Engineering Manager, Machine Learning

At WellSaid Labs, we enable creatives around the globe by putting high-tech, human parity technology into their hands, giving them the ability to add voice-over to any project and iterate with ease. Creative teams use WellSaid Lab’s Voice Studio to create compelling employee training, design unique digital experiences, and narrate audiobooks. We believe deeply in AI for Good, and that technology should be empowering, engaging, and fair to all people.

How You’ll Contribute:  

As a Machine Learning Engineering Manager, you will work with the VP, Engineering  and ML Product Manager to build and lead a team that elevates our state-of-the-art Deep Learning text-to-speech, content moderation and related machine learning models. Your primary responsibility will be to lead a team of engineers and data scientists in the development and deployment of machine learning models and systems that help us achieve our strategic goals.

In your day-today, you'll work on:

• Leading the Machine Learning Team: You will be responsible for leading a team of ML Platform engineers, data engineers and data scientists, setting goals, providing career guidance, preparing performance reviews, managing their day-to-day work, and ensuring they have the necessary resources and support to complete their tasks.
• Machine learning strategy and roadmap: You will be responsible for working with the CTO and Staff-level ML Engineer and TTS Product Manager to execute the Deep Learning TTS strategy for your team, working closely with stakeholders to understand their needs and priorities and ensuring that your team is working on the right projects.
• Providing Technical expertise: Using your understanding of TTS machine learning techniques and technologies, as well as experience working with large data sets and cloud computing platforms, you will guide the team by setting direction and removing roadblocks.
• Project management: You will be responsible for managing multiple machine learning projects simultaneously, leading backlog grooming and sprint planning, and generally ensuring that deliverables are met on time and within budget. 
• Collaboration: You will need to work closely with other departments within your organization, including product management, the broader engineering team, and the TTS Product Manager to ensure that your team is aligned with the broader goals of the organization.
• Communication: You will need to communicate technical concepts and progress updates to non-technical stakeholders, including executives and business leaders.
• Hiring: You will be responsible for hiring and recruiting top talent for your team, ensuring that they have the necessary skills and experience to contribute to your organization's success.

What We’re Looking For 

To thrive in this role, you have a deep understanding of machine learning concepts and techniques, data science experience building clean data sets, strong technical and software development skills, excellent communication and collaboration skills, demonstrated management experience, and a strategic mindset.

 Ideally, you also have some combination of the following: 

• A bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, machine learning, data science, mathematics, or a related field is usually required. 
• 5+ years of experience in designing and implementing machine learning models and systems. 
• 2+ years of experience in managing a team of engineers and/or data scientists where you set goals, provided performance feedback, and mentored the team toward career growth.
• You have excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including data engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders.
• You have a strategic mindset and be able to identify opportunities to leverage machine learning to help achieve business objectives. You are able to develop and implement a machine learning strategy that aligns with the overall business strategy.
• You have experience working with large data sets, and data visualization. You are familiar with databases and data storage systems such as GCS or S3, and content management systems such as Hygraph.
• You are proficient in software development practices, including version control systems, testing frameworks, and code review processes and are passionate about writing clean, defensible code.
• You have a deep understanding of machine learning concepts and techniques and you are proficient in Python. You should have experience working with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or scikit-learn.

 To join our team you must also:

• be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident
• pass a pre-employment background check 

What We Offer 

WSL is proud to support an inclusive work environment that emphasizes each team member’s personal and professional growth. Our team is fully distributed throughout the U.S., and we support flexible schedules - work where and when you work best. You’ll have teammates just a Slack message or video call away if you ever need help solving an exciting challenge, or even if you just have a funny story to tell.

Other perks and benefits: 

• Competitive salary and stock options
• Full medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Matching 401(k) plan
• Generous vacation policy/paid time off
• Parental leave
• Learning & development stipend
• Home office stipend

As a startup, we strive to be externally competitive with companies at a similar size and stage, and internally fair in our pay practices. The hiring salary range for this role is $180,000 - $210,000  and represents the target offer range given the scope and experience expectations for this role.

What to Expect From Us 

We strongly encourage you to apply! If we feel your skills, experience, and values match, we’ll reach out about meeting with the team. 

During the interview stage, you can expect:

• An introductory interview with the hiring manager (50 minutes); if there’s a match we’ll schedule an interview loop with the team.
• A technical screen, either as a live interview via Karat or as a take-home assessment 
• An Interview loop with 3-4 interviews (1 hour each) with the team members you will be potentially working with 

All interviews will be remote via Google Meets; we are happy to make accommodations you might need to feel comfortable and set up for success in our process. 

WellSaid Labs is honored to be an equal opportunity workplace. We realize that by bringing together teams rich in diverse thoughts and experiences, our people, company, and customers are free to flourish. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, creed, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation or gender identity), age, marital status, disability, military or veteran status; or any other protected classifications or characteristics under applicable local laws.