Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Document AI Data (Tech Lead Manager)

About the Role

We are seeking a Principal Machine Learning Engineer (Tech Lead Manager) to lead ABBYY's Document AI Data team, one of the company's most strategic and high-impact engineering groups.

This role combines hands-on technical leadership with people management, owning both the architecture and roadmap for how ABBYY builds high-quality training data at scale, as well as the growth and performance of the team delivering it.

You will operate at the center of ABBYY's document AI strategy-defining how training data is created, validated, and scaled to power next-generation large language and vision-language models.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Strategy

• Own the end-to-end technical strategy for the Document AI data platform, spanning:

• AI-assisted annotation

• Synthetic data generation

• Document understanding pipelines

• Define architectural principles that unify multiple data workflows into a scalable, cohesive platform

• Establish and operationalize standards for high-quality training data in collaboration with Modeling teams

• Drive the development of data quality evaluation frameworks, including metrics for coverage, fidelity, and performance

• Identify and evaluate emerging AI technologies to maintain ABBYY's competitive edge

• Make hands-on technical contributions to critical architectural and pipeline decisions

Team & People Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of Senior Machine Learning Engineers

• Own hiring strategy and execution, including role definition, interview processes, and offer decisions

• Drive performance management, career development, and growth planning

• Foster a culture of technical rigor, curiosity, and collaboration

• Represent team priorities, roadmap, and resourcing needs to senior leadership

• Build strong partnerships with peer leaders across Modeling, Platform, and Data Operations teams

Cross-Functional Alignment & Delivery

• Partner with Platform teams on model hosting and inference requirements for large-scale data workflows

• Collaborate with Modeling teams to translate model training needs into data strategies and priorities

• Work with Data Operations to build feedback loops between automated annotation and human validation

• Own delivery accountability, including roadmap planning, milestone tracking, and escalation management

• Champion best practices for data privacy, compliance, and responsible AI across all data processes

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field

• 10+ years of experience in Machine Learning / AI, with focus on:

• Large Language Models (LLMs)

• Vision-Language Models (VLMs)

• Large-scale data systems

• Proven track record as both a technical leader and people manager

• Experience building and scaling AI-driven data pipelines in production

• Demonstrated success hiring and developing senior engineering talent

Technical Expertise

• Deep expertise in LLMs and VLMs, including prompting, fine-tuning, and evaluation for structured tasks

• Strong understanding of training data quality principles (distribution, diversity, and validation)

• Proven ability to architect large-scale data platforms processing millions of documents

• Strong programming skills in Python with experience in PyTorch or similar frameworks

• Experience with cloud platforms, MLOps tooling, and pipeline orchestration

• Familiarity with document AI systems, layout analysis, and real-world document variability

Leadership & Communication

• Proven ability to lead and inspire high-performing engineering teams

• Strong track record of making long-term architectural decisions

• Excellent cross-functional collaboration with Engineering, Product, and Operations

• Ability to translate complex technical tradeoffs into clear strategic direction

• Experience building teams in ambiguous, fast-scaling environments

Here are some of our local benefits:

• Comprehensive medical, accidental, and life insurance

• Weekly wellness sessions to support your physical and mental well-being

• A generous paid time off policy