ML Search Engineer (Python), Birmingham

Job Summary (List Format): Senior Python Engineer, ML/AI Search Team Core Responsibilities: - Design, develop, and deploy end-to-end Python backend services for intelligent product search. - Integrate and build ML inference pipelines using embeddings, transformer models, and LLMs for query understanding and reranking. - Develop scalable retrieval systems, real-time architectures, and customer-facing APIs on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). - Own production services including testing, monitoring, observability, and on-call support. - Collaborate with Search and ML Architects to create hybrid retrieval systems (keyword, vector similarity, ML reranking). - Maintain Elasticsearch indexing pipelines and integrate vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, FAISS) into retrieval workflows. - Instrument systems with metrics (CTR, zero result rate, latency) to support A/B testing and experimentation. - Champion engineering best practices: CI/CD, infrastructure as code, testing, and observability. - Lead technical design discussions and participate in code reviews and team knowledge sharing. Requirements: - 4 years professional backend or full stack engineering experience, with a strong focus on Python. - Experience building and deploying cloud-native applications (preferably on GCP; AWS/Azure also welcome). - Strong skills in microservices, REST/GRPC APIs, Docker, Kubernetes, and serverless patterns. - Solid understanding of software design principles and best engineering practices. - Excellent communication; comfortable collaborating with ML engineers, architects, and product teams. - Willingness to utilize AI tools to accelerate development. Preferred Qualifications: - Experience with search platforms (Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Solr, Algolia). - Familiarity with vector search concepts/tools (embeddings, ANN, FAISS, Pinecone, weaviate). - Exposure to ML/AI workflows, such as RAG pipelines, LLM integration, prompt engineering, and fine tuning. - Experience with AI orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, Google ADK). - Proficiency in infrastructure as code (Terraform, Pulumi) and CI/CD pipeline management.