Lead Machine Learning Engineer

Halter; Auckland; On-site; NZD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Halter is hiring for an experienced machine learning role focused on building predictive systems for pasture and farming operations. You will own end‑to‑end ML pipelines, from data collection to deployment and monitoring, working with a talented team across engineering, product, and design.

The role requires deep ML expertise, strong Python experience, and the ability to translate research into practical agricultural applications. Office-first culture with a collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• Academic or professional background applying ML to real-world problems.
• Experience designing, deploying, and monitoring ML systems in production.
• Strong data intuition and ability to work with noisy, high-dimensional datasets.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end ML pipelines from data to deployment.
• Research literature and stay ahead in ML and pasture science.
• Design models and manage dataset construction and training.
• Support production systems and monitor behavior.
• Proactive innovation and cross-team collaboration.

Skills

Machine learning

Python

ML deployment

Data modelling

Education

Advanced degree in ML

PhD/ MSc in CS or Maths

Tools

Copilot

ChatGPT

Cursor

Claude-code

Job description

About Halter

At Halter's, we're on a mission to enable farmers and graziers to run the most productive and sustainable operations. Our customers are using Halter to break free from the time-intensive constraints of conventional practices. Imagine watching 500 cattle stand up and walk calmly towards their next break? No quad bikes, no dogs, no fences. Just a group of cattle walking at their own pace. People say it looks like magic. Our customers are revolutionizing grazing with Halter. It's changing lives and transforming an industry. People join Halter to do meaningful work. By joining us you'll be solving challenging problems within a talented team and a culture built for high performance. Our team out-think, out-work and out-care. We're committed to delivering real change in the world - this isn't easy, and in truth, we love that it's hard. We're backed to deliver on a mission that matters by Tier 1 investors including Founders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, BOND, DCVC, Blackbird, Promus Ventures, Rocket Lab's Peter Beck and Icehouse ventures.

About The Role.

Halters Predictive Systems group is dedicated to the development of advanced models to provide farmers with the most accurate insight to optimise their operations. To provide farmers with the highest quality insights, we're building upon the bleeding edge of scientific advancements with unmatched access to rich, novel data to develop a cutting edge agricultural modelling system. You'll play a pivotal role in one of the machine learning teams within the group, where you could be building advanced models of pasture growth and land properties that power intelligent, modelling animal state, health and activity, and much more. Applications could range from remote sensing of pasture biomass, identification of animal heat events, to grazing interval simulation for advanced recommendations. You will be owning end to end development of machine learning pipelines, advanced contemporary modelling, to deployment and monitoring. You will work with great team-mates in engineering, product and design to achieve outsized results. The impact of our work is profound, and we take that responsibility seriously. As a member of the group, you'll share our passion for technology and our commitment to optimizing the management of pastural grazing systems.

You will be responsible for:

• Modeling, from biological processes to farm operations: You will drive development of predictive systems to solve real‑world challenges faced by farmers.
• Research, from technical to agriculture: you will be required to conduct extensive literature reviews, and stay ahead of the curve with respect to both machine‑learning systems, and pasture science.
• Model development: design, dataset construction, training and optimization: Rarely do we utilize a model off the shelf. You will own the architectural design, and all phases of model development.
• Supporting your work in production: Halter engineers demonstrate a high level of ownership. We support what we build, and we learn from our systems behavior in the field.
• Proactive innovation: As a member of the data discipline it is expected that you will exercise a high degree of creativity to proactively deliver innovative ideas.

Who Are We Looking For.

• You are a high‑output generalist: You will be required to work with autonomy across infrastructure, databases, simulation, and ML development. You will be restless with respect to advancing your own impact across the stack, leveraging AI companion tools and agents.
• You are a machine learning expert: You will be joining a highly capable team of technologists with deep experience in machine learning and complex systems. You will be required to provide extra strength in machine‑learning theory, and its application to maximizing pasture efficiency.
• You have experience delivering highly complex predictive systems at the bleeding edge of research: Experience translating academic research into practical applications that add value to the world. You may be required to work on a range of problem‑sets, from multi modal time‑series modelling, to simulation systems. You are deeply curious and willing to become an expert in pasture‑based farming.
• Our farmers expect us to know farming as well as they do, understand why they do what they do, and identify where they can do it better. Curiosity beyond technology and into the agricultural domain will be a strong motivation for you.
• You are a product‑minded, strategic thinker: Halter is in the enviable position of possessing an immense depth of farm‑data. You will be adept at mapping opportunities across our data‑lake to systems that add positive value to farmers and ranchers.
• You embrace uncertainty and ambiguity: Uncertainty is intrinsic in the ambition of our team and company. We take big, calculated strides, and we embrace the challenge to do so. You are a highly effective collaborator and incredible teammate.

More concretely:

• You have a deep academic and/or professional background applying machine learning to solve real‑world problems (e.g. a research oriented postgraduate degree in mathematics or computer science, with relevance to modelling with deep neural networks)
• Demonstrated experience designing, deploying, and monitoring machine learning systems to productionStrong causal reasoning and an ability to design models that reflect real‑world dynamicsStrong data intuition and ability to work with noisy, high volume, high‑dimensional datasets
• Fluency in Python and experience contributing to or working on complex, collaborative codebasesProficiency in contemporary AI companions and tooling for software and engineering productivity (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude‑code)
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative working style across disciplines
• Some experience in advanced ML architectures (Transformers or SSM), agent‑based systems or recommendation systems is a plus, but not required.

Our Office First Approach.

There's a reason you visit your friends in person, live with your family and don't do dinners over Zoom. Humans are wired for connection. We believe a world‑class, in‑person office culture is the best way for high‑performing teams. Being office first is a core pillar of our culture. We believe in‑person connections are key to driving your own growth, learning, impact, and building genuine long‑lasting relationships. Strong relationships make it easier to disagree, give feedback, and do meaningful and aligned work. We don't like having heaps of rules or policies, but this means having strong, trusted relationships is critical. We're office first, not office only. This means working from the office everyday is our default setting, but we flex when we need to. We have a high‑trust culture, so everyone is trusted to do what's best for Halter. Our office vibe is something special, it's hard to describe until you're here, but people at Halter who have come from fully remote or hybrid companies say they could never go back - the high energy and spectacular people they are now surrounded by everyday makes work so enjoyable. Your growth, your learning and your impact is truly unlimited here, and a big part of that comes from being together solving problems, innovating, building context, and constantly learning from each other.

Join our team

Halter is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace - a place where we can each be ourselves and do the best work of our lives. Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the requirements, women and under‑represented groups of candidates tend to only apply when they meet every requirement.