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How To Hire a Machine Learning Engineer

IT & Software

Complete with job descriptions, skill profiles, and interview templates. Use this Machine Learning Engineer hiring guide to help you make the right decisions, fast.

What does a Machine Learning Engineer do?

A Machine Learning Engineer devotes their time creating data driven entities which are able to make informed decisions from being trained against a large set of data. They need to have technical skills as well as being up to scratch with the latest concepts as they will need to work with large sets of data as well as write code that make up their machine learning algorithms.

Day to day tasks of a Machine Learning Engineer

  • Create applications which include machine learning
  • Analyse different algorithms
  • Communication with stakeholders
  • Inspect datasets for integrity
  • Collect and load data
  • Create tests to make sure machine learning algorithms are running as expected
Recruitment guide role overview illustration

A machine learning engineer is someone who uses concepts in computer science and manipulates them to design, build and maintain a piece of software which is able to make decisions by itself, known as artificial intelligence. They do this by training the AI with a set of controlled images in order to train the model to correctly identify what is in the image when an image not in the controlled set of images is fed through the system.

Role definition illustration

Machine Learning Engineer Hiring Process

Build the Ideal Candidate Profile​

To find the best person for the role, you need to understand what the role involves. You can complete this with the hiring manager to define the role, its contribution, and the skills needed.

Write A Job Description Based On Skills

Once you understand the requirements for the role, you’ll need to understand the skills for success. You can then write an effective job description to promote your role.

Selecting The Ideal Candidate

See which applicants have the right skills for the role. Send all your applicants a Vervoe skills assessment from the expert library, or customize one for your organization.

Interview Top Performers

Your skills assessment results will identify top performers. Focus your time on interviewing those that have met or exceeded your requirements. Assessment results will also help guide which skill areas to focus on in the interview.

Making An Offer

Once you assess your candidates against these skills, you’re ready to offer the top performer(s). You should base your offer on the value that the candidate would bring to your team and your business as a whole. It is also important to ensure your compensation and benefits packages are competitive in the industry and help you attract and retain the top talent.

Skills needed for a Machine Learning Engineer

A Machine Learning Engineer must have a wide range of skills in order to succeed, they must marry their deep understanding of computer science concepts like data structures with mathematical concepts like statistics and probability as this facilitates the very way a decision is made when presented with many outcomes.

  • Statistical Analysis
  • Machine Learning

How to write a Machine Learning Engineer job description

Once you’ve determined the skills required for the role, you can write the job description to advertise for your position. Here’s what to include in your Machine Learning Engineer job description:

Job Title
What position are you hiring for?
Summary
What makes your company unique? What would it be like to work for you?
Responsibilities
An overview of the role’s day-to-day activities, and how the position contributes to the organization
Requirements
Skills a candidate must have to perform the job successfully
Benefits
Details of compensation, benefits, and any perks on offer
Use our sample Machine Learning Engineer job description
Job description checklist illustration

Sample skill tests for a Machine Learning Engineer

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Question 1

Machine Learning

Question Type: Multiple Choice

For mid-level roles, make sure you clearly define what responsibilities they will undertake so potential employees will know what will be expected of them and they can decide if they would be a good fit.

Question 2

Statistical Analysis

Question Type: Text

You are working on a sentiment analysis project which classifies the text as positive or negative. You were not getting better results and when you checked the skewness of the dataset, you found that the negative class is skewed more than 80% towards the positive class. What is the reason for this skewness?

Question 3

Machine Learning

Question Type: Code

In an interview, you are asked to write a Python program using Matplotlib for forming a linear plot. What is the correct code to do that?

How to interview a Machine Learning Engineer

Once your Vervoe skills assessment has surfaced the most qualified people for your open role, you can focus on interviewing these candidates. The interview should focus on any skills that require development that were highlighted from the skills assessment.

Now you know that candidates can do the job, the interview becomes more of a relationship building exercise where you can get to know the candidate on a more personal level, understand their motivations, and how they would fit in with the team.

How much does it cost to hire a Machine Learning Engineer?

The US average for Machine Learning Engineers is $145,000 according to Talent.com whilst Indeed.com has the average salary at $151,583. Ninety percent of Machine Learning Engineers can expect to earn up to $154,000 and the lowest ten percent are paid up to $76,000 according to Payscale.com.

United States

The United States has a median salary of $113,000 USD for Machine Learning Engineers. This figure will change based on many different elements when a salary is made for employees, for instance, the location of the organisation, the seniority and certifications.

Source: Source: Payscale USA - Machine Learning Engineer Salaries

United Kingdom

Machine Learning Engineers in the United Kingdom have a reported yearly wage of £51,378. There are a handful of factors which need to be taken into consideration when this number is offered to candidates, for example, the location and industry of the organisation.

Source: Source: Glassdoor UK - Machine Learning Engineer Salaries

Australia

In Australia a Machine Learning Engineer can be expected to receive a yearly salary of approximately $95,000 AUD. This figure will be impacted by a number of factors such as, the industry the organization is in, the problem sets the engineer is trying to solve and the seniority.

Source: Source: Glassdoor AU - Machine Learning Engineer Salaries