Technical Lead, ML Operations

At WHOOP, we're on a mission to unlock human performance and healthspan. WHOOP empowers members to live longer and perform at higher levels through a deeper understanding of their bodies and daily lives.

We are seeking a senior engineer to operate as a Technical Lead on the WHOOP MLOps team. This individual will own the strategy, roadmap, and execution for a critical component of our ML platform. This is a hybrid individual contributor and leadership role where you will set technical direction and lead a small team, while driving architectural decisions, and partnering closely with Data Science, AI, and Engineering teams to scale WHOOP’s machine learning capabilities.

In this role, you will be responsible not only for building and optimizing ML infrastructure, but also for defining the long-term vision of your domain, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring successful delivery through both hands-on contributions and technical leadership.

Own the technical vision, roadmap, and delivery for a core component of WHOOP’s ML platform, aligning with product and business priorities.

Lead and manage a small team of engineers by setting direction, prioritizing work, and ensuring high-quality execution against roadmap goals.

Drive end-to-end delivery of the team, including planning, unblocking, and maintaining a high bar for reliability, scalability, and performance.

Act as a player-coach by contributing hands-on to system design and critical components while mentoring engineers and supporting their growth through regular feedback and coaching.

Design and evolve scalable ML infrastructure and CI/CD systems, enabling efficient model deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management.

Partner cross-functionally with Data Science, AI, Product, and Engineering to translate ambiguous requirements into robust platform solutions.

Establish and enforce best practices for architecture, observability, and operational excellence across ML systems.

Contribute to hiring and team building, helping to scale a high-performing ML platform team.

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent practical experience.

7+ years of software engineering experience, including deep experience in ML infrastructure and cloud-based systems, and prior experience leading or managing engineers.

Proven track record of owning and delivering complex systems end-to-end, including driving execution through a team.

Experience managing or formally leading engineers, including mentoring, performance feedback, and supporting career development.

Strong technical expertise in AWS and distributed systems, with experience building scalable, production-grade ML platforms.

Proficiency in programming (e.g., Python, Java) and experience building APIs, data pipelines, and real-time inference systems.

Demonstrated ability to balance hands-on technical work with team leadership responsibilities.

Strong communication and collaboration skills, with experience working across cross-functional stakeholders.