Senior ML Research Engineer, NZ

Note: Partly is headquartered in the UK, with a Product and Engineering HQ in Christchurch, New Zealand, and an early presence in San Francisco, USA. If you are based outside of a Hub, we will fly you to the nearest Hub for 1 week per quarter for our “Season Openers” (we pay for your travel and accommodation).

Partly's mission is to connect the world's parts and we're doing that by building the first global platform for replacement parts, starting with auto parts. Our big vision is to accelerate the world toward a sustainable future where anyone can fix anything

Founded by ex-Rocket Lab engineers, we utilise cutting-edge technology to solve challenging but exciting problems that make a huge impact in a $1.9 trillion industry. We've more than tripled our team over the last 12 months and expect to double in size again over the coming 12 months. We're a global team spanning both Europe and Australasia.

We provide a scalable digital infrastructure solution to some of the world's largest businesses and the most exciting startups. Partly's solutions are integrated across hundreds of companies globally, providing the backbone for cataloguing and managing parts online.

Our investors in Blackbird Ventures (Canva, CultureAmp etc.), Square Peg, Octopus Ventures, Icehouse, Peter Beck (Rocket Lab), Akshay Kothari (Notion Co-Founder) and Dylan Field (Figma Co-Founder).

We're continuing to build a world-class team and ensuring Partly is a place where people can do the best work of their lives. We're proud of the culture we've built at Partly, and our values are lived throughout every experience.

The Senior ML research engineer will build and ship machine-learning and algorithmic solutions to real problems in the vehicle and parts domain. You’ll report to Abram Spamers and work closely with engineering and product partners to take ambiguous inputs (noisy data, edge cases, shifting constraints) and turn them into measurable, production-grade outcomes.

A core part of this role will be helping us build a foundational model for the vehicle and parts problem space - one that can be adapted across multiple downstream tasks and product surfaces, and that improves over time as we expand data and evaluation. This role is for someone who wants to be judged by what ships: strong baselines, strong evaluation, reliable systems, and improvements that compound over time.

• Ship Applied ML solutions end-to-end. Own a problem area from framing through to production rollout, monitoring, and iteration.

• Design evaluation that makes progress undeniable. Build gold datasets, and metrics that reflect real-world performance.

• Blend ML and algorithms pragmatically. Use the right tools: modelling, ranking, classification, retrieval, graph/heuristic methods, LLMs, and domain-specific algorithms where they outperform learning.

• Build for production constraints. Consider latency, scale, failure modes, observability, and safe rollout plans as part of the core deliverable.

• Work across teams to drive adoption. Partner with product and engineering so the solution actually changes outcomes, not just metrics.

• Raise technical standards by example. Reproducible experiments, crisp docs, thoughtful reviews, and clear trade-offs that keep velocity high without breaking reliability.

Want to learn more about the problems we're solving and the culture we're building at Partly? Hear directly from our team here: https://shorturl.at/iAFUX

• Proven track record shipping ML into production. You’ve delivered systems used by others, and you understand monitoring, regressions, and operational realities.

• Strong algorithmic thinking. You’re comfortable with classical algorithms and data structures, and know when they beat ML.

• Excellent applied modelling fundamentals. You can build strong baselines, choose sensible methods, and evaluate correctly.

• Evaluation-first mindset. You instinctively build the evaluation framework before you over-invest in complexity, and you can articulate failure modes.

• Engineering-minded execution. You write maintainable code, work effectively with services/pipelines, and care about performance and reliability.

• Clear communicator and collaborator. You can align stakeholders, document trade-offs, and keep delivery moving in a low-bureaucracy environment.

• Experience in messy, weakly-supervised domains. You’ve worked where ground truth is imperfect and success requires clever measurement and iteration.

• (Bonus) Experience with search/ranking/retrieval or graph-based approaches. You’ve built systems that combine multiple signals into reliable outputs.

Please note: if you don't have all the skills/experience listed above but believe you could be outstanding in this role, please still consider applying. Many folks, especially those from underrepresented or marginalised groups, often count themselves out. Please allow us to learn more about you and why you're exceptional!

• Healthy, Catered Lunches - Enjoy fresh, healthy lunches every workday in our Auckland, Christchurch, London and San Francisco offices. With no meal prep needed, you can eat, connect, and refuel with your team. (And yes, snacks and drinks are always on hand.)

• Healthy Body, Healthy Mind - We care about performing at our peak. Every team member gets a $1,500 annual wellness allowance (or local equivalent) on a Partly-branded card. Use it on things such gym memberships, rock climbing, physio, massage, GP visits, prescriptions; anything that you or your family, need!

• Family Comes First - Primary caregivers receive 3 months of fully paid parental leave, plus a flexible return-to-work (four days on full pay for your first three months back).

• Getting Here Is On Us - If you commute to a Partly office or co-working space, choose from a paid 24/7 car park or commute allowance. One less thing to think about!

• Workspaces That Inspire - Our brand new, architecturally designed offices are built for collaboration and creativity, with great coffee, social spaces, and some of the best cafes a few steps away.

• Office-First with Flexibility - In cities where we have an office (Christchurch, Auckland, London, San Francisco), we default there every day. This let's us move faster, make better decisions and build strong relationships. We also operate with a very high trust environment, so you can manage your time around your life, and flex your schedule to get your best work done.

• We Celebrate Together - From weekly happy hours and monthly lunches to quarterly season openers and an annual global offsite, we make time to connect, celebrate, and have fun as one team.