Founding Lead AI Engineer

Job description

Working Arrangement: Malaysia (Hybrid)

Shape AI That Powers the Future of Financial Access Across Southeast Asia

At BJAK, we’re using AI to solve meaningful problems — from fraud detection and risk modeling to hyper-personalized financial experiences that make insurance and financial services more accessible.

We’re looking for a Founding Lead AI Engineer based in Malaysia to play a pivotal role in building, scaling, and leading the next generation of intelligent systems.

This role blends deep technical expertise with hands-on leadership, reporting directly to our Head of AI.

You’ll write production code, shape strategy, mentor team members, and help grow a lean, world-class AI engineering team.

Why This Role Matters

• You’ll design and deploy core AI systems that serve millions across the region
• You’ll be the right hand to the Head of AI — driving technical execution and engineering standards
• You’ll lead and mentor junior engineers to elevate team performance and capabilities
• You’ll play a critical role in hiring and scaling a high-performance AI team

What You’ll Do

• Design, build, and ship production-grade ML models for high-impact use cases
• Lead model architecture, data pipeline design, and deployment strategies
• Collaborate across product, engineering, and data teams to drive AI initiatives
• Own the end-to-end ML lifecycle — from data prep to deployment and monitoring
• Review code, guide projects, and mentor engineers through technical challenges
• Champion experimentation, continuous learning, and AI best practices
• Interview and evaluate candidates, contributing to technical hiring and team building
• Stay ahead of ML advancements — and bring cutting-edge solutions into production

You’ll Thrive Here If You…

• Lead from the front — you’re hands‑on in code, but always lifting others
• Think like an owner — you don’t wait for permission to solve a problem
• Operate at speed and depth — you make fast, sound decisions that balance trade-offs
• Push for clarity — even in chaos, you bring structure, direction, and accountability
• Care about what ships — you focus on solving real-world problems, not just academic ones
• Grow the team, not just the tech — you enjoy mentoring, coaching, and seeing others win
• Adapt fast — priorities shift, ambiguity is the norm, and you navigate both with confidence
• Have a builder’s mindset — fast prototypes, strong opinions, and a hunger to iterate
• Keep learning — you’re constantly leveling up your technical, product, and leadership game

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
• 4–6 years of experience in AI/ML engineering with real-world deployment experience
• Strong Python skills and deep familiarity with ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit‑learn)
• Solid understanding of the end-to-end ML lifecycle: data pipelines, training, validation, monitoring
• Experience working on applied AI problems (e.g., recommendation, fraud, risk, NLP, etc.)
• Track record of technical leadership and mentoring engineers
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills

Nice to Have

• Experience with MLOps tooling (e.g., MLflow, Airflow, Docker, GCP/AWS)
• Familiarity with responsible AI practices (fairness, interpretability, model governance)
• Startup or scale‑up environment experience
• Exposure to building internal tools, reusable ML components, or AI platforms

What You’ll Get

• Competitive salary and performance-based bonuses
• Hybrid work flexibility: remote work plus in-person collaboration at our HQ
• High ownership role with impact visible at a regional scale
• Direct reporting line to Head of AI with exposure to senior leadership
• Opportunity to lead and shape a growing AI engineering team
• Fast-track career growth and learning opportunities in a high-speed environment
• Collaborative, flat culture where ideas move fast and great work gets noticed

About BJAK

BJAK is Southeast Asia’s largest digital insurance platform, serving millions of users with transparent, affordable financial protection.

Headquartered in Malaysia, and active in Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan, we’re building AI-driven systems that make complex financial services accessible, fast, and fair.

We believe in technology that moves fast and serves real needs — from personalized pricing engines to smart automation and fraud detection.

Join us in reshaping the future of financial access across Asia.

If you’re ready to build, lead, and scale AI that matters — and want to grow with a company that thinks big and moves fast — we’d love to hear from you.

Required Skill Profession

It & Technology