Lead ML Ops engineer

LA is a top 10 national professional services firm where our purpose is to create opportunities every day, for our clients, our people, and our communities through industry-focused wealth advisory, digital, audit, tax, consulting, and outsourcing services. Even with more than 8,500 people, 130 U.S. locations, and a global reach, we promise to know you and help you. CLA is dedicated to building a culture that invites different beliefs and perspectives to the table, so we can truly know and help our clients, communities, and each other. Our Perks • Flexible PTO (designed to offer flexible time away for you!) • Up to 12 weeks paid parental leave • Paid Volunteer Time Off • Mental health coverage • Quarterly Wellness stipend • Fertility benefits • Complete list of benefits here CLA is growing and seeking to hire an experienced Lead Machine Learning Operations Engineer to join our talented team. This role manages a team of Machine Learning Operations Engineers, oversees the end‑to‑end machine‑learning strategy and execution, sets vision for MLOps, and ensures alignment with business goals. How You’ll Create Opportunities In This Role • Define and execute an enterprise AI/ML platform strategy, encompassing MLOps, LLMOps, and AIOps, and build reusable frameworks and standards adopted across multiple projects and business units. • Oversee enterprise‑scale AI platforms supporting model training, inference, evaluation, monitoring, retraining, and governance, including generative AI systems. • Align AI and MLOps initiatives with business objectives, ensuring platforms and pipelines meet scalability, performance, security, regulatory, and cost requirements, including responsible and ethical AI considerations. • Implement and enforce best practices for model and prompt versioning, monitoring, retraining, and automated workflows, ensuring consistent and reliable AI operations. • Lead teams delivering shared AI infrastructure, tooling, and platforms, providing day‑to‑day leadership through coaching, development, and performance management. • Ensure platform reliability and operational excellence by overseeing escalated issue resolution, maintaining high‑quality documentation, and driving continuous improvement. • Track and evaluate industry trends in AI platforms, LLM ecosystems, and AI operations, translating insights into roadmap decisions and platform evolution. What You Will Need 6 years of relevant experience required. • Experience in MLOps, DevOps, or related fields, with a focus on enterprise-level solutions preferred. • Supervisory experience preferred. Education Bachelor's degree is required. Combination of relevant experience, education, and training may be accepted in lieu of degree. • Degree in computer science, data science, or related field preferred. Technical Competencies • Advanced proficiency in Python and architectural mastery of object‑oriented design across dynamically typed languages. • Broad experience integrating and governing multi‑language systems, including Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and enterprise platforms (e.g., .NET). • Leadership‑level expertise in AI/ML platform engineering, spanning MLOps, LLMOps, and AIOps. • Ability to define and enforce enterprise standards for AI model lifecycle management, monitoring, reliability, and cost control. • Deep understanding of AI system observability, including drift detection, evaluation frameworks, and incident response. • Strong experience with cloud architecture, security, compliance, and enterprise‑scale deployments. • Proven ability to guide teams in technical decision‑making and platform strategy. Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities Click here to learn about your hiring rights. Wellness at CLA To support our CLA family members, we focus on their physical, financial, social, and emotional well-being and offer comprehensive benefit options that include health, dental, vision, 401k and much more. To view a complete list of benefits click here.