Machine Learning Engineer

Tenth Revolution Group; Wes-Kaap; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Tenth Revolution Group in South Africa seeks a senior data science/ML engineering leader to deliver production ML/AI solutions. The role combines hands-on coding with technical leadership across teams.

You will partner with Product, Marketing, and Operations to scale analytics, personalization, and optimization initiatives, balancing discovery and delivery in a dynamic environment. 8+ years of experience, strong Python/SQL, and cloud exposure are required.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in applied data science, ML engineering, or software engineering.
• Proven track record delivering production ML/AI solutions.
• Leading AI/ML initiatives with stakeholders and teams.
• Experience in cross-functional teams with Product/Marketing/Operations.
• Hands-on with major ML frameworks (e.g., scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow).
• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure preferred).
• Comfort switching between discovery and delivery; outcome focused.
• Clear communicator to non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Deliver end-to-end ML/AI solutions in production, not just notebooks.
• Lead delivery for at least one impactful AI/ML initiative with ownership.
• Work in cross-functional teams with Product, Marketing, Operations.
• Engage in customer analytics, personalization, or marketing optimisation initiatives.

Skills

Python

SQL

LLMs / Generative AI

Data engineering basics

MLOps tooling

Cloud platforms (Azure / AWS / GCP)

Tools

Databricks

Job description

• 8+ years in applied data science, machine learning engineering, or software engineering

Roles with significant AI/ML responsibility.

Responsibilities

• Proven track record of delivering end-to-end ML/AI solutions in production, not just notebooks or prototypes.
• Demonstrated experience leading delivery for at least one materially impactful AI/ML initiative (technical leadership, stakeholder alignment, shipping, and operational ownership).
• Experience working in cross-functional teams with Product, Marketing, Operations, or similar business stakeholders.
• Experience in at least one of: customer analytics, personalisation, marketing optimisation, recommendation systems, conversational AI, or operations optimisation.

Technical skills

• Strong programming skills in Python and SQL. Strong familiarity with Databricks is desirable.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals: system design, testing, code quality, and production troubleshooting for AI services.
• Solid understanding of ML fundamentals: data preparation, feature engineering, model selection, evaluation, and monitoring.
• Hands-on with at least one major ML framework (e.g. scikit-learn, XGBoost, PyTorch, TensorFlow, LightGBM).
• Experience with LLMs and generative AI: prompt design, using APIs, retrieval-augmented generation, evaluation frameworks.
• Comfort with data engineering basics: ETL/ELT pipelines, working with data warehouses/data lakes, job orchestration tools.
• Familiarity with MLOps tooling and practices, e.g. model registries, CI/CD, experiment tracking, containerisation, monitoring.
• Experience with at least one major cloud platform, preferably Azure, but also AWS or GCP, and common data/ML services.

We'd like you to have… (Attributes)

• Comfortable switching between discovery and delivery, and thriving with ambiguity: you can independently structure work, make trade‑offs, and keep momentum without needing close direction.
• Practical and outcome-focused: you care more about solving the right problem well than about using the fanciest algorithm. You focus on finding solutions to get the job done effectively.
• Clear communicator who can explain complex ideas to non-technical audiences.