Data & AI Engineer

ISS is an innovative and sustainable Portuguese marine biotech startup, dedicated to the discovery, development, production and commercialisation of sustainable and innovative ingredients derived from seaweeds, tailored to the needs of customers in cosmetics, nutraceuticals and pet care. ISS is a spin-off from CIIMAR and is well funded and supported by a lead investor, which is a sizeable independent VC firm in Portugal with proven experience in successfully propelling Iberian startups into international markets.

Role summary

This role is for an autonomous and experienced Data & AI Engineer who will take technical ownership of the data and machine-learning backbone of ISS’s digital platform. You will own and evolve our PostgreSQL database, build and maintain the data pipelines that feed it, and keep our ML workflows and infrastructure reliable, reproducible and well integrated with the wider application. You will work alongside an experienced and engaged team, in close collaboration with the Business Development Manager and the executive team, to support the company’s strategic goals and roadmap.

Where you fit in

You will sit in the Business Development team, working on ISS’s digital platform. You will be the technical owner of how data enters, is stored, is enriched and is turned into ML-driven insight across the platform. You will help us evaluate and adopt new AI models and open-source technologies, and you will represent ISS’s interests by making sure our data and ML systems stay robust, trustworthy and ready to scale as the project evolves.

What is the role?

Your main responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:

Database Ownership:

Own and evolve our PostgreSQL database, including schema design, relationships, constraints, triggers, data integrity and database maintenance.

Data Pipelines:

Design, build and maintain data engineering pipelines for ingesting, transforming, enriching and integrating data from external sources.

Data & ML Workflows:

Develop and maintain Python-based data and ML workflows, including orchestration and model lifecycle management.

ML Infrastructure:

Take technical ownership of the machine-learning infrastructure and algorithms, ensuring they remain reliable, reproducible and properly integrated with the wider platform.

Tooling:

Work with technologies such as MLflow and Airflow, as well as other relevant data and ML tools.

Platform Integration:

Integrate data and ML functionality with the wider application through APIs and other interfaces.

AI Innovation:

Contribute to the evaluation and adoption of new AI models, frameworks and technologies, particularly open-source solutions.

Engineering Best Practices:

Ensure good practices around data quality, testing, versioning, reproducibility and monitoring.

What do we need from you?

To succeed in this role, you will have the following:

Skills (must-have):

Degree, Master’s or PhD in Data Science, Computer Science, Bioinformatics or a related quantitative field (minimum: Bachelor’s degree).

5+ years of relevant professional experience, including in ML/AI.

Strong Python and SQL skills.

Strong experience with PostgreSQL and relational database design.

Experience building and maintaining data pipelines and ETL/ELT processes.

Good understanding of machine learning and MLOps.

Familiarity with tools such as MLflow, Airflow and Git.

Experience working with APIs and external datasets.

Good software engineering practices and the ability to write maintainable, reliable code.

Ability to take ownership of technical systems and work independently.

Willingness and ability to learn new technologies as the project evolves.

Nice to have:

Experience with scientific, biological or other complex datasets.

Experience with Linux and cloud infrastructure.

Experience with LLMs, open-source AI models and modern AI frameworks.

Character:

You are a strong communicator who can explain technical topics clearly to non-technical colleagues.

You are a team player with the ability to work collaboratively and independently.

You have a strong sense of responsibility and take ownership of the systems you build.

You are a proactive problem solver with a strong analytical mindset.

You are committed to joining a long-term effort to build a global, market-leading company.

You are passionate about sustainability and blue economy issues.

What can you expect?

A well-funded startup supported by an independent VC firm in Portugal as the lead investor.

Founders with senior and executive-level expertise, where every member raises the team’s EQ.

Competitive salary and benefits vs. similar startups and SMEs.

On-site work with flexibility. A high-performing young startup relies on a healthy culture, which starts with the people we hire and how they interact. To have a team of people who like each other, are happy with their work, are committed and motivated, and communicate well, we believe that working together, shoulder to shoulder in the office, is important. We allow remote days but do not support full remote at this stage.

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