Machine Learning Engineer

Aberdeen

Part or Full Time Hours Available

FORM Careers is recruiting a Machine Learning Engineer for an early-stage role building an AI system used in the marine industries.

You’ll work closely with the CTO and specialist taxonomists to shape the system from the ground up, turning real-world image data into reliable alerts that farm managers can act on.

The role can begin at around 2–3 days a week

, with scope to grow as the technology develops.

What you’ll do

Help define the AI system’s architecture, requirements and measures of success.
Build and train computer vision models to detect, classify and count phytoplankton and jellyfish.
Design data collection, annotation, versioning and quality-control workflows.
Develop robust testing and validation, including comparison with expert identification.
Decide which workloads should run on edge devices and which should run in the cloud.
Turn model outputs into dependable risk signals, with sensible handling of uncertainty and false alarms.
Document your work so the system can develop with the growing team.

What you’ll bring

Experience building and deploying machine learning models in real-world settings.
Strong computer vision skills, including object detection, classification and segmentation.
Python and experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow.
Experience working with small, imbalanced or imperfect datasets.
Good practice in model evaluation, testing and MLOps, including experiment tracking, versioning and reproducibility.
Confidence making technical decisions in a small team and explaining them clearly to non-specialists.

Useful additional experience

Experience with microscopy or environmental imaging, embedded edge hardware, cloud ML infrastructure, annotation platforms or active learning would be beneficial. An interest in aquaculture, marine technology or the ocean environment is welcome. A relevant degree or PhD is also useful, but practical experience is key.

The role and what’s on offer

Aberdeen is preferred, with time based at a central tech hub and occasional visits to a field base and farm sites. International travel may also be part of the role as the technology grows.

You’ll have ownership of a core system from day one, direct access to the founders, and the chance to work on technology supporting fish health and coastal communities.

The hiring team is open to part time or full time permanent arrangements. Salary or rate will be discussed.

To apply:

Send FORM Careers your CV or portfolio, a short note about a model you’ve built and taken into real use, and your availability and salary or rate expectations.

Job description