MLOps Engineer

Checkatrade; Barcelona; Hybrid; EUR 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Annual bonus

Equity scheme

Health & wellbeing

Gym membership

Cycle scheme

Birthday/leave

Job summary

Checkatrade is seeking an MLOps Engineer to own how machine learning and AI run in production. You will turn our Data Scientists’ models into live, reliable services, and build the secure foundations that let AI tools and agents use our data.

You’ll report to the Head of Data Engineering, in Barcelona (on-site) or London (hybrid). The role requires strong Python, production ML deployment, GCP experience, Docker and Kubernetes, CI/CD, and IaC.

Qualifications

• Proven Python used for ML deployment and monitoring.
• Experience deploying ML models in production environments.
• Ability to build observability for ML/data systems.
• Security-focused approach to data access and secrets management.
• Ownership mindset for production systems beyond launch.
• Strong collaboration with Data Scientists and engineers.

Responsibilities

• Deploy, automate, monitor and retrain ML models with real-time value.
• Set and uphold MLOps standards (CI/CD, versioning).
• Build infrastructure for access to Checkatrade data securely.
• Maintain and secure the GCP/AWS data platform and reduce debt.
• Monitor drift, costs and reliability of models and pipelines.
• Ensure secure, auditable ML workloads and reproducibility.

Skills

Python

Production ML deployment

Observability

Security-minded

Ownership of production systems

Collaboration with Data Scientists

Tools

GCP

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

Job description

Powering Great Work

We started as the place to find a trusted trade. Now, as we shape the future of home improvement, we’re building the tech to transform that landscape for everyone - better products, smarter data, AI where it actually helps - so trades can spend less time on admin and consumers can find someone they trust, first time. That’s Powering Great Work, and it’s why every team here exists:

Trades spend less time on admin and more on winning work and growing their business

Homeowners get a trusted trade, first time, every time

We get to build products that change homes and lives across the country

As our next MLOps Engineer, you’ll own how machine learning and AI run in production at Checkatrade. You’ll turn our Data Scientists’ models into live, reliable services, and build the secure foundations that let AI tools and agents use our data. You’ll report to the Head of Data Engineering, in Barcelona (on-site) or London (hybrid).

The job, unfiltered:

• Deploy, automate, monitor and retrain ML models, moving refresh frequency towards real‑time where it adds value.
• Set the MLOps standards for the Data Science team: CI/CD, model versioning and reusable patterns that save everyone reinventing the wheel.
• Build the infrastructure that lets AI tools and agents (including Claude, MCP services and knowledge bases) access Checkatrade data securely.
• Help keep our GCP-based data platform (with some infrastructure in AWS) reliable and secure, and chip away at legacy and technical debt.
• Watch models, pipelines, AI usage and platform services, so drift, reliability and cost issues get caught early.
• Apply the right controls to ML and AI workloads, including sensitive-data access, lineage and reproducibility.

The fit:

• Strong Python, with proven experience deploying, serving and monitoring ML models in production.
• Hands‑on experience with GCP and its ML and data services.
• Docker and Kubernetes, plus CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code.
• Experience building observability for ML or data systems: metrics, alerting and cost monitoring.
• A security‑minded approach to data access and secrets management.
• You take ownership of production systems and care about them long after launch, and you work well with Data Scientists and engineers alike.
• You favour simple, maintainable solutions and raise the engineering bar around you.

Nice to have:

• Streaming or event‑driven systems for real‑time inference.
• LLM and agent infrastructure (MCP, retrieval‑augmented generation, vector stores).
• Feature stores, model registries and drift detection.
• AWS experience, particularly managed Airflow (MWAA).

Don’t self-select out because you don’t tick every box. We’d rather meet you.

What you get

Competitive salary, annual bonus & equity scheme

Health, wellbeing and learning support

Gym membership, Smart Tech Scheme, Cycle Scheme

Birthday/special day leave, buy & sell holiday scheme

1 week’s paid charity leave, and more

About us

We’re Checkatrade – the UK’s leading platform for finding a tradesperson. With more than 50,000 trades listed and over 6 million reviews, we help homeowners get jobs done right and help tradespeople grow their business.

We’re growing fast, with big plans to become the go-to brand for home improvements. If you care about great work, take pride in the details, and want to make an impact, you’ll fit right in.