Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Salary: £65,360 - £81,700 p.a.

Closing date:  Tuesday 8 September 2026

Contract type: Permanent

Interviews: w/c 21 September 2026

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation. We improve health for everyone by funding science, leading policy and advocacy campaigns and building partnerships. 

We plan to spend £16bn over the next ten years, funding new discoveries in life, health, and wellbeing and taking on three global health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health. 

These challenges need the bold science we support, but they won’t be solved by science alone. 

We are looking for a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to join our team. 

Where in Wellcome will I be working? 

You will collaborate with software and data engineers, analysts, designers and the business to create models, tools and services that enhance the value of the data available to Wellcome. You will develop machine learning systems and analytics to support decision making within Wellcome and help us comprehend the reach and impact of the research we support.

What will I be doing? 

You will have the opportunity to work on and lead specific machine learning projects across Wellcome Trust with particular emphasis on working with open-source software to develop natural language processing and computer vision to create search algorithms and tools.

As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer, you will: 

• Identify opportunities where machine learning can help Wellcome make better decisions. 

• Translate business problems to data science tasks and present complex results to stakeholders. 

• Develop and evaluate machine learning models with an emphasis on natural language processing. 

• Collaborate on a cross-functional team, sharing ideas, knowledge and reviewing code. 

• Maintaining and improving our internal data pipelines and machine learning tooling. 

• Contribute to a diverse and inclusive culture across both the department and the organisation. 

Is this job for me?  

We are looking for an experienced senior machine learning engineer who has a passion for our mission in reducing global health inequalities to join our team. If you have a deep understanding of machine learning concepts and techniques and enjoy working on complex problems and making impactful contribution. Continuous learning and tackling challenging problems will further hone your skills, keeping you at the forefront of the rapidly evolving field of machine learning.

To apply for this role please submit an updated CV and answer 2 application questions to demonstrate that you meet the minimum requirements for the role.

Minimum Criteria:

• Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in a quantitative field such as machine learning, data science, computer science, statistics, engineering or mathematics. 

• Strong Python and SQL skills with a grounding in software engineering best practices. 

• In-depth understanding of a deep learning framework such as PyTorch, TensorFlow or JAX. 

• Strong knowledge of modern natural language processing techniques, large language and transformer models, and libraries such as Hugging Face, VLLM and LangChain. 

• Proven experience owning the development of large scale, high impact machine learning solutions from initial experimentation through to deployment. 

• Strong knowledge of data science libraries such as Polars, Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn. 

• Knowledge of MLOps tooling such as Weights & Biases, AirFlow, AWS SageMaker or Docker. 

• Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP. 

• Experience working collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team. 

Our Hybrid Way of Working

We understand that our colleagues have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to build a flexible working environment, in which people can perform at their best.

At Wellcome we have a hybrid way of working which is 3 days in our Euston Road offices (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) with the remaining 2 days working either remotely or in the office.

Diversity and Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do

Diversity and Inclusion is a priority at Wellcome. We are committed to cultivating a fair and inclusive environment, where everyone can be themselves and thrive. We are happy to discuss flexible working options for all roles. We work to ensure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible to everyone. This includes making adjustments for people who have a disability or long-term condition. Please visit our website for more information on adjustments and accessibility or contact us at jobs@wellcome.org.

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