Lead Machine Learning Engineer

We’re Kingfisher, A team made up of over 82,000 passionate people who bring Kingfisher - and all our other brands: B&Q, Screwfix, Brico Depot, Castorama and Koctas - to life. That’s right, we’re big, but we have ambitions to become even bigger and even better. We want to become the leading home improvement company and grow the largest community of home improvers in the world. And that’s where you come in.

At Kingfisher our customers come from all walks of life, and so do we. We want to ensure that all colleagues, future colleagues, and applicants to Kingfisher are treated equally regardless of age, gender, marital or civil partnership status, colour, ethnic or national origin, culture, religious belief, philosophical belief, political opinion, disability, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.

We are open to flexible and agile working, both of hours and location. Therefore, we offer colleagues a blend of working from home and our offices, located in London, Southampton & Yeovil. Talk to us about how we can best support you!

We are looking for a Lead Machine Learning Engineer to join our Data Science team, to lead the research and development process of ML/AI services developed in the Group Data Science team. You will trailblaze the development of data science algorithms, while building, leading, nurturing and retaining a high performing data science team working on banner as well as group priorities. 

• Lead the implementation of data science projects and data science approaches to support commercial goals 
• Develop a highly proficient team of Machine Learning Engineers, establishing collaborative ways of working 
• Collaborate with tech, product and data teams to develop the data platforms that allow us to apply data science and embed the use of data science directly in our products and processes 

• Support diverse teams in translating between business and data in the design of project work, and in the synthesis and communication of recommendations and results 
• Be a champion and role model for the application of data science across the Kingfisher group 
• Support the data leadership team in developing a “data culture” and demonstrating the value of data in our decision making 
• Lead our efforts to develop the data science (and broader customer analytics) “brand” at Kingfisher for both internal and external audiences

• Proven experience delivering high-quality AI-based products and productionisation of Machine Learning based products 
• Proven experience developing cloud-based machine learning services using one or more cloud providers (preferably GCP) 
• Excellent understanding of classical Machine Learning algorithms (e.g. Logistic Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, etc.) and modern Deep Learning algorithms (e.g. BERT, LSTM, etc.) 
• Strong knowledge of SQL and Python's ecosystem for data analysis (Jupyter, Pandas, Scikit Learn, Matplotlib) 

• Strong software development skills (Python is the preferred language) 
• Proven experience in deploying ML/AI services suing Kubernetes & KubeFlow 
• Strong management and leadership skills – previous experience managing a team 
• Strong influencing, communication and stakeholder management skills 

Be Customer Focused – constantly improving our customers’ experience 

We listen to our customers and colleagues 

We innovate products and experiences to stay ahead 

Be Human – leading with purpose, humanity and care 

We do the right thing 

We invest in our people and build great teams 

Be Curious – thrive on learning, thinking beyond the obvious 

We focus externally, globally and build the long term 

We experiment and share our learnings 

Be Agile – building trust and empowering people to work with agility  

We act with pace, not perfection, role modelling 80/20 

We take risks, fail fast and adapt quickly 

Be Inclusive – inspiring diverse teams to achieve together 

We celebrate difference as a strength 

We collaborate, breaking down silos 

Be Accountable – owning the plan, delivering results and growth  

We focus on performance outcomes 

We prioritise and simplify for others 

At Kingfisher, we value the perspectives that any new team members bring, and we want to hear from you. We encourage you to apply for one of our roles even if you do not feel you meet 100% of the requirements.

In return, we offer an inclusive environment, where what you can achieve is limited only by your imagination! We encourage new ideas, actively support experimentation, and strive to build an environment where everyone can be their best self.

We also offer a competitive benefits package and plenty of opportunities to stretch and grow your career.

Interested? Great, apply now and help us to Power the Possible. 

#LI-TB1