Hybrid Applied ML Manager

at Speak

• Job title: Applied ML Manager
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior, Lead
• Salary: $250,000 - $300,000 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Location requirements: Hybrid, San Francisco, United States

About the role

• ML Manager leading a machine learning team focused on voice and broader ML systems in AI-driven language learning. A hands-on role driving initiatives and setting team direction.

Responsibilities

• Manage and grow the ML team through clear expectations, regular feedback, and strong coaching.
• Define quarterly ML goals and success metrics, establish baselines, and build a visible “scoreboard” for progress.
• Drive end-to-end execution on key ML initiatives: planning, evaluation, iteration, rollout, and impact measurement.
• Build a repeatable model evaluation and experimentation process (quality, performance, reliability), including rollout criteria.
• Partner with Product and Engineering leaders to align roadmaps, clarify ownership, and ensure ML work is shippable and predictable.
• Identify gaps in our current ML strategy, propose concrete bets, and translate direction into actionable plans.
• Help hire thoughtfully as the team grows, without prematurely scaling into a large org.

Requirements

• 8–10+ years overall experience in applied ML, with a track record of shipping ML and LLM systems into production.
• 4+ years people management experience, including leading 1:1s, giving feedback, and handling performance.
• Strong technical judgment in applied ML (not primarily ML infra/MLOps), including ability to define and run rigorous evaluations.
• Excellent metric sense and analytical thinking: can translate ambiguous goals into measurable outcomes and make tradeoffs.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills with Product, Engineering, and Design.
• Clear written communication: can write crisp strategy docs, decision memos, and goal docs.
• Bonus: speech/audio, linguistics, or multimodal experience.

Benefits

• Offers Equity