Job Description: Here at Rakuten Kobo Inc. we offer a casual working start-up environment and a group of friendly and talented individuals. Our employees rank us highly in terms of commitment to work/life balance. We realize that for our people to be innovative, creative and passionate they need to feel valued and supported. We believe in rewarding all our employees with competitive salaries, performance based annual bonuses, stock options If you’re looking for a company that inspires passion, personal, and professional growth– join Kobo and come help us make reading lives better. The Role: Senior ML Engineer (MLOps) Rakuten Kobo Inc. is seeking a visionary and highly skilled Senior ML Engineer to spearhead the evolution of our MLOps capabilities. In this pivotal role, you will collaborate closely with Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Platform Engineers, and business stakeholders to transform our Machine Learning production workflows from manual processes to a state-of-the-art, fully automated framework on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This groundbreaking position is dedicated to streamlining the entire ML project lifecycle, ensuring the continuous delivery of significant business value through innovative Machine Learning solutions. Success in this role demands not only profound ML engineering expertise but also a forward-thinking mindset for seamlessly integrating ML/AI into the core of our engineering practices. Experience and Background: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline; master's degree is preferred. 5+ years in ML Engineering with at least 2 years in MLOps on GCP. Demonstrated success in moving organizations up the MLOps maturity curve. Experience collaborating with data scientists, data engineers and product managers. Strong communication skills to translate technical frameworks into business-friendly language. The Skillset: Strong hands-on experience with GCP tools such as: Vertex AI BigQuery Cloud Storage Cloud Composer / Airflow Cloud Build and Cloud Deploy Cloud Functions MLOps framework and Automation: Strong understanding of data ingestion pipelines and experiment tracking tools. Ability to enforce reproducibility and lineage tracking. Familiarity with Kubeflow and/or TFX Proven ability to design and implement CI/CD pipeline for ML (automated training, testing, and deployment, integration with GitHub or Cloud Build) Experience with model versioning and registry (Vertex AI Model Registry) Knowledge of Feature Store design. Ability to setup automated monitoring for data and model drift, model performance. Experience setting up observability stacks (logging, metrics, alerts, model health dashboards). Software Engineering and DevOps: Proficiency in Python (mandatory), familiarity with R/Scala/Java as needed. Experience with containerization (docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes, GKE) Strong background in infrastructure-as-a-code (Terraform, Deployment Manager) Ability to implement unit tests, integration tests, and ML-specific validation. Compliance and Best Practices: Knowledge of responsible AI practices (bias, explainability) Familiarity with data governance, security and compliance standards. Strong ability to document and enforce coding standards, review processes, and reproducibility guidelines. Nice to have: Familiarity with the eBook, audiobook, or publishing industry. Contributions to open-source projects related to MLOps or autonomous systems. The Perks: Flexible hours and working environment 4 extended summer long weekends Full benefits starting from your first day Paid Volunteer days, unlimited sick days, and 3% RRSP matching Monthly commuting allowance for hybrid employees Flexible health spending account Training budget + Udemy account Free Kobo device + free weekly e-book or audiobook Weekly Kobo Tech University sessions Maternity/paternity leave top up 90 Day Work from Anywhere program Daily lunch credit when in-office and in-office snacks Dog friendly office About Rakuten Kobo Inc. Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo Inc. is one of the most advanced global ecommerce companies, with the world’s most innovative eReading services offering more than 6 million eBooks and audiobooks to 30 million + customers in 190 countries. Kobo delivers the best digital reading experience through creative innovation, award-winning eReaders, and top-ranking mobile apps. Kobo is a part of the Rakuten group of companies. Rakuten Kobo Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Accessibility accommodations for candidates with disabilities participating in the selection process are available on request. Any information received related to accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially. Rakuten Kobo would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this role however only qualified candidates will be shortlisted. #RKIND Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo Inc. is one of the world’s most innovative eReading services offering more than 6 million eBooks and audiobooks to millions of customers in 190 countries. Believing that consumers should have the freedom to read any book on any device, Kobo provides people with a choice when reading. Kobo offers an eReader for everyone with a wide variety of E Ink eReaders to suit any Reader’s style including Kobo Clara HD, Kobo Aura H2O, and Kobo Aura ONE; along with the company’s free top-ranking eReading and audiobook listening app for Apple® and Android®. Kobo’s award-wining eReaders can be found in major retail chains around the world. For more information, visit www.kobo.com. With a growing catalogue of millions of titles in 97 languages, Kobo is a truly global eReading service for booklovers of all kinds, in every part of the world. Scam Alert: Rakuten Kobo will never ask you to pay or deposit any money as part of working with Kobo. Similarly, Kobo will never ask in an email or online for your banking information or any government information about you, such as social security information. If you encounter these fraudulent attempts, please send an email to [kobo-security]@rakuten.com with the relevant information, and do not respond to the sender. All legitimate emails from Kobo are sent only from the domain @rakuten.com.
