Machine Learning Team Leader

OPSWAT, a global leader in IT, OT, and ICS critical infrastructure cybersecurity, delivers an end-to-end platform that gives public and private sector organizations and enterprises the critical advantage needed to protect their complex networks, secure their devices, and ensure compliance. Over the last 20 years our commitment to innovative technology has earned the trust of more than 1,700 organizations, governments, and institutions globally, solidifying our role in protecting the world’s critical infrastructure and securing our way of life.

The Position

Lead, mentor, and empower a team of ML Engineers to own model quality end-to-end—from initial experimentation to a production-ready, handoff-able artifact—for OPSWAT's AI/ML detection portfolio, spanning MetaDefender Aether (Threat Pattern Correlator, URL Reputation Predictor, Brand Spoofing Detector, and Web Threat Analyzer).

You Will Have an Opportunity to

• People & Performance Management: Conduct regular 1-on-1s to foster career development, provide continuous constructive feedback, remove blockers, and ensure the team's overall well-being
• Daily Work Organization: Drive the team's execution rhythms by leading task prioritization, sprint planning, and resource allocation to ensure predictable, high-quality delivery
• Cross-Functional Representation: Champion the team's achievements and roadmap to stakeholders, acting as the primary technical liaison and aligning efforts with Data Science, Development, and Product management teams
• Technical Roadmap Ownership: Lead model experimentation strategies, prioritizing architectural improvements based on measurable detection accuracy gains and business impact
• End-to-End Model Development: Guide the design, training, fine-tuning, and evaluation of ML models across diverse detection modalities (malware similarity search, URL reputation, phishing/brand-spoofing image analysis, and web threat classification)
• Quality & Release Standards: Define model quality metrics, evaluation datasets, and acceptance criteria. Establish strict model release contracts (versioned, runtime-portable artifacts like ONNX, performance benchmarks) for the Java-based Aether backend
• Production Readiness: Ensure all deployed models meet rigorous operational constraints across cloud, offline, air-gapped, and embedded deployment tiers

What We Are Looking for

• Proven experience directly managing or leading technical teams, including conducting 1-on-1s, managing performance, and organizing daily workflows
• 3+ years applied ML experience across at least two of: text/content classification, computer vision, similarity search/embedding models, malware, or threat detection
• Strong proficiency in Python and frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow, alongside deep experience with model evaluation frameworks
• Demonstrated history of shipping models consumed by other engineering teams with clean, well-documented handoff contracts
• Solid grounding in statistics and rigorous experiment design

Nice to have

• Security ML domain experience (malware family classification, phishing detection, URL reputation)
• Experience with model compression or quantization for offline and embedded environments

Why You'll Love Working Here

• Innovative Environment: Join a team at the forefront of cybersecurity innovation. At OPSWAT, you'll have the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies and contribute to solutions that shape the future of cybersecurity.
• Collaborative Culture: We foster a culture of collaboration, where every team member's input is valued. You'll have the chance to work alongside talented individuals who are passionate about cybersecurity and dedicated to making a difference.
• Professional Growth: At OPSWAT, we prioritize the growth and development of our team members. You'll have access to ongoing training and development opportunities to enhance your skills and advance your career in cybersecurity.
• Impactful Work: Join a mission-driven company that is committed to securing the digital world. Your work at OPSWAT will have a meaningful impact on organizations worldwide, protecting critical data and assets from evolving cyber threats.
• Fun and Dynamic Atmosphere: We believe in fostering a fun and dynamic work environment. From team-building activities to social events, you'll have plenty of opportunities to connect with your colleagues and enjoy the journey together.

OPSWAT is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to providing an environment where equal employment opportunities are extended to all employees and applicants, free of discrimination and harassment of any type. All employment decisions are based on individual qualifications, job requirements, and business needs without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Recruiting Agencies: we do not accept unsolicited resumes from third party agencies for any of our open positions. To submit resumes for our jobs, there must be a recruiting contract approved by our legal team and endorsed by both parties. We are currently not accepting additional 3rd party agencies at this time.