Head of Machine Learning

We're seeking a Head of Machine Learning to own and scale the ML function at Prodigal. This is the senior-most ML role in the company — partnering directly with the CTO as a peer technical leader, defining the multi-year ML vision, building and leading a world-class team, and translating cutting-edge research into production systems that move the needle for over 100 customers and millions of consumers. You'll set the bar for technical excellence, hire and develop the next generation of ML leaders, and shape what consumer finance intelligence looks like over the next decade. If you've operated at this level before — or are ready to step into it at a company where ML is the engine of the product — we want to talk.

Responsibilities:

• Own the ML function end-to-end — vision, roadmap, team, delivery, and measurable business impact across classical ML, NLP, GenAI, and Agentic AI
• Partner with the CTO as the senior ML leader to set company-wide technical direction and shape the long-term roadmap for Prodigal's Intelligence Engine
• Build and lead a high-performing ML organization — hire, mentor, and develop ML engineers, applied scientists, and tech leads across multiple pods
• Translate research into product — drive the application of LLMs, Agentic AI, the modern NLP stack, recommendation systems, and classical ML into production systems serving 100+ customers
• Set technical standards for model development, deployment, monitoring, evaluation, and experimentation that scale across the org
• Architect data and ML infrastructure in partnership with the platform and engineering teams to support large-scale training and reliable, low-latency inference
• Communicate strategy and outcomes clearly to the founders, board, customers, and broader engineering organization
• Represent Prodigal externally — at conferences, in research collaborations, and as a senior voice in the consumer finance AI community
• Stay at the frontier of ML and GenAI research, identifying where new techniques unlock product and business advantage
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, engineering, GTM, and customer success leaders to ensure ML investment ties directly to revenue, retention, and customer outcomes

Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience in machine learning and software development at a tech or product company, with 4+ years leading ML teams (managing engineers and/or tech leads)
• Proven track record of shipping ML products in production at scale with measurable business impact
• Deep technical fluency across classical ML, deep learning, and the modern NLP/LLM stack — you can still go deep in design reviews, not just review at the surface
• Strong coding skills in Python. Hands-on with PyTorch, scikit-learn, Pandas, and Spark
• Demonstrated success hiring, mentoring, and growing ML talent — including team leads and senior engineers
• Strong executive communication and the ability to set technical direction with founders, peers, and the board
• A bias for outcomes — you connect model work to revenue, engagement, and operational metrics

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience as a founding ML hire, ML lead, or applied science leader at a high-growth AI/ML product company
• Background in voice AI, conversational AI, speech, NLP on unstructured text, or fintech/lending domains
• Experience with cloud services (AWS), Databricks, and building scalable, distributed systems
• Track record of running A/B testing and experimentation programs at scale
• Patents, publications, or open-source contributions; strong institutional pedigree (IIT, BITS, NIT, IISc)
• Experience scaling an ML org through a hypergrowth phase

Job Benefits

• GenAI at the core – Lead the ML function at a company where AI isn't a feature, it's the product. Shape groundbreaking work that redefines consumer finance intelligence.
• World-class team - You'll get the chance to learn from (and teach) some of the brightest and most skilled people you'll ever meet. Our team members have been part of BCG, Deloitte, EY, Blackstone, Meta, Amazon and are IIT, IIM, BITS alumnus.
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