Applied Machine Learning Engineer

Applied Machine Learning Engineer - Agentic Orchestration
Hybrid

DEPT® is a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, our 4,000+ specialists deliver growth invention services across Brand & Media, Experience, Commerce, CRM, and Technology & Data. We’re 50|50 tech and marketing, partner-led, and first to move. Clients include Google, Lufthansa, Meta, eBay, and OpenAI. We have been certified B Corp and Climate Neutral since 2021.

JOB PURPOSE

DEPT® is a global technology and marketing services company. We create integrated end-to-end digital experiences on a global scale. Our mission is to help brands stay ahead by combining top-tier talent with the world’s most advanced AI.

Our “Future of Work” (FoW) program is our flagship internal transformation initiative, designed to upskill our talent, enhance our people’s capabilities, and automate complex tasks to deliver better outcomes for our clients and employees.

Joining our Agentic Orchestration team you will design, build and iterate on tuned machine learning models using managed ML platforms and internal data, translating product and business needs into effective, testable ML solutions. As an Applied Machine Learning Engineer you will own model behavior and outcomes, not infrastructure. In this role you will collaborate with Federated Data team for data sourcing, and share Federated Data Infrastructure (Airflow) for MLOps needs.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Problem Framing & Model Strategy

• Translate product and domain problems into clear ML objectives
• Decide when to use fine-tuning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), prompt-based approaches, or hybrids
• Define success metrics and evaluation criteria for tuned models

Model Development & Tuning

• Use platforms like Thinking Machine’s Tinker API to train and tune models on curated datasets
• Design and run experiments to improve model quality, reliability, and cost efficiency
• Analyze failure modes and iterate on data, objectives, or configuration rather than “overtraining”

Data Collaboration

• Partner with Data team on dataset design, labeling strategies, and evaluation splits
• Identify data quality issues (bias, leakage, representativeness) and guide remediation
• Define requirements for training, validation, and test datasets

Evaluation & QA

• Design automated and human-in-the-loop evaluation workflows
• Establish regression testing for model changes
• Ensure models behave consistently across edge cases and real-world inputs

Production Collaboration

• Work with Agent Orchestration team to integrate models into available Agentic tools
• Collaborate with DevOps on deployment constraints and observability needs
• Provide guidance on safe rollout, iteration, and rollback strategies

Knowledge Sharing

• Act as an internal ML expert and mentor
• Document patterns, tradeoffs, and learnings to raise overall ML literacy across engineering

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

Required

• Strong software engineering background (Python and/or TypeScript)
• Hands-on experience building and shipping ML-powered systems
• Practical understanding of model tuning, evaluation, and tradeoffs (not purely academic)
• Experience working with managed ML or LLM platforms (fine-tuning, RAG, APIs)
• Ability to explain model behavior and limitations to non-ML engineers

Nice to Have

• Publishing research papers
• Building custom training frameworks from scratch
• Deep theoretical ML or PhD-level research background

WE OFFER

• Great benefits that vary based on the country from which you choose to apply. Feel free to ask about the specific benefits available in your location. 
• Buddy Programme: You will be paired with a ‘Buddy’ to help you through your first weeks’ at DEPT®.
• A reputation for doing good. DEPT® has been a Certified B Corp® since 2021 and named ‘Agency of the Year’ at both The Lovies and The Webby Awards.
• Awesome clients. Whether big or small, local or global — at DEPT® you’ll get the opportunity to work with clients of all sizes and across all industries. And we celebrate all of our successes together!
• The opportunity for possibility. We want to enable you to do what you do best and help you develop your skills further with training, development and certifications.
• Global annual DEPT® Cares Month in which employees come together and donate their skills to support local charities.

WHY DEPT®?

We are a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, we create what is next by pioneering ideas, acting fast, and moving further because standing still just is not in our DNA.

We are drawn to people who stay curious, move with intent, and never stop inventing. Our culture runs on three values: better together, relentlessly curious, and get sh*t done. It is how we work, how we grow, and how we make things that matter.

At DEPT®, you will find the freedom to explore, the space to collaborate, and the trust to make a real impact for our clients, for each other, and for the world we are helping to build.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION 

At DEPT®, we take pride in creating an inclusive workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We actively seek to recruit, develop, nurture, and retain talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varying skills and perspectives.

Not sure you meet all qualifications? Apply, and let us decide! Research shows that women and members of underrepresented groups tend not to apply for jobs when they think they may not meet every requirement, when in fact they do. We believe in giving everyone a fair chance to shine.

We also encourage you to reach out to us and discuss any reasonable adjustments we can make to support you throughout the recruitment process and your time with us.

Want to know more about our dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion? Check out our efforts here.