Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer

Cognizant; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

Paid holidays

Paid Time Off

401(k) plan

Disability Insurance

Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant in San Francisco is seeking a Staff Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer to architect and lead the technical vision for our ML platform initiatives. You will design scalable infrastructure that enables teams to develop, deploy, and operate ML models at scale.

You will drive end-to-end ML data processing, feature platforms, and serving architectures, while mentoring platform engineers and setting reliability and performance standards across the ML lifecycle.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with 5+ years focusing on ML infrastructure.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems and data processing at scale.
• Strong background in ML platform development and MLOps practices.
• Experience building production ML infrastructure supporting critical business applications.
• Proven track record of leading complex technical initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Architect end-to-end ML infrastructure spanning data processing, feature management, and model serving.
• Design and lead implementation of next-generation ML platforms that support diverse ML workloads.
• Drive technical excellence in ML infrastructure through standardization and automation.
• Build scalable data processing systems and feature platforms handling massive-scale ML workloads.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives and mentor platform engineers.
• Drive infrastructure decisions that impact the entire ML lifecycle.

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Spark

Beam

TorchServe

TensorFlow Serving

Kubernetes

Spark

Job description

Staff Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer

No Visa transfer/ sponsorship/ c2c available for this role

Job Type

Full-time

Department

ML Platform Engineering

10+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years focusing on ML infrastructure and GCP -- must have to be considered.

About the Role

As a Staff Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer, you will architect and lead the technical vision for our ML platform initiatives, focusing on building scalable infrastructure that powers our ML capabilities. You will design and drive the evolution of our ML platforms, data systems, and serving infrastructure that enable teams to efficiently develop, deploy, and operate ML models at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect end-to-end ML infrastructure spanning data processing, feature management, and model serving
• Design and lead implementation of next-generation ML platforms that support diverse ML workloads
• Drive technical excellence in ML infrastructure through standardization and automation
• Build scalable data processing systems and feature platforms that handle massive-scale ML workloads
• Design robust ML serving architectures supporting both real-time and batch inference
• Establish best practices for ML observability, monitoring, and operational excellence
• Lead cross-functional technical initiatives and mentor platform engineers
• Drive infrastructure decisions that impact the entire ML lifecycle

Technical Leadership

• Define technical strategy and roadmap for ML infrastructure
• Drive architectural decisions for complex ML systems
• Lead design reviews and provide technical mentorship
• Collaborate with data science teams to understand and address infrastructure needs
• Establish standards for reliability, scalability, and performance
• Build frameworks and platforms that accelerate ML development

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years focusing on ML infrastructure
• Deep expertise in distributed systems and data processing at scale
• Strong background in ML platform development and MLOps practices
• Experience building production ML infrastructure supporting critical business applications
• Proven track record of leading complex technical initiatives
• Expert-level knowledge in:
  • Large-scale data processing systems (Spark, Beam)
  • Feature store architectures and implementations
  • ML serving platforms and inference optimization (TorchServe, Tensorflow Serving and Triton)
  • Container orchestration and cloud platforms
  • Data pipeline design and optimization
  • ML system monitoring and observability

Technical Expertise

• Data Infrastructure:
  • Feature stores and feature computation systems
  • Data quality and validation frameworks
  • Dataset versioning and lineage tracking
  • Efficient data storage and access patterns
• Serving Infrastructure:
  • Model deployment and serving platforms
  • Inference optimization and scaling
  • Load balancing and traffic management
  • Model versioning and lifecycle management
• Platform Development:
  • MLOps tooling and automation
  • Experimentation platforms
  • Monitoring and observability systems
  • Resource management and optimization

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with GPU infrastructure and optimization
• Background in high-performance computing
• Contributions to open-source ML infrastructure projects
• Experience with ML-specific security and compliance requirements
• Master's degree in Computer Science or related field

Impact

• Shape the technical direction of ML infrastructure across the organization
• Drive innovation in ML platforms and tools
• Mentor and grow the technical capabilities of the team
• Establish architectural patterns and best practices
• Enable rapid ML development and deployment at scale

Salary and Other Compensation

The annual salary for this position is between $140-155Kdepending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

Benefits

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
• 401(k) plan and contributions
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable la