Machine Learning Engineer

TribeRecruit New Zealand; Wellington; Hybrid; NZD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

5 weeks leave

Sick leave provisions

Wellbeing support

Volunteer day

Job summary

Jora New Zealand is seeking a data engineer/MLops specialist to build and productionize data pipelines, deploy ML solutions, and collaborate with scientists across multiple programmes.

You will design scalable infrastructure for model management, evaluation and deployment, plus champion CI/CD, automation and reliability across cloud, HPC and on‑prem environments.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of data engineering or DevOps/MLOps experience.
• Proficient in Python and/or R with experience deploying ML solutions.
• Experience building ETL pipelines and reproducible ML workflows.
• Experience containerisation and automated deployments (Kubernetes).
• Cloud experience with Azure; IaC experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain high-quality data and model pipelines, taking proof-of-concept work into production.
• Design infrastructure for model management, evaluation and deployment across cloud/HPC/on-prem environments.
• Collaborate with data scientists and domain experts across multi-disciplinary programmes.
• Promote strong software engineering and MLOps best practice (CI/CD, automation, reliability).
• Embed ethics, privacy, governance and Māori data sovereignty considerations into delivery.

Skills

Python

R

ML deployment

ETL pipelines

Kubernetes

Azure

Infrastructure as code

Data governance

Māori data sovereignty

Statistics

Tools

Docker

CI/CD pipelines

Model evaluation

Job description

Jora New Zealand will close on 9th September 2026. Thank you for being with us, we are cheering you on as you continue your career journey.

About the Opportunity

• Join a New Zealand research-based organisation delivering science that supports public health, environmental protection and justice outcomes
• Build and maintain high-quality data and model pipelines, taking proof-of-concept work into production
• Design and implement infrastructure for model management, evaluation and deployment across cloud/HPC/on-prem environments
• Collaborate with data scientists and domain experts across multi-disciplinary programmes
• Promote strong software engineering and MLOps best practice (CI/CD, automation, reliability)

What You’ll Bring

• 3+ years’ experience in data engineering, DevOps/MLOps, or related engineering roles
• Strong capability in Python and/or R, and practical experience deploying ML solutions
• Proven experience building ETL pipelines and repeatable model development workflows
• Confidence with containerisation and automated deployments (e.g., Kubernetes-style environments)
• Understanding of model evaluation, and a solid foundation in statistics
• Comfort working with cloud platforms (Azure experience ideal) and infrastructure-as-code (preferred)
• Ability to embed ethics, privacy, governance and Māori data sovereignty considerations into delivery

What’s on Offer

• Meaningful work: apply ML to complex, high-impact challenges for Aotearoa NZ
• Flexible working options (hybrid environment) and location flexibility across main centres
• Benefits package including equivalent of 5 weeks’ leave, sick leave provisions, and wellbeing support
• Annual volunteer day + supportive, values-led culture focused on collaboration and quality