Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Healthcare

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Operations Engineer to support enterprise-wide artificial intelligence initiatives within Data Impact & Governance. The Senior Machine Learning Operations Engineer will join a multidisciplinary environment that integrates multidimensional data, advanced analytics, and machine learning to drive sustainable, responsible AI solutions that improve cancer care outcomes.
Within this mission-driven environment, the Senior Machine Learning Operations Engineer plays a critical role in building, deploying, and sustaining production-quality machine learning systems. The Senior Machine Learning Operations Engineer partners closely with data scientists, engineers, clinicians, and business stakeholders to ensure AI solutions are scalable, secure, reliable, and aligned with responsible AI principles across UT MD Anderson.
The ideal candidate is a seasoned machine learning or software engineering professional with a strong foundation in MLOps, cloud and on-premises AI platforms, and healthcare-focused AI lifecycle management. This individual typically holds a Bachelor's degree in a relevant technical discipline, with a Master's degree preferred, and brings significant hands-on experience developing, deploying, and maintaining machine learning systems in production environments. Experience leading or designing shared ML services, evaluating third-party AI solutions, and applying responsible AI practices within regulated or clinical settings is highly valued.
Minimum $146,500 - Midpoint $183,000- Maximum $219,500 based on a 40-hour work week.
Work Location: Remote within Texas only.

Why Us?
This role offers the opportunity to directly influence how artificial intelligence is responsibly scaled across UT MD Anderson, contributing to meaningful, long-lasting improvements in cancer care while working alongside experts in data science, engineering, and clinical innovation. The Senior Machine Learning Operations Engineer is supported by an environment that values continuous learning, technical excellence, and sustainable work practices while enabling professional growth and enterprise-level impact.
Employer-paid medical coverage starting day one for employees working 30+ hours/week, plus optional group dental, vision, life, AD&D, and disability insurance.
Accruals for PTO and Extended Illness Bank, plus paid holidays, wellness, childcare, and other leave options.
Tuition Assistance Program after six months of service and access to extensive wellness, fitness, and employee resource groups.
Defined-benefit pension through the Teachers Retirement System, voluntary retirement plans, and employer-paid life and reduced salary protection programs.
Responsibilities
AI Model Lifecycle & MLOps
Oversee end-to-end AI model lifecycles including training, evaluation, deployment, monitoring, and maintenance of production-quality machine learning models
Design and implement CI/CD pipelines for model training, deployment, monitoring, and retraining with a focus on security, scalability, reliability, reproducibility, and performance
Implement rigorous testing, versioning, and documentation practices to support reproducibility, risk mitigation, and measurable impact
Maintain comprehensive experiment tracking, data lineage, model lineage, and model scorecards
Design fallback, rollback, and decommissioning strategies to ensure operational continuity of AI solutions
Responsible AI & Governance
Promote responsible AI practices by minimizing bias, enhancing fairness, and maximizing transparency in machine learning models
Ensure AI lifecycle management aligns with institutional standards and best practices
Support assessment, validation, and onboarding of external machine learning models and AI-driven products to minimize organizational risk and maximize value
Platform, Infrastructure & Tooling
Develop and maintain scalable data pipelines, feature stores, and artifact management systems
Deploy and operate ML workloads across cloud and on-premises environments including Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform
Utilize containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and DAG-based tools
Apply DevOps and MLOps tools including Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, and version control systems
Stakeholder Engagement & Enablement
Collaborate with stakeholders to gather requirements, translate AI concepts into understandable terms, and incorporate feedback
Partner with data scientists, ML engineers, and software engineers to integrate models into enterprise systems
Deliver training and knowledge sharing to enhance AI understanding and adoption across the organization
Report project progress, impact, risks, and recommendations to leadership
Innovation & Continuous Learning
Stay current with emerging technology trends in AI, MLOps, and healthcare analytics
Contribute to internal and external technical communities
Foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and learning across teams
Perform other duties as assigned

Education Required: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Physics, Math & Statistics, or another related engineering discipline.

Preferred Education: Master's Level Degree

Experience Required : Five years of experience in machine learning engineering, data science, data engineering, and/or software engineering. With Master's degree, three years' experience required. With PhD, one year of experience required.

Preferred Experience: Experience developing MLOps pipelines for computer vision AI models, hands on experience developing custom machine learning algorithms from scratch (e.g., in NumPy or PyTorch, designed and implemented shared machine learning service that is used across multiple teams or production projects, led the development of systems that automate the deployment and maintenance of multiple machine learning models into user-facing products, five years of industry experience in data science, with at least 3 of those years as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center offers excellent benefits, including medical, dental, paid time off, retirement, tuition benefits, educational opportunities, and individual and team recognition.

This position may be responsible for maintaining the security and integrity of critical infrastructure, as defined in Section 113.001(2) of the Texas Business and Commerce Code and therefore may require routine reviews and screening. The ability to satisfy and maintain all requirements necessary to ensure the continued security and integrity of such infrastructure is a condition of hire and continued employment.

It is the policy of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law.