Senior Data/ML Engineer (Fintech)

TL;DR

Senior Data/ML Engineer (Fintech): Building and owning the data and machine learning foundation for a real-time financial crime and risk platform with an accent on high-volume streaming pipelines and model productionization. Focus on designing scalable feature platforms, implementing automated retraining machinery, and engineering complex KYC/AML risk signals.

Location: Remote — Must be based in the United States or Canada

Salary: US $150K – $