Lead Machine Learning Engineer (Team Lead)

SHAPE THE FUTURE OF AI & DATA WITH US

At Datatonic, we are Google Cloud's premier partner in AI, driving transformation for world-class businesses. We push the boundaries of technology with expertise in machine learning, data engineering, and analytics on Google Cloud Platform. By partnering with us, clients future-proof their operations, unlock actionable insights, and stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving world.

YOUR MISSION

As Pod Lead, you will lead a growing team of Machine Learning Engineers, Data Scientists, and engineers owning technical direction, delivery quality, and commercial outcomes across your accounts.

As the Pod Lead, you will play a crucial role in ensuring the successful delivery of innovative solutions, fostering a collaborative and high-performance team environment, and driving the technical direction of projects.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced setting and is eager to contribute to the success of both the team and the organization.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

TEAM LEADERSHIP:

• Lead, mentor, and grow a pod of MLEs and data scientists — including hiring, development planning, and performance management.

• Own retention, utilization and engagement on your pod: flag risks early, drive certifications and career growth, and foster a high-trust team culture.

• Foster a positive, inclusive, and innovative team culture that promotes collaboration and knowledge-sharing.

DELIVERY & COMMERCIAL LEADERSHIP:

• Own delivery quality, timelines, and utilization across your pod's engagements, partnering with Delivery Managers/Delivery Leads on scope, staffing, and risk.

• Protect scope discipline: surface scope creep as expansion opportunities rather than absorbing it silently.

• Drive account depth: bring expansion ideas proactively and maintain a forward view of where each strategic account can grow

CLIENT LEADERSHIP:

• Build and maintain strong, trusted relationships with clients, gaining a deep understanding of their business objectives and challenges.

• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical client stakeholders.

• Present project findings, insights, and actionable recommendations in a compelling and client-friendly manner, ensuring alignment with their goals.

TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP:

• Partner on pre-sales as a subject matter expert: solution design, SOW scoping, and effort estimation on new and expansion opportunities.

• Collaborate with fellow technical leads and subject matter experts to architect innovative solutions tailored to client needs.

• Set and uphold technical standards across the pod: code quality, architecture reviews, and ways of working.

• Contribute to practice-wide initiatives: methodologies, accelerators, and capability development.

• Stay current on the AI and data landscape and bring relevant developments back to the team and our clients.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Leadership and Management: Demonstrated leadership and management experience of technical employees.

• Experience: 7+ years in machine learning, data science, or applied AI, with at least 2 years leading technical teams or projects end-to-end.

• Problem-Solving: Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.

• Team Leadership: Proven experience leading and mentoring teams of data scientists and machine learning engineers.

• Commercial Awareness: Comfort operating at the intersection of delivery, pre-sales, and account growth — with a track record of expanding client relationships, not just delivering against a statement of work.

• Communication Skills: Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.

• Technical Skills: Strong engineering foundations across the modern AI stack — classical ML (TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn), GenAI and LLM-based systems (RAG, agentic architectures, foundation model fine-tuning), and production ML on Google Cloud (Vertex AI, BigQuery ML). Depth sufficient to architect solutions, review team output, and lead credible technical conversations with clients, not necessarily daily hands-on coding.

• Passion: Passion for data and a desire to solve real-world problems using machine learning.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

We believe in empowering our team to thrive, with benefits including:

• 20 days of paid vacation per calendar year

• Public Holidays for your Province of Residence

• 5 Wellness days (sickness, personal time, mental health)

• 5 Lifestyle days (religious events, volunteer day, sick day)

• Matching Group Retirement Savings Plan after 3 months

• Competitive Group Insurance plan on Day 1 - individual premium paid 100%!

• Virtual Medicine and Family Assistance Program - 100% employer-paid!

• Home office budget - We are 100% remote!

  • CAD $70/month for internet/phone expenses

  • Company-supplied MacBook Pro or Air

• CAD $400/year for books, relevant app subscriptions or an e-reader.

• Opportunities for paid certifications

• Opportunities for professional and personal learning through Udemy Business

• Regular company off-sites and meetups

WHY DATATONIC?

Datatonic is a UK-based company with an Americas division located in Canada. The Canadian team operates remotely, with members distributed across North and South America. This role is open to candidates located anywhere in Canada.

Datatonic is Google Cloud's premier AI partner, delivering some of the most ambitious agentic AI and data platform work in the market today. Our AMER team is remote-first and distributed, working across enterprise clients in media, telecom, gaming, and entertainment. You'll lead work that actually ships alongside a team that takes both the technical craft and the commercial outcome seriously.

Salary: CAD 160,000$ - CAD 190,000$ + Bonus

Are you ready to make an impact?

Apply now and take your career to the next level.