Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading utility company in the UK is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer. This role involves designing, deploying, and optimising ML models while working closely with data scientists and engineers. You'll contribute to building robust ML pipelines and drive AI adoption. The position requires strong experience in MLOps, machine learning engineering, and cloud AI solutions, offering a competitive salary between £90,000 and £100,000 in a hybrid work environment.

Benefits

26 days annual leave

Performance-related pay

Generous Pension Scheme

Private Medical Health Care

Access to health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• Experience in machine learning engineering, model deployment, and optimization.
• Strong experience in MLOps & AI Deployment including automated retraining.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-based AI/ML services.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy high-performance machine learning models.
• Implement MLOps best practices including CI/CD pipelines.
• Optimise ML models for performance, scalability, and latency.

Skills

Machine Learning Engineering

MLOps

AI Deployment

SQL

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Python

Education

Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, or AI

Tools

Azure ML

AWS SageMaker

Databricks

Job description

Job title Senior Machine Learning Engineer Ref 42939 Division Digital Location Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB Contract type Permanent Full/Part-time Full-time Hours 36 Salary Offering between £90,000 and £100,000 per annum Job grade C Closing date 20/11/2025

We are seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to join our growing Data Science team, reporting to the Head of Data Science. This role will be responsible for designing, developing, deploying, and optimising machine learning models in production environments, ensuring scalability, reliability, and performance.

You will play a key role in building robust ML pipelines, implementing MLOps best practices, and working closely with data scientists and engineers to deploy AI-driven solutions.

What you’ll be doing as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer

• Develop and deploy high-performance machine learning models, ensuring seamless integration into business workflows
• Implement MLOps best practices, including CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, logging, and automated retraining of models
• Optimise ML models for performance, scalability, and latency, ensuring they meet real-world operational requirements
• Design and develop efficient data pipelines, transforming raw data into high-quality features for ML models
• Deploy and manage machine learning models on cloud-based AI/ML platforms such as Azure ML, AWS SageMaker, or Databricks
• Work closely and ongoing collaboration with Data and Software Engineering, Data Science, Architecture, Data Management and BI teams to ensure the delivery integration of ML models into production systems and drive AI adoption across the organisation
• To drive tooling, frameworks, policies, best practices, and feedback loops across “workforce”, Data Science, Product, and “Head of” across Thames
• Stay updated with advancements in AI, ML, and deep learning techniques, actively contributing to innovation and technology improvements within the business

Base Location: Hybrid – Clear Water Court, Reading

Travel to other site will be required

36 hours a week.

What you should bring to the role

• experience in machine learning engineering, model deployment, and optimisation
• Strong experience in MLOps & AI Deployment – Implementing automated model retraining, monitoring, and CI/CD pipelines
• Scalable ML Systems – Experience optimising models for low-latency, high-throughput production applications
• Big Data & Cloud ML – Hands‑on experience working with cloud‑based AI/ML services such as Azure ML, Databricks, or AWS SageMaker
• Cross-Functional Collaboration – Proven ability to work with data scientists, engineers and business teams to translate AI solutions into operational impact
• Confidence and credibility to engage in regulatory events (e.g. OFWAT) and represent Thames Water in external discussions with vendors and partners
• Hands‑on experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) for AI/ML workloads
• Strong skills in SQL, Spark and ETL workflows to process large-scale data efficiently

Additional skills and experiences would be great to have/bring

• Experience in the Water/Waste Utility Sector – Understanding of key challenges in infrastructure monitoring, resource optimisation and sustainability
• Experience working with sensor and IoT data for real‑time predictive analytics
• Experience building AI models to automate decision‑making and operational workflows
• Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, AI or a related field
• Cloud AI/ML Certifications – Certifications in Azure ML, AWS AI or Google Cloud AI/ML solutions

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary from £90,000 to £100,000 per annum
• Annual Leave – 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with length of service (plus bank holidays)
• Performance‑related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON
• Private Medical Health Care
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing and finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding and diverse place to work where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together we can build a better future for our customers, our region and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.