MACHINE LEARNING LEAD

Varaha; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 3,000,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and benefits package (ESOP)

Professional development support

Creative and collaborative work culture

Collaborative culture

Job summary

A leading climate tech startup is on the lookout for a seasoned Machine Learning Lead to define and execute ML strategies, focusing on geospatial and climate data solutions. The successful candidate will be responsible for building a high-performing team and driving ML adoption within the organization. Requirements include 6-10 years in ML/AI, proven team management skills, and deep expertise in MLOps and various ML frameworks. Competitive salary with benefits offered.

Qualifications

• 6-10+ years of experience in Machine Learning, Data Science, or related field.
• Proven management experience in technical team.
• Strong knowledge of MLOps and cloud-native services.
• Deep proficiency in machine learning frameworks, libraries, and best practices (Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.).
• Experience with large-scale data processing, data modeling, and feature engineering for complex datasets, especially geospatial data.
• Demonstrated ability to translate vague business problems into structured, high-impact ML solutions and drive their adoption.
• Bonus Points If You have:
• Advanced experience with geospatial data processing (Satellite imagery, GDAL, rasterio, GeoJSON, etc.) or remote sensing.
• Familiarity with real-time stream processing for ML features (Kafka, Redis Streams).
• Experience in climate-tech, agriculture, sustainability domains, or a background of ML / CV / Geo-Spatial research groups in renowned institutions like IISc, IIT Bombay, IIIT Bangalore, Microsoft Research, Google Research, etc.

Responsibilities

• Identify new ML/AI use cases across the business.
• Drive ML tools adoption and establish MLOps pipelines.
• Lead architecture and development of scalable ML systems.
• Build and manage a team of Machine Learning Engineers and Data Scientists, fostering a culture of innovation, rigor, and production-readiness.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and operations teams to embed ML capabilities into core products and internal tools.
• Oversee model lifecycle management, including experimentation, training, validation, deployment, and performance monitoring in a production environment.

Skills

Machine Learning

Data Science

MLOps

Cloud Services

Geospatial Data Processing

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Geospatial data

Remote sensing

Kafka

Redis Streams

Tools

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

Varaha is a leading climate tech venture focused on nature-based solutions such as regenerative agriculture, ARR, and biochar projects that support smallholder land stewards at scale. In our second year of operation we are removing and avoiding more than 1 Million tons of CO2 and distributing the majority of the revenues to more than 100,000 smallholder land stewards in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Our in-house best in class MRV technology includes a bio-geo-chemical model for soil carbon, remote sensing and machine learning and uses soil samples for calibration. Backed by leading global investors, our founding and management team comes with a stellar track record of successfully scaling projects and products to millions of smallholder land stewards at leading agri- and tech business.

Job Description

Position: Machine Learning lead

About the Role

We are seeking a Machine Learning Lead with deep expertise in applying ML/AI to complex real-world challenges, with preference towards geospatial and climate data solutions. You will be responsible for defining and executing our ML/AI strategy, building and managing a high-performing team of ML Engineers and Data Scientists , and driving company-wide adoption of ML tools and models to enhance our carbon intelligence platform, field operations, and verification processes. This role requires 6-10 years of experience or more in the ML/AI domain.

Responsibilities

Identify and uncover new use cases for ML/AI across Varaha's business, from carbon estimation and geospatial analysis to operational efficiency for field agents.

Drive the adoption of ML tools and best practices across engineering and data science teams, establishing MLOps pipelines for scalable model deployment and monitoring.

Lead the architecture and development of scalable, resilient ML systems for processing high-throughput geospatial and carbon data.

Build and manage a team of Machine Learning Engineers and Data Scientists, fostering a culture of innovation, rigor, and production-readiness.

Collaborate with product, engineering, and operations teams to embed ML capabilities into core products and internal tools.

Oversee model lifecycle management, including experimentation, training, validation, deployment, and performance monitoring in a production environment.

Qualifications

Skills & Qualifications

6-10+ years of experience in Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related field, with a focus on real-world application and deployment.

Proven experience in building, mentoring, and managing a technical team (ML Engineers/Data Scientists).

Strong knowledge of MLOps, system design for distributed ML pipelines, and cloud-native services (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

Deep proficiency in machine learning frameworks, libraries, and best practices (Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.).

Experience with large-scale data processing, data modeling, and feature engineering for complex datasets, especially geospatial data.

Demonstrated ability to translate vague business problems into structured, high-impact ML solutions and drive their adoption.

Bonus Points If You have:

Advanced experience with geospatial data processing (Satellite imagery, GDAL, rasterio, GeoJSON, etc.) or remote sensing.

Familiarity with real-time stream processing for ML features (Kafka, Redis Streams).

Experience in climate-tech, agriculture, sustainability domains, or a background of ML / CV / Geo-Spatial research groups in renowned institutions like IISc, IIT Bombay, IIIT Bangalore, Microsoft Research, Google Research, etc.

Additional Information

What We Offer

Join a small, ambitious, and international team and enjoy the following benefits:

Competitive salaryand benefits package (ESOP)

Key role in shaping a fast-growing climate tech startup

Support for learning & professional development

A culture of undogmatic, unbureaucratic creativity and collaboration

Please note this job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Varaha is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This company does not discriminate in employment and personnel practices based on race, sex, age, handicap, religion, national origin or any other basis prohibited by applicable law. Hiring, transferring and promotion practices are performed without regard to the above listed items.

If you are interested in becoming a part of this venture, then we would love to know your story, write to us at [e-mail]