Principal ML Engineer

About NIQ: NIQ is a leading global consumer intelligence company, helping clients understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what they should do next. Our data, technology, AI, and analytics capabilities power decision-making for some of the world’s most important consumer, retail, and technology businesses.

AI is central to NIQ’s next stage of growth. We are building trusted, scalable, and high-impact AI capabilities that transform how insights are created, delivered, and adopted across the business. This role will help shape the platforms, operating model, and leadership system needed to make that ambition real.

Position Type: Full-Time

About the Role: We are seeking a Principal ML Engineer with over 8 years of professional experience in software development to work with us. The ideal candidate has a strong foundation in software engineering principles, software architecture design, and best practices, with solid knowledge of OOP fundamentals. As a Principal ML Engineer you will play a key role in designing, developing, and maintaining high-quality software solutions, establishing the technical direction for critical projects that run globally.

This position is to work on AI / Machine Learning related projects and some Agentic Pipelines. We are looking for someone with experience in Data Pipelines (ideally focused on ML workloads) and/or complex microservices architectures.

Responsibilities

Design, scalable software solutions with a focus on quality, performance, and maintainability.; Lead software architecture decisions, ensuring the design aligns with business requirements and technical standards.; Collaborate with Research Leads and Product Owners to gather requirements, design MLOps pipelines and coordinate the software delivery that adds value to the business.; Create and maintain documentation for the initiatives the team is participating in.; Collaborate with a team of experienced and junior developers to deliver the solutions assigned.; Perform code reviews, mentor other developers, and promote best practices in software development.; Be accountable for the tech debt of the systems supported.; Lead the discovery work for new tech trends or techniques that fill our company/projects needs.

Requirements

8+ years of professional experience in software development.; Proven experience leading ML based systems.; Strong foundation in software engineering principles and architecture.; Proficiency in design software architecture and data pipelines.; Familiarity with cloud services (e.g., *Azure, AWS, GCP).; Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments. (SAFE is a plus); Excellent communication skills in English, both written and verbal.; Knowledge of testing frameworks and test automation (Python)

Nice to have

Experience with Python and/or Machine Learning projects (CV, NLP); Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Github Actions) and DevOps practices.; Knowledge of testing frameworks and test automation.; Experience working in with data transformations (pandas, spark, arrow, databricks).; Experience serving models using GPUs (CUDA, Triton, Dynamic/continuous batching) (LLMs and/other Deep Learning models).

Benefits

Competitive salary based on experience and skills.; Flexible working hours and the possibility of remote work.; Opportunities for career growth and professional development.; Collaborative and inclusive work environment.; Flexible working environment; Volunteer time off; LinkedIn Learning; Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP)