Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Principal Machine Learning Engineer – Sports AI \& Personalisation West London (Hybrid) Freelance Contract - 6 Months (Expected Extensions) Rates - Negotiable What if AI could completely change how millions of fans experience live sport? We're currently partnering with a major consumer technology and media business that’s investing heavily in AI-driven sports experiences. They’re building next-generation platforms that use machine learning, computer vision, and generative AI to transform how millions of fans engage with live sport; from real-time insights and predictive analytics to highly personalised viewing experiences. They’re now looking for a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to play a key role in shaping the architecture, strategy, and delivery of large-scale production ML systems powering live sports environments. This is a genuinely high-impact opportunity for someone who enjoys solving complex real-time engineering challenges while influencing technical direction across AI, data, and platform teams. Key areas of focus include: * Real-time sports insights \& personalisation * Computer vision \& multimodal AI * Live event detection \& metadata generation * Low-latency ML inference systems * End-to-end MLOps \& production ML * Scalable cloud-native AI platforms What they’re looking for: * Strong experience leading ML engineering initiatives in sports, media, streaming, or real-time data environments * Deep understanding of sports data and analytics * Advanced Python skills with frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow * Proven experience in productionising ML systems at scale * Strong knowledge of streaming architectures and low-latency systems * Technical leadership and mentoring experience * Ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders The environment is fast-moving, highly collaborative, and focused on building genuinely innovative consumer-facing AI products. If you’d be interested in learning more, feel free to message me directly.