Backend Team Lead (ML)

Mayflower is a technology company building highload products used by millions of people worldwide. Operating at the scale of one of the world's top-50 websites, we solve complex engineering challenges and create solutions that power real-time entertainment for a global audience. We are looking for a Backend Team Lead for our ML development team focused on building and delivering production-grade ML-powered applications . This role is not about research or experimentation. You will be responsible for turning ML models into reliable, scalable, user-facing services . You will work at the intersection of machine learning and backend engineering , owning the full lifecycle of ML-powered features — from integration to deployment and operation in production. Job Responsibilities Design and build production ML services (APIs, microservices, real-time systems) Lead and grow a team of backend engineers : plan work, mentor team members, conduct code reviews, provide technical guidance, and foster engineering excellence. Drive architectural decisions and ensure the scalability, reliability, and maintainability of ML services. Integrate ML models into user-facing applications Ensure reliability, scalability, and performance of ML-powered systems Define and implement best practices for serving, versioning, and monitoring models in production Collaborate closely with: ML engineers / data scientists (who develop models) DevOps / MLOps team (who provide platform and infrastructure) Own the delivery pipeline of ML features into production Lead and mentor engineers working on ML-powered applications Drive architectural decisions around low-latency and high-load systems Identify bottlenecks between experimentation and production and eliminate them You’ll thrive here if you have 5+ years of experience in backend/software engineering in a Lead or Senior role (mentoring, ownership, decision-making). Strong commercial Python experience. Managerial experience leading an engineering team. Experience designing and building production backend systems and microservice architecture. Strong understanding of system design, scalability and high-load systems. Experience developing APIs (FastAPI, Flask, gRPC or similar). Hands-on experience with code reviews, mentoring and technical decision-making. Ability to drive cross-team collaboration and own complex technical integrations. That can be a plus: Experience with real-time ML systems (recommendations, ranking, personalization) Experience in video streaming or high-throughput platforms Familiarity with Kubernetes and cloud/on-prem environments Experience with feature stores, model monitoring, A/B testing Experience working alongside MLOps platforms (MLflow, Airflow, etc.) Conditions We know that great talent deserves great conditions, so here's what you can expect when joining us: EU-based employment contract and a 3-year Cyprus work visa with full…