Staff II Software Engineer AI/ML Ops

Blackline Systems Inc; Pleasanton (CA); On-site; USD 245,000 - 307,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Robust benefits and wellness plans

Short-term and long-term incentive programs

Job summary

Blackline Systems Inc in Pleasanton, California is seeking a Lead Data Engineer to design and optimize data pipelines essential for our AI-driven accounting solutions. This key role requires extensive experience in building high-quality ETL processes and collaborating across teams to enhance data infrastructure.

The position offers a competitive salary between $245,000 and $307,000 based on experience, along with a robust benefits package to support employee wellness and career growth.

Qualifications

• Expertise in ML frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and orchestration tools.
• Strong programming skills in Python, Java, or Scala.
• Proven experience managing production pipelines across cloud ecosystems.

Responsibilities

• Lead data pipeline development and optimize data infrastructure.
• Collaborate with teams to integrate AI solutions into existing workflows.
• Implement security measures for machine learning systems.

Skills

Python

Data Pipeline Development

Machine Learning

ETL

Data Quality Assurance

DevSecOps

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science

Tools

TensorFlow

Apache Airflow

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Get to Know Us

It’s fun to work in a company where people truly believe in what they’re doing!

At BlackLine, we’re committed to bringing passion and customer focus to the business of enterprise applications.

Since being founded in 2001, BlackLine has become a leading provider of cloud software that automates and controls the entire financial close process. Our vision is to modernize the finance and accounting function to enable greater operational effectiveness and agility, and we are committed to delivering innovative solutions and services to empower accounting and finance leaders around the world to achieve Modern Finance.

Being a best‑in‑class SaaS Company, we understand that bringing in new ideas and innovative technology is mission critical. At BlackLine we are always working with new, cutting edge technology that encourages our teams to learn something new and expand their creativity and technical skillset that will accelerate their careers.

Work, Play and Grow at BlackLine!

Make Your Mark

We’re looking for a Lead Data Engineer to design, build, and optimize data pipelines that power our next‑generation AI‑driven accounting agents. You’ll lead the development of scalable, high‑performance data infrastructure while collaborating closely across teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead data pipeline development: Build and maintain PySpark ETL pipelines with high data quality and performance
• Manage integrations: Establish robust connections to client data sources via APIs and tools like FiveTran, Plaid, and BlackLine’s own internal connector ecosystem
• Ensure reliability: Monitor pipeline performance, automate testing, and validate data accuracy
• Optimize for scale: Implement performance improvements (e.g., CDC mechanisms, indexing strategies) for large‑scale datasets
• Collaborate & innovate: Work with business stakeholders to refine data requirements and integrate cutting‑edge AI and big data technologies
• Leadership and Strategy: Partner with data science, security, and product teams to set evaluation and governance standards (Guardrails, Bias, Drift, Latency SLAs)
• Mentor senior engineers and drive design reviews for ML pipelines, model registries, and agentic runtime environments
• Lead incident response and reliability strategies for ML/AI systems
• AI System Deployment and Integration: Collaborate with development teams to integrate AI solutions into existing workflows and applications; ensure seamless integration with different platforms and technologies
• Define and manage MCP Registry for agentic component onboarding, lifecycle versioning, and dependency governance
• Build CI/CD pipelines automating LLM agent deployment, policy validation, and prompt evaluation of workflows
• Develop and operationalize experimentation frameworks for agent evaluations, scenario regression, and performance analytics
• Implement logging, metering, and auditing for agent behavior, function calls, and compliance alignment
• Create scalable observability systems—tracking conversation outcomes, factual accuracy, latency, escalation patterns, and safety events
• Architect end‑to‑end guardrails for AI agents including prompt injection protection, identity‑aware routing, and tool usage authorization
• Collaborate cross‑functionally to standardize authentication, authorization, and session governance for multi‑agent runtimes
• Architect and standardize model registries and feature stores to support version tracking, lineage, and reproducibility across environments
• Lead the deployment of machine learning models into production environments, ensuring scalability, reliability, and efficiency
• Collaborate with software engineers to integrate machine learning models into existing applications and systems
• Implement and maintain APIs for model inference
• Design and manage training infrastructure including distributed training orchestration, GPU/TPU resource allocation, and automatic scaling
• Implement CI/CD for model workflows using pipelines integrated with model validation, bias checks, and rollback automation
• Build standardized experimentation frameworks for reproducible training, tuning, and deployment cycles (MLflow, W&B, Kubeflow)
• Manage and optimize the infrastructure required for machine learning operations in cloud
• Work closely with other teams to ensure the availability, security, and performance of machine learning systems
• Implement robust monitoring solutions for deployed machine learning models to detect issues and ensure performance
• Collaborate with data scientists and engineers to address and resolve model performance and data quality issues
• Conduct regular system maintenance, updates, and optimizations to ensure optimal performance of machine learning solutions
• Develop and maintain automation scripts and tools for managing machine learning workflows
• Implement orchestration systems to streamline the end‑to‑end machine learning lifecycle, from data preparation to model deployment
• Collaborate with data scientists to understand model requirements and constraints for deployment
• Facilitate the transition of machine learning models from research to production, ensuring scalability and efficiency
• Identify and implement optimizations to enhance the performance and efficiency of machine learning models in production
• Conduct performance analysis and implement improvements based on resource utilization of metrics
• Implement security measures to protect machine learning systems and data
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards related to machine learning and data privacy
• Integrate audit controls, metadata storage, and lineage tracking across ML and AI workflows
• Ensure complete monitoring and feedback loops including event logs, evaluations, and automated retraining triggers
• Enforce secure deployment patterns with Infrastructure‑as‑Code and cloud‑native secrets management
• Define SLAs, error budgets, and compliance reporting mechanisms for ML and AI systems

