Director of Engineering

*Hybrid. Must be able to meet in Hicksvile, Long Island twice a week*

Fusemachines is a 10+ year old AI company, dedicated to delivering state-of-the-art AI products and solutions to a diverse range of industries. Founded by Sameer Maskey, Ph.D., an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University, our company is on a steadfast mission to democratize AI and harness the power of global AI talent from underserved communities. With a robust presence in four countries and a dedicated team of over 400 full-time employees, we are committed to fostering AI transformation journeys for businesses worldwide. At Fusemachines, we not only bridge the gap between AI advancement and its global impact but also strive to deliver the most advanced technology solutions to the world.

About the Role

We are seeking a Director of Engineering who brings deep strength in core software engineering with strong, applied experience in AI, machine learning, and MLOps . This is a builder-first leadership role , with an emphasis on hands‑on technical execution alongside team leadership.

The ideal candidate combines rigorous software engineering fundamentals with practical ML/MLOps expertise, and can seamlessly integrate these disciplines to deliver innovative, scalable, and production‑grade products. This role requires both technical depth and the strategic judgment to align engineering execution with long‑term product vision.

Responsibilities

Strategic & Technical Leadership

• Define and execute an engineering strategy that integrates core software engineering with ML/MLOps capabilities , ensuring both reinforce and enhance the product vision
• Make high‑impact architectural decisions across application systems, data platforms, and ML infrastructure
• Balance short‑term delivery with long‑term platform scalability and maintainability

Engineering Excellence & Platform Ownership

• Lead the development, scaling, and optimization of software systems and ML platforms
• Ensure strong foundations in system architecture, API design, data processing, and infrastructure
• Maintain high standards for reliability, performance, security, and operational excellence

ML / MLOps Enablement

• Guide teams in machine learning model development, deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management
• Ensure ML workflows are fully integrated into CI/CD pipelines and Kubernetes‑based infrastructure
• Champion automation, reproducibility, observability, and scalable deployment practices
• Support production use cases including LLM deployment, fine‑tuning, and inference pipelines

Software Development Leadership

• Champion best practices in software engineering, including:
• Design patterns and architecture
• Code quality, testing, and review standards
• Security and performance optimization
• Ensure software engineering practices actively enable and strengthen ML systems rather than operating in isolation

Hands‑On Technical Contribution

• Remain deeply involved in coding, system design, and technical problem‑solving
• Review critical code paths and designs across backend, frontend, infrastructure, and ML systems
• Serve as a technical bar‑raiser and escalation point for complex engineering challenges
• Lead, mentor, and grow a distributed team of software engineers, ML engineers, and data engineers
• Foster a culture of ownership, technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning
• Support career development while maintaining high execution standards

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Act as a bridge between software engineering and ML/MLOps teams
• Partner closely with Product, Design, and business stakeholders to deliver cohesive, high‑quality solutions
• Translate product and customer needs into clear technical direction and execution plans

Qualifications

Experience

• 5+ years of professional engineering experience, including leadership roles managing teams across software engineering and ML/MLOps
• Proven experience delivering production systems , not just prototypes
• Experience with ML metrics and observability, workflow orchestration, service release automation, notebook‑driven development, and LLM deployment is a strong plus

Technical Expertise

• Strong foundation in enterprise software architecture , design patterns, and modern programming languages
• Deep understanding of scalable backend systems, APIs, and cloud‑native infrastructure
• Solid applied knowledge of:
• Machine learning algorithms and data modeling
• MLOps practices across major cloud platforms
• Kubernetes‑based deployment and operations
• Strong hands‑on proficiency in Golang
• Deep experience working with Kubernetes in production, including:
• Service architecture and deployment
• Scaling and reliability
• Debugging, observability, and operational best practices

Frontend & Full‑Stack Development

• React
• NestJS
• Comfortable building and reviewing end‑to‑end features across the stack
• Ability to ensure cohesive frontend and backend integration
• Able to integrate ML systems into real‑world, customer‑facing software products

Leadership & Vision

• Proven ability to lead, inspire, and grow multidisciplinary engineering teams
• Strategic thinker who balances execution speed with long‑term technical health
• Comfortable making high‑stakes technical decisions with incomplete information
• Excellent communication skills with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Strong cross‑functional collaborator who builds trust across teams and d

Fusemachines is an Equal Opportunities Employer, committed to diversity and inclusion. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

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