Zalando company
ABOUT THE TEAM
The ML Platform & Developer Productivity department consists of five teams supporting almost
2000 Software Engineers and Applied Scientists all over Zalando across the whole Software
Development and ML Ops livecycle. By offering the best tools and processes well integrated into
our central “Sunrise” platform backed by backstage.io open source software, the team has a high
impact on how fast and safe delivery teams in Zalando can experiment, build, test, and ship to
production.
Our vision is that Engineers and Applied Scientists have all the tools they need at their fingertips.
They can easily access documentation, pre-built services, and templates to build new solutions
quickly. The technical setup is largely standardised, making it easy to upgrade without
distractions. Teams start with default templates and can customise if needed. Changes can be
rolled out to production in minutes, multiple times a day, and we separate deployments from
rollouts, allowing us to enable or disable features centrally. This fast pace of experimentation and
testing helps prevent incidents. If something goes wrong, we detect the issue automatically and
safely roll back changes so experts can investigate without stress.
THE ROLE
As the Head of Machine Learning Platform & Developer Productivity responsible for 5 teams, you
will be pivotal in defining, enabling and optimising our ML Development Lifecycle and ensuring
teams across all of Zalando can deliver high-quality models efficiently and effectively. You will
lead initiatives to improve productivity across our ML platform, from data preparation and model
development to deployment and monitoring. This role requires a unique blend of technical
expertise, leadership, and a deep understanding of ML operations (MLOps) best practices. As a
senior level technology expert, you will not only play a pivotal role in the design of our tools and
systems that power our core ecommerce operations and experiences used by millions of
customers every day.
As the scope of this role includes a crucial part of the Software Development Lifecycle from how
we write and test code to continuous integration and delivery, this role offers unique
opportunities to shape a holistic vision of modern software development to consistently execute
against. In collaboration with the director, your peers, product management, key stakeholders,
and your engineering teams you will shape the future of our internal, software engineer and
applied science facing digital products, serving 250+ teams delivering ~20k builds and 10k
deployments per week to Kubernetes on AWS.
WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF YOU
● Have a minimum of 8 years of experience in Software Engineering or Applied Machine
Learning, with at least 3 years in a leadership role managing multiple technical and
interdisciplinary teams.
● Have a track record of delivering company wide systems and solutions at scale for
applied machine learning. You have a strong background in machine learning, data
engineering, and software development, with hands-on experience in building and scaling
ML systems.
● Are proficient in MLOps practices, tools and techniques and comfortable working in and
enabling a culture of operational and production excellence.
● Possess strong executive stakeholder management and product management thinking
(optional and not required, but highly desirable). You are a great leader, and leader of
leaders, and able to support and guide many teams and business units towards the same
goal and unified approaches.
● Have strong know-how in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computer Science, or
Data Science. A PhD is a plus, but not a necessity.
● Have a record of attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional talent.
● Have empathy, awareness, and understanding related to working in a mission driven and
highly diverse and inclusive environment like Zalando.
OUR OFFER
Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent
Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer. Learn all about Zalando and our values
here: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/?gh_src=22377bdd1us
● Employee shares program
● 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Zalando
Lounge, discounts from external partners
● 2 paid volunteering days a year
● Hybrid working model with 60% (or more) remote per week, actual practice is up to each
team to best support their collaboration
● Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year
● 27 days of vacation a year to start
● Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)
● Family services, including counselling and support
● Health and wellbeing options (including Gympass)
● Mental health support and coaching available
INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN
At Zalando, our vision is to be inclusive by design. This vision starts with our hiring - we do not
discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, personal expression, ethnicity,
religious belief, or disability status. You are welcome to leave out your picture, age, or marital
status from your application. We only assess candidates on their qualifications and merit.
We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Feel free to inform us of any
accommodations you may need, so we can best support you throughout the hiring process.
● do.BETTER - Our Diversity & Inclusion strategy:
https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/dobetter-our-diversity-and-inclusion-strate
gy
● Our Employee Resource Groups:
https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/our-employee-resource-groups
