)
• Management Skills Interview (30 mins)

What do you get for all your hard work?

• A competitive compensation package (base + equity) with bi‑annual reviews, aligned to our quarterly OKR planning cycles.
• Work at one of the fastest‑growing tech startups, backed by top VC firms, Balderton & EQT Ventures.
• A clear progression plan. We want you to keep growing. That means trying new things, leading others, challenging the status quo and owning your impact. Always with our complete support.
• Flexibility. We can’t fight for the world’s financial health if we’re not healthy ourselves. We work with everyone to make sure they have the balance they need to do their best work.
• Work where you work best. We’re a globally distributed team. If you live in London we have a hybrid approach, we’d love you to spend one day a week or more in our beautiful office. If you’re outside of London, we’ll encourage you to spend a couple of days with us a few times per year. And we’ll cover your travel costs, naturally.
• Company‑wide performance reviews every 6 months.
• Generous pay increases for high‑performing team members.
• Equity top‑ups for team members getting promoted.
• 25 days annual leave a year + public holidays (+ an additional day for every year you spend at Cleo, up to 30 days).
• 6 % employer‑matched pension in the UK.
• Private Medical Insurance via Vitality, dental cover, and life assurance.
• Enhanced parental leave.
• 1 month paid sabbatical after 4 years at Cleo.
• Regular socials and activities, online and in‑person.
• We’ll pay for your OpenAI subscription.
• Online mental health support via Spill.
• Workplace Nursery Scheme.
• And many more!

EEO statement

We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio‑economic backgrounds.