Manager, Forward Deployed Machine Learning Engineering

Federato is on a mission to defend the right to efficient, equitable insurance for all. The Manager of Forward Deployed Machine Learning Engineering will lead a team of engineers to deliver customer-facing AI and ML solutions while fostering team growth and driving operational excellence in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage a team of Forward-Deployed Machine Learning Engineers (FDMLEs) delivering customer-facing AI and ML solutions from prototyping through production deployment and iteration
• Support team growth through coaching, mentorship, and career development while fostering a strong culture of ownership, customer focus, and operational excellence
• Drive execution in ambiguous, fast-paced environments by enabling rapid experimentation, iterative development, and close cross-functional collaboration
• Partner with Federato leadership across Forward Deployed Engineering, Data Science, and Customer Success to align priorities, delivery expectations, and customer outcomes
• Translate strategic AI initiatives into actionable roadmaps, priorities, and delivery milestones, ensuring projects are effectively scoped, staffed, and executed
• Establish and improve agile workflows tailored to forward-deployed AI and ML work, including sprint planning, technical design reviews, backlog grooming, retrospectives, and operational follow-through
• Serve as the primary coordination point across internal teams and customer stakeholders to ensure alignment, transparency, issue resolution, and successful adoption of deployed solutions
• Drive operational excellence through strong communication, documentation, monitoring, and incident-management practices across customer-facing ML systems

Requirements:

• 5+ years of experience in machine learning, applied AI, data science, or related technical fields
• 2+ years of experience leading or managing technical contributors and cross-functional delivery efforts
• Experience deploying and operating ML or AI systems in production, including customer-facing or operational environments
• Strong understanding of ML systems, LLM applications, agentic workflows, evaluation frameworks, and production monitoring best practices
• Experience working in fast-paced environments with evolving requirements and multiple concurrent workstreams
• Excellent communication, organizational, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to balance technical depth with strong execution and delivery discipline
• Experience leading customer-facing or forward-deployed AI/ML teams
• Background working closely with Data Science, Engineering, and Customer Success organizations
• Experience deploying LLM-powered systems, agentic workflows, or automation platforms in production environments
• Experience scaling AI/ML delivery teams and improving operational processes across customer engagements