Head of ML Platform & Developer Productivity (all genders)

ABOUT THE TEAM

The ML Platform & Developer Productivity department consists of five teams supporting almost 2000 Software Engineers and Applied Scientists all over Zalando across the whole Software Development and ML Ops livecycle. By offering the best tools and processes well integrated into our central “Sunrise” platform backed by backstage.io open source software, the team has a high impact on how fast and safe delivery teams in Zalando can experiment, build, test, and ship to production.

Our vision is that Engineers and Applied Scientists have all the tools they need at their fingertips. They can easily access documentation, pre-built services, and templates to build new solutions quickly. The technical setup is largely standardised, making it easy to upgrade without distractions. Teams start with default templates and can customise if needed. Changes can be rolled out to production in minutes, multiple times a day, and we separate deployments from rollouts, allowing us to enable or disable features centrally. This fast pace of experimentation and testing helps prevent incidents. If something goes wrong, we detect the issue automatically and safely roll back changes so experts can investigate without stress.

THE ROLE

As the Head of Machine Learning Platform & Developer Productivity responsible for 5 teams, you will be pivotal in defining, enabling and optimising our ML Development Lifecycle and ensuring teams across all of Zalando can deliver high-quality models efficiently and effectively. You will lead initiatives to improve productivity across our ML platform, from data preparation and model development to deployment and monitoring. This role requires a unique blend of technical expertise, leadership, and a deep understanding of ML operations (MLOps) best practices. As a senior level technology expert, you will not only play a pivotal role in the design of our tools and systems that power our core ecommerce operations and experiences used by millions of customers every day.

As the scope of this role includes a crucial part of the Software Development Lifecycle from how we write and test code to continuous integration and delivery, this role offers unique opportunities to shape a holistic vision of modern software development to consistently execute against. In collaboration with the director, your peers, product management, key stakeholders, and your engineering teams you will shape the future of our internal, software engineer and applied science facing digital products, serving 250+ teams delivering ~20k builds and 10k deployments per week to Kubernetes on AWS.

WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF YOU

• Have a minimum of 8 years of experience in Software Engineering or Applied Machine Learning, with at least 3 years in a leadership role managing multiple technical and interdisciplinary teams.

• Have a track record of delivering company wide systems and solutions at scale for applied machine learning. You have a strong background in machine learning, data engineering, and software development, with hands-on experience in building and scaling ML systems.

• Are proficient in MLOps practices, tools and techniques and comfortable working in and enabling a culture of operational and production excellence.

• Possess strong executive stakeholder management and product management thinking (optional and not required, but highly desirable). You are a great leader, and leader of leaders, and able to support and guide many teams and business units towards the same goal and unified approaches. 

• Have strong know-how in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computer Science, or Data Science. A PhD is a plus, but not a necessity.

• Have a record of attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional talent.

• Have empathy, awareness, and understanding related to working in a mission driven and highly diverse and inclusive environment like Zalando.

OUR OFFER

Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer. Learn all about Zalando and our values here: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/?gh_src=22377bdd1us 

• Employee shares program

• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Zalando Lounge, discounts from external partners

• 2 paid volunteering days a year

• Hybrid working model with 60% (or more) remote per week, actual practice is up to each team to best support their collaboration

• Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year

• 27 days of vacation a year to start

• Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)

• Family services, including counselling and support

• Health and wellbeing options (including Gympass)

• Mental health support and coaching available

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

At Zalando, our vision is to be inclusive by design. This vision starts with our hiring - we do not discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, personal expression, ethnicity, religious belief, or disability status. You are welcome to leave out your picture, age, or marital status from your application. We only assess candidates on their qualifications and merit. 

We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Feel free to inform us of any accommodations you may need, so we can best support you throughout the hiring process. 

• do.BETTER - Our Diversity & Inclusion strategy: https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/dobetter-our-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy

• Our Employee Resource Groups: https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/our-employee-resource-groups