Machine Learning Engineering Manager, Public Sector

Overview

Machine Learning Engineering Manager, Public Sector — San Francisco, CA; New York, NY; Washington, DC.

At Scale, our Public Sector Machine Learning team develops and deploys AI systems into mission-critical government environments. We are looking for a Machine Learning Engineering Manager to lead this team of ML engineers and help shape the future of AI in the public sector.

As a Machine Learning Engineering Manager, you will combine strong technical expertise with people leadership. You’ll guide the team in delivering production-grade ML systems across modalities while ensuring alignment with product, research, and government partner needs. You will leverage large language models, computer vision, reinforcement learning, and agentic AI to lead research projects and harden them into scalable production systems. This role requires balancing hands-on technical oversight, mentorship, and execution strategy in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team of ML engineers delivering production-ready AI systems for public sector customers.
• Provide technical direction and mentorship on projects spanning agentic LLM frameworks, reinforcement learning, generative AI, and computer vision.
• Collaborate with research, product, and infrastructure teams to align technical roadmaps with organizational and customer priorities.
• Drive operational excellence : establish best practices for model development, deployment, evaluation, and monitoring in secure, high-stakes environments.
• Partner with public sector stakeholders to translate mission needs into scalable ML solutions.
• Work closely with public sector customers to scope and deliver AI applications.
• Ensure effective prioritization and resourcing across multiple programs and customer engagements.
• Cultivate a strong engineering culture that values collaboration, innovation, accountability, and impact.
• Support career development, performance reviews, and hiring to expand the team.

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Compensation and Benefits

Compensation packages include base salary, equity, and benefits. Salary ranges vary by location and are determined by location, skills, experience, and education. The base salary ranges shown are for guidance during the hiring process.

The base salary range for this full-time position in San Francisco, New York, and Seattle is $229,000 - $286,000 USD. For Washington DC, the base salary range is $206,000 - $257,000 USD.

In addition to salary, Scale offers equity-based compensation where eligible, and a range of benefits including comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. This role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

About Us

At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world\'s most important decisions. We work with industry leaders and government partners to build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact.

Equal Opportunity and Accessibility

Scale AI is an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance during the application process, please contact accommodations@scale.com. We comply with applicable equal employment opportunity laws and encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply.

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