Graduate Machine Learning Engineer

ABOUT STRATABLE Stratable is a tech start-up based in the centre of Leeds (just two minutes from the train station). You can get involved at a really transformational time for the company. We build our own software and proprietary AI that help organisations make sharp decisions in high-stakes settings, with everything running securely and in-house. We're founder-led, properly backed, and building for the long term. We want two graduates who'll grow with us and get stuck into the project. Put the graft in alongside us, and the rewards will be there; be part of the next huge international tech company in our sector. If you've already got an interest in, or some experience with, AI, and that get-up-and-go feeling that anyone can do anything, then this role is for you! WHAT YOU'LL DO * Help with post and in-context training of our offline small language models * Select, fine-tune, quantise, and evaluate open-weight models * Build retrieval-augmented (RAG) pipelines over our own codebase, and DB * Help build / use evaluation harnesses * Be responsible for the GPU workstations and the local ML tooling the rest of the team relies on Help structure and build AI architectures through which various AI components and databases are integrated to increase output accuracy WHO YOU ARE * Hands-on with modern ML in Python. Show us something you've built or written up * Genuinely into running models locally / efficiently: data ownership and privacy is a non-negotiable * Solid software-engineering fundamentals: you ship production code, not just notebooks, and you test and document your work * Enough of the surrounding stack to get your models into a real product: comfortable around a typed backend, relational data, and containers, or quick to get there * You can take a task and run with it: unblock yourself, use good judgement, and ship on time, including stretches where you're working independently * Comfortable across development, research, and engineering: happy to read a paper, go and build the thing, read more whilst testing, fix it, iterate Either a degree in computer science, machine learning, data science or something related, or the equivalent ability that you can actually show us NICE TO HAVE * Experience / knowledge of integrating multiple LLMs \& SLMs to increase model process, output quality, and token efficiency * Experience with local inference tooling * Ability to reason through appropriate methods for RAG, embeddings, and vector search * Built evaluation or benchmark suites for model quality * Experience or knowledge of GPU administration and getting performance from limited hardware Any exposure to secure or air-gapped environments, edge compute HOW WE WORK You'll be building alongside both founders, who set the direction day to day and get stuck in with you. There will also be periods where we expect you to work independently, without the founders in the office, so we need people who can use their own initiative and keep things moving on their own. We value logical, structured problem-solving and reasoning, combined with strong fundamentals. We all chip in to help improve our proprietary software and develop LLMs as we go. As a team, we value integrity, kindness, and patience. Keeping those three values in mind, we ensure there are no egos in the mix. Our mindset is “development, research, and engineering”: developers build things, researchers uncover the problems with what was built, and engineers fix those problems. WHAT WE OFFER * £38,000 base, plus room for a performance bonus * Help manage and deliver a suite of NLP and ML models that match your understanding of the workflow at Stratable (both internal and product-based) * Being part of a small team gives you a real say in how we build * The ability to work across NLP, ML, and automation, while the rest of the team and customers use the product and provide feedback * The odd trip abroad, primarily to subsidiaries in APAC We value family, health, and helping those we work with become more efficient, reaching their own professional goals ELIGIBILITY \& LOCATION * Leeds, on-site (no remote work, unfortunately. We're sorry, we miss it too!) * Full-time * Some international travel required from time to time to support our work overseas (must have passport) * Eligibility for UK Security Clearance (SC): sole British citizenship, continuous UK residency for the last 5 years * Must pass a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check while we take you through SC over your first few months Please confirm your eligibility for SC and BPSS when you apply: * Have lived continuously in the UK for the past 5 years and have a valid right to work here * Verifiable employment or education history for the last 3 years * Be willing to complete a basic criminal DBS check HOW TO APPLY Send us your CV and a link / description of something you've built, whether that's GitHub, a portfolio, or a project you're proud of. We care far more about what you've made and how keen you are than about your CV. Tell us briefly about one (or more) thing/s you built, and confirm your SC eligibility. *Apply to:*  careers@stratable.net