Machine Learning Software Engineering Team Lead - Remote Portugal

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

Join a leading European gaming and entertainment technology company at the forefront of AI innovation, building products that serve millions of users across personalized gaming recommendations, fraud detection, AI-powered customer support, and CRM optimization. This Team Lead role offers the unique opportunity to lead a strategic AI Platform team focused on enhancing productivity and efficiency across the entire AI department by providing high-quality tools and automation touching the complete ML lifecycle—from data processing and model training to A/B testing and post-production monitoring. This is a true Team Lead position (not Tech Lead), combining 50% hands-on technical development with 50% people management, requiring 1-2 years proven experience managing cross-functional teams including performance reviews, code reviews, and task coordination. Operating fully remote from Portugal, you'll lead the development of a centralized Feature Store computing and serving hundreds of features in real-time while building and managing a high-performing team. 

PROJECT & CONTEXT

You'll lead the AI Platform team whose mission is transforming how the AI department develops, deploys, and monitors machine learning products at scale. Your first major initiative involves building and maintaining a centralized Feature Store—a sophisticated tool that computes and serves hundreds of features in real-time, enabling data scientists and ML engineers to work more efficiently. As both technical and people leader, you'll balance strategic leadership with hands-on implementation, leading technical decisions while designing the team's roadmap and facilitating execution. Your technical responsibilities include implementing the most complex parts of the platform using Python and MLOps frameworks, establishing best practices for software and ML product development across the department, and driving technical excellence through architecture decisions and code quality standards. On the people management side, you'll enable direct reports' personal growth through personalized development plans, create and manage high-performing teams following performance management processes and agile frameworks, define hiring needs and participate in recruitment across AI department technical roles, and ensure team health and well-being. Working closely with Agile Delivery Leads to optimize team efficiency, you'll handle stakeholder communication and collaborate with tech leaders across the AI organization. The role requires deep understanding of the complete ML project lifecycle, solid MLOps expertise, and proven ability to balance hands-on technical contribution with effective people leadership.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR (Required)

• Team Management Experience: MANDATORY 1-2 years demonstrated experience leading cross-functional teams and managing people including performance reviews, code reviews, and task coordination
• ML Lifecycle Understanding: Deep understanding of the complete machine learning project lifecycle from data preparation through production deployment
• Python Expertise: Solid hands-on experience with Python for software development and ML applications
• MLOps Mastery: Strong practical experience with MLOps concepts, tools, and frameworks for ML operations and deployment
• Software Engineering Background: Solid software development foundation with Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) principles
• Version Control: Knowledge of Git and software development processes including branching strategies and collaborative workflows
• ML Algorithm Knowledge: Understanding of machine learning algorithms and when to apply different approaches
• Technical Leadership: Ability to lead technical decisions, design roadmaps, and establish best practices
• People Leadership: Experience enabling team members' growth, managing performance, and building high-performing teams
• Stakeholder Communication: Strong skills communicating with internal and external stakeholders across technical and business contexts
• Hands-On Contribution: Willingness and ability to implement complex technical solutions alongside leadership responsibilities (50% coding, 50% management)
• Recruitment Participation: Experience participating in hiring processes and defining team needs
• Agile Collaboration: Working effectively with Agile Delivery Leads to optimize team efficiency
• Language: B2 English (Upper Intermediate) minimum for international team collaboration
• Location: Based in Portugal with full remote work capability

NICE TO HAVE (Preferred)

• Apache Spark: Understanding of Spark and Spark Structured Streaming for large-scale data processing
• Azure Platform: Hands-on experience with Azure cloud services and architecture
• Databricks: Practical experience with Databricks platform for ML workflows and collaboration
• Azure DevOps: Experience with Azure DevOps for CI/CD, project management, and collaboration
• SQL Knowledge: Proficiency with SQL for data querying and analysis
• Feature Store Experience: Previous experience building or working with Feature Stores
• Real-Time Systems: Building systems that serve features or predictions in real-time with low latency
• ML Monitoring: Experience with post-production model monitoring and drift detection
• A/B Testing: Designing and analyzing A/B tests for ML model evaluation
• Data Engineering: Understanding of data pipelines and data engineering best practices
• ML Frameworks: Experience with TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn, or similar frameworks
• Container Technologies: Docker and Kubernetes for ML application deployment
• Gaming/iGaming Industry: Previous experience in gaming, entertainment, or related sectors
• Fraud Detection: Background in fraud detection or anomaly detection systems
• Recommendation Systems: Experience building personalization or recommendation engines
• CRM Systems: Knowledge of customer relationship management and optimization
• Performance Management: Advanced skills in performance reviews and talent development
• Agile Methodologies: Deep understanding of Scrum, Kanban, or other Agile frameworks

Location: Remote Portugal (work from anywhere in Portugal)