Group Lead AI & Mle Ops

Job Description --------------- **KRAFT HEINZ** Data, AI & Digital Innovation — India GCC **Group Lead, AI/ML Engineering** **Location** Bangalore, India (India GCC) **Function** Data, AI & Digital Innovation — AI Engineering, ML Engineering & MLOps **Reports To** Jyoti Radhu — Director, Data, AI & Digital Innovation, GCC India **Key Partners** GenAI & ML leadership in Chicago and Toronto; offshore consulting partners **Role Summary** ================ We are looking for a Group Lead to **lead AI Engineering, ML Engineering, and MLOps from our India GCC in Bangalore.** This leader will build and mentor the engineering team, establish the delivery framework, and own delivery of AI/ML solution and Platform . **How This Role Fits the Operating Model** ========================================== **1\. Manage GCC deliverables across AI Engineering and ML Engineering.** Single point of ownership for what the India GCC delivers across both disciplines — planning, execution, quality, and timelines. **2\. Ensure AI & ML platform stability with GCC engineers and consulting partners.** Keep the enterprise AI/ML platform stable and reliable, using a combined workforce of GCC engineers and offshore consulting partners — with clear accountability regardless of who does the work. **3\. Partner with AI Engineering and ML Engineering leadership in North America.** Operate as the GCC counterpart to leadership in Chicago and Toronto — aligned on priorities, patterns, and standards, with a regular operating rhythm in both directions. **Key Responsibilities** ======================== * **Lead AI Engineering, ML Engineering & MLOps from the GCC:** own applied delivery of AI and ML solutions built on the approved enterprise stack (Azure ML, Azure OpenAI Service, Snowflake Cortex, Copilot Studio). * **Lead Forward-Deployed Engineering (FDE) for GenAI delivery:** run the FDE model — engineers embedded directly with business teams to turn their problems into working GenAI solutions — owning how FDEs are assigned, how they engage, and the quality of what they ship. * **Mentor and grow the team:** hire, coach, and develop AI/ML engineers in Bangalore; set the technical bar and build future leads. * **Create the delivery framework:** define how work moves from intake to production — standards for scoping, code quality, CI/CD, testing, evaluation, and release — so delivery is repeatable and predictable. * **Manage delivery:** own commitments on scope, dates, quality, and cost; track progress, surface risks early, and course-correct visibly. * **Ensure the ML Platform and its SLAs:** keep the enterprise AI/ML platform and pipelines reliable — MLOps, CI/CD, monitoring, incident response, cost management — and define, enforce, and report against SLAs for availability, support response, and delivery turnaround. * **Liaise with consulting partners:** manage offshore consulting partners — onboarding, work allocation, quality review, and accountability for their deliverables. **Required Qualifications** =========================== * Hands-on experience delivering GenAI and ML solutions to production, ideally on Azure (Azure ML, Azure OpenAI Service, AKS, Azure DevOps). * Strong MLOps background: containerization, CI/CD, deployment, monitoring, and reliability for ML/LLM systems. * Experience with agentic/LLM application development (LangGraph or comparable frameworks) and strong production-quality Python. * Proven people leadership: hiring, mentoring, and growing engineers; comfortable operating in a forward-deployed model alongside business teams. * Experience setting up delivery frameworks, SLAs, or operating processes for an engineering team. * Experience managing vendors or consulting partners and holding them accountable for quality. * Clear communicator, comfortable working across time zones with global leadership and non-technical stakeholders. **Preferred Qualifications** ============================ * Experience in a GCC/captive-center or hub-and-spoke operating model. * CPG, retail, or other large-enterprise background. Location(s) ----------- Bengaluru - Brookfield GCC   **Kraft Heinz is an Equal Opportunity Employer – Underrepresented Ethnic Minority Groups/Women/Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity and other protected classes****.**