Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Unitary’s purpose is to make the internet safer to improve lives and create a fairer world. We are a rapidly growing start-up developing best-in-class AI models that automatically detect and classify harmful content online. Our AI combines the strengths of human moderation (accurate video classification) with the benefits of automated detection (speed and scalability). This cutting-edge technology will help us solve real-world problems in content moderation and beyond. We believe in an online world free from harm, where we can trust AI to make safe and fair decisions.

We have raised about $25M in VC funding from top-tier funds, including Creandum and Plural, and operate at a significant scale - analysing millions of images and videos daily from the world’s largest platforms. But we are just at the beginning of our journey - and we are very excited about our plans for growth over the coming year and beyond!

We are now looking for a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to lead the development and improvement of our machine learning models, including LLMs, VLMs, and conventional machine learning approaches.

As part of this role, you will:

• Drive the technical roadmap across Unitary to advance our ML capabilities
• Design, implement and scale machine learning models across image, video and text
• Collaborate across teams composed of backend engineers, machine learning engineers, product managers and specialists to solve problems for our customers
• Implement and optimise machine learning pipelines for efficient model training, validation, experimentation and deployment
• Stay up-to-date with the latest technology in machine learning and AI, and apply these innovations to our projects
• Communicate complex machine learning concepts and solutions to non-technical stakeholders
• Synthesise and interpret information to Influence technical strategy and decision-making
• Mentor and guide other team members, fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment
• Contribute to setting new engineering standards and best practices within our machine learning teams

We are looking for someone who is as excited about Unitary’s mission as we are, and who wants to have a large impact at an early-stage startup and be a key part of defining Unitary’s future as one of our early employees.

For this role, we need a Principal Machine Learning Engineer who is able to level up. You must be an effective communicator, capable of leading complex problem-solving initiatives and guiding others through the process. You embrace a product-focused mindset and are genuinely curious to address current and future customer challenges.

We would love to hear from you if:

• You have multiple years of experience setting and shaping the technical direction for teams using machine learning to solve ambiguous business problems, ideally in a fast-paced tech company
• You are an experienced technical leader and enable teams to design, prototype, refine and ship solutions incrementally and iteratively
• You have excellent programming and software design skills, with extensive experience in creating production-ready machine-learning pipelines
• You have a strong understanding of machine learning and deep learning approaches, in particular, LLMs, VLMs and their applications
• You have instilled best practices and standards within teams and supported teams to reach them to ensure long-lasting and wide-reaching impact
• You are skilled at communicating your ideas and comfortable influencing stakeholders and decision-makers
• You thrive in a collaborative environment where team achievements are prioritised over individual contributions

It would be even better, but not essential, if you have:

• Previous experience working in a fully remote, international team
• Previous start-up or scale-up experience
• Familiarity with some of the technologies we use like Apache Spark and Delta Lake

Unitary is a team of 20+ people spread across the UK and Europe who are fiercely passionate about making the internet a safer place, and deeply motivated to become a force for good. We have an ambition to create a company filled with happy, kind and collaborative people who achieve extraordinary things together. Our culture is built around the power of trust, transparency and self-leadership.

Working at Unitary

We are committed to creating a positive and inclusive culture built on genuine interest in each other's well-being. We offer progressive and market-leading benefits, including:

• Flexible hours and hybrid working style
• Competitive salary and equity package
• Occupational pension
• Generous paid parental leave
• Generous paid sick leave
• Annual budget for your professional development and growth
• Annual budget for your individual health and wellness
• Quarterly team offsites to London or other exciting destinations in Europe