Qualifications

• Knowledge: Typically possesses extensive practical experience with consistent, demonstrated success developing effective business solutions/applications for products or services that may affect broad areas of the org | Expert solution builder
• Competencies: Recognized expert within and outside of the organization; possesses industry expertise as an individual contributor to operations; sets objectives and delivers results that have an impact within the department or division; provides advice, counsel and thought leadership within the department; influencer/architect/orchestrator; high level strategic influence; decisions impact business unit's or department's strategic direction; anticipates emerging trends; accountable to 3+ year horizon; futurist mindset; expert operator; high degree of autonomy and exercises independent discretion; accountable for complex, highly strategic duties requiring functional expertise; develops path through org's most ambiguous endeavors; developer of innovation or adaptation
• We’re Even More Excited If You Have:
  • Education and Experience:
    • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related field
  • Technical Skills:
    • Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, Java, or Scala
    • Expertise in ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit‑learn) and orchestration tools (Airflow, Kubeflow, Vertex AI, MLflow)
    • Proven experience operating production pipelines for ML and LLM‑based systems across cloud ecosystems (GCP, AWS, Azure)
    • Deep familiarity with LangChain, LangGraph, ADK or similar agentic system runtime management
    • Strong competencies in CI/CD, IaC, and DevSecOps pipelines integrating testing, compliance, and deployment automation
    • Hands‑on with observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Newrelic) for model and agent performance tracking
    • Understanding of governance frameworks for Responsible AI, auditability, and cost metering across training and inference workloads
    • Proficiency in containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes)
  • Operations and Infrastructure:
    • Proficient in scripting languages (e.g., Bash, python) for automation
    • Experience with workflow orchestration tools (e.g., Apache Airflow)
    • Expertise in managing and optimizing cloud‑based infrastructure
    • Familiarity with DevOps practices and tools for automated deployment
    • Understanding of network configurations and security protocols
  • Problem‑solving and Critical Thinking:
    • Ability to define problems, collect and analyze data, and propose innovative solutions
    • Strong critical thinking skills to evaluate models, identify limitations, and propose improvements
  • Adaptability and Learning Agility:
    • Comfortable working in a fast‑paced, rapidly evolving environment
    • Proactive in staying up to date with latest trends, techniques, and technologies in AI/data science

Compensation

USD $245,000.00/Yr. - USD $307,000.00/Yr.

Pay Transparency Statement

Placement within this range depends upon several factors, including the applicant’s prior relevant job experience, skill set, and geographic location. In addition to base pay, BlackLine also offers short‑term and long‑term incentive programs, based on eligibility, along with a robust offering of benefit and wellness plans.

EEO Statement

BlackLine is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, race, ethnicity, age, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, ancestry, color, marital status, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, medical condition, genetic information, or any other protected class or category recognized by applicable equal employment opportunity or other similar laws.

Accommodations

BlackLine is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible experience for all candidates. If you require a reasonable accommodation that would better enable your success during the application or interview process, please complete this form.