Machine Learning Engineer III

About the role

The Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) at Michigan Technological University is seeking a Senior Machine Learning (ML) Engineer to lead technical efforts in applied ML research and development (R&D).

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and evaluation of ML algorithms, models, and prototype systems
• Lead design, development, and evaluation of ML models for structured, unstructured, and sensor-derived data
• Translate sponsor needs into technically sound ML approaches within project scope
• Define experimental design, validation strategies, and performance metrics to assess model performance and robustness
• Architect ML pipelines for data ingestion, training, validation, and deployment
• Present technical results to sponsors and contribute to reports, publications, and briefings
• Develop and evaluate prototype ML systems, including integration with sensing, software, or hardware platforms
• Advance ML capabilities across TRLs 2-6 through modeling, experimentation, and demonstration
• Contribute to proposal development and technical direction within research efforts
• Mentor junior engineers and support development of technical staff
• Commit to learning about continuous improvement strategies and applying them to everyday work
• Actively engage in University continuous improvement initiatives

Requirements

• Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or related field
• Minimum of 6 years of relevant experience in applied ML research or ML system development
• Experience leading technical tasks or workstreams within ML projects
• Experience serving as PI or Technical Lead on funded research projects, including responsibility for scope, execution, and deliverables
• Experience leading technical proposal efforts (BAAs, SBIR/STTR, RFPs)
• Experience contributing to research proposal capture strategy
• Experience contributing to publications or conference presentations
• Experience coordinating small teams or groups within ML-focused projects

Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) and Python-based development
• Proficiency in Python and scientific computing libraries
• Ability to design and execute rigorous experimental methodologies
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to sponsors and stakeholders

Skills

• Ability to obtain a U.S. Department of Defense security clearance, which requires United States citizenship
• Active government security clearance at Secret-level or higher
• Knowledge of sensor-integrated ML (e.g., RF, SAR, geospatial, multimodal data)
• Experience with MLOps and scalable ML infrastructure
• Ability to deploy ML systems in secure, hybrid, or HPC environments
• Ability to guide research technical direction across multiple related efforts or capability areas of a program