Machine Learning Engineer, AI Lab

Permira is a global investment firm that backs successful businesses with growth ambitions. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds across two core asset classes, private equity and credit, with total committed capital of approximately €80bn. The Permira private equity funds make both long-term majority (Buyout) and minority (Growth Equity) investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Healthcare, Services. The Permira credit funds support businesses with flexible financing solutions across Direct Lending, Strategic Opportunities and CLO Management. Established in 2007, the firm advises investment funds and products which have provided approximately €20 billion of debt capital to over 300 businesses.

Role Overview

We are seeking an individual to join our AI Lab which sits within our Technology Value Creation Team. Our portfolio includes many of the world's leading software and tech-enabled companies with landmark technology investments including Zendesk, Mimecast, Informatica, Squarespace, McAfee, and many more. You can learn more about our portfolio here:

This team will be a central entity that develops and deploys machine learning capabilities across Permira, collaborating with our teams and sectors. At Permira, AI is not just another IT initiative—it's a fundamental shift in how we work, think, and operate. We are committed to embedding AI deeply into the fabric of our products and workflows—not merely as an add-on, but as a reimaging of what our offerings can be in an AI-native world.

Our strategy focuses on identifying a few high-impact, needle-moving use cases where AI can drive measurable value. We strongly believe AI is a cultural shift and now a baseline competency across every business function. Our goal with the AI Lab is encourage our teams and portfolio companies to be truly AI-native and drive tangible impact with faster innovation velocity, streamlined revenue efficiency, and deliberate cost savings.

This role is hands-on, where you will spend most of your time coding in Python and Terraform alongside other ML Engineers and Data Scientists. This role is based in Permira's Milan office, and you will be part of a geographically distributed team (UK/US/Europe) that embraces remote and hybrid collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

As an ML Engineer, you will:

• Collaborate closely with other members of the AI Lab, Value Creation Team (including our data scientists) and IT
• Contribute to the design, development, and maintenance of our scalable, low-latency cloud ML Platform
• Deploy ML models to production in partnership with our Value Creation Team
• Promote and implement best practices and standards in MLOps
• Document MLOps workflows and architecture, ensuring compatibility with other systems at Permira, including compliance with security standards (e.g., threat modeling)

What We're Looking For

We are looking for a high-performing, analytically sharp, and emotionally intelligent professional who thrives at the intersection of AI, business transformation, and investment. Ideal candidates will have:

• 2-5 years of proven experience as an ML Engineer (or similar role), including developing and maintaining ML Platforms and Model Pipelines in production environments
• Advanced software engineering skills with a passion for coding in Python
• Familiarity with at least one major cloud ML platform
• Experience with containers and container orchestration, such as Docker, Kubernetes, and Kubeflow
• Proficiency with Terraform or similar infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools
• Comfort with using a Linux shell and Git for version control
• Knowledge of the Model Development Lifecycle and common DS libraries, such as scikit-learn, pandas, shap, feature-engine, xgboost (or lgbm), and MLflow
• Attention to detail with the ability to quickly shift priorities when required
• Strong presentation skills and the ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences
• Enjoy working collaboratively in a cross-functional and distributed team environment
• Comfort with Agile methodologies, such as Scrum, Kanban, or similar frameworks
• A strong cultural fit with Permira—team-first, intellectually curious, low-ego, and entrepreneurial

Nice to have:

• Experience with JavaScript and/or TypeScript
• Experience with LLMOps, i.e. deploying and managing GenAI solutions in production
• Experience with (Py)Spark and managing Spark clusters
• Terraform Developer Certification
• M.Sc. in Machine Learning, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering

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