Senior Machine Learning Engineer (Safety)
AI in this role
Why Faculty?
We established Faculty in 2014 because we thought that AI would be the most important technology of our time. Since then, we’ve worked with over 350 global customers to transform their performance through human-centric AI. You can read about our real-world impact here.
We don’t chase hype cycles. We innovate, build and deploy responsible AI which moves the needle - and we know a thing or two about doing it well. We bring an unparalleled depth of technical, product and delivery expertise to our clients who span government, finance, retail, energy, life sciences and defence.
Our business, and reputation, is growing fast and we’re always on the lookout for individuals who share our intellectual curiosity and desire to build a positive legacy through technology.
AI is an epoch-defining technology, join a company where you’ll be empowered to envision its most powerful applications, and to make them happen.
About the team
Our National Security and AI Safety business unit is dedicated to advancing the responsible development and deployment of AI in support of national security and global stability. From strengthening mission-critical capabilities across national security and intelligence, to working with frontier labs to provide robust AI safety red teaming and evaluation, we work at the frontier of high-stakes, high-impact missions.
We understand that powerful AI systems bring both transformative opportunities and complex risks and we are proud to partner with Government and the biggest tech organisations in the world to ensure AI is not just transformative but is also secure, trustworthy and safe for all.
About the role
As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer, we’ll look to you to lead development and deployment of cutting-edge AI systems for our diverse clients. You’ll design, build, and deploy scalable, production-grade ML software and infrastructure that meets rigorous operational and ethical standards.
You will lead the bridge between AI research and real-world impact by architecting scalable, production-grade machine learning systems. Partnering directly with clients and cross-functional teams, you will drive technical strategy, mentor teams on best practices, and collaborate with Frontier Labs to define and reinforce our industry leadership in practical, high-stakes AI safety.
What you'll be doing:
Leading technical scoping and architectural decisions for high-impact ML systems and capability testing of Frontier AI models
Designing and building production-grade ML software, tools, and scalable infrastructure
Defining and implementing best practices and standards for deploying machine learning at scale across the business
Collaborating with engineers, data scientists, product managers, and commercial teams to solve critical client challenges and leverage opportunities
Acting as a trusted technical advisor to customers and partners, translating complex concepts into actionable strategies
Mentoring and developing junior engineers, actively shaping our team's engineering culture and technical depth
Who we're looking for:
You have significant experience building and deploying secure and scalable LLM applications, and are comfortable with multi-agent harness tooling and AI Safety evaluation procedures.
You understand the full ML lifecycle and are confident operationalising models built with frameworks like TensorFlow or PyTorch
You bring deep expertise in software engineering and strong Python skills, focusing on building robust, reusable systems
You have demonstrable hands-on experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) specifically cloud architecture, infrastructure management, and end-to-end cybersecurity practices
You've extensive experience working with container and orchestration tools such at Docker & Kubernetes to build and manage applications at scale
You thrive in fast-paced, high-growth environments, demonstrating ownership and autonomy in driving projects to completion
You communicate exceptionally well, confidently guiding both technical teams and senior, non-technical stakeholders
Our Interview Process
Talent Team Screen (30 minutes)
Pair Programming Interview (90 minutes)
System Design Interview (90 minutes)
Commercial Interview (60 minutes)
#LI-PRIO
Our Recruitment Ethos
We aim to grow the best team - not the most similar one. We know that diversity of individuals fosters diversity of thought, and that strengthens our principle of seeking truth. And we know from experience that diverse teams deliver better work, relevant to the world in which we live. We’re united by a deep intellectual curiosity and desire to use our abilities for measurable positive impact. We strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, religions and sexual orientations.
If you don’t feel you meet all the requirements, but are excited by the role and know you bring some key strengths, please don't hesitate in applying as you might be right for this role, or other roles. We are open to conversations about part-time hours.
A note on AI: we're happy for you to use it for research and interview prep, but please don't use it to generate answers during live interviews. We also use an AI note-taker (Metaview) in interviews so interviewers can stay present (which you can opt out of just let us know,) and every application is reviewed by a human, never decided by AI.
How we rate this
Senior Machine Learning Engineer (Safety) at Faculty rates 88 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Open the description and count.
Prepare for this job
A free preview built only from this posting: what it asks for, what you could be asked in an interview, and how to adjust your resume.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Questions you could be asked
- How do you think about the risk of an AI system in this kind of role failing silently?
- Tell me about a research question you investigated. What did you find?
- What are the limits of PyTorch that you've run into, and how did you work around them?
- What's a project where you used TensorFlow hands-on?
- How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: AI Safety, AI Research, PyTorch, and TensorFlow. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them — a tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Lead with what you built, trained or shipped — this role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.
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