Head of Machine Learning - Aquaeye

AquaEye is a fast-growing company transforming the global water rescue industry by developing rapid-deployment, intelligent sonar solutions. Our flagship product, AquaEye, is a handheld sonar device with built-in AI detection to help first responders locate drowning victims faster and more effectively. As we continue to expand our global reach and develop new product lines, we are seeking a driven, hands-on Head of Machine Learning to own and advance innovation in our product’s algorithms.

This role is central to AquaEye’s core technology and strategic vision. The successful candidate will be responsible for leading ML strategy, overseeing end-to-end development, and solving some of our most challenging embedded ML problems.

Job Responsibilities

• ML Strategy and Technical Direction
• Define and execute our machine learning strategy aligned with evolving product and business objectives.
• Lead the design and evolution of signal processing and machine learning architectures for production systems.
• Establish technical standards, best practices, and development processes for ML systems.
• Evaluate emerging machine learning technologies and identify opportunities to enhance product capabilities and competitive advantage.
• Provide technical leadership on architecture decisions, model selection, and system performance optimization.

• Machine Learning Platform & Model Development
• Oversee the development, validation, deployment, and lifecycle management of machine learning models.
• Oversee the design, optimization, and scalability of our signal processing pipelines.
• Define model performance metrics and continuously drive improvements through rigorous evaluation and experimentation.
• Ensure robustness, maintainability, and scalability of production ML infrastructure, data pipelines, and supporting databases.
• Oversee ML Ops practices, including model versioning, reproducibility, monitoring, and continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or a related field
• 5-10 years of experience in machine learning, AI, and software development
• AWS
• Claude
• Writing in C - because its embedded
• Python 
• Scripting 
• Converts algorithms to code and develops solutions that leverage machine learning concepts like decision trees, logistic regression, or Bayesian analysis to interpret large and complex data sets.
• Proven track record of leading machine learning teams and delivering quality products
• Experience with embedded ML on hardware / IoT devices
• Experience translating real-world applications and customer needs into machine learning solutions
• Strong proficiency in Python, with experience using PyTorch and Scikit-learn
• End-to-end machine learning project experience, including data pipelines, 
• data cleaning, preprocessing, model design, training, validation, and deployment
• Experience with project management tools, including JIRA
• Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS or Azure
• Strong technical communication, documentation, and organizational skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with sonar systems and sonar data
• Familiarity with signal processing
• Familiarity with computer vision such as object detection and Fourier transforms
• Experience with IP strategy in AI innovation
• Comfort in open water settings year-round (with appropriate PPE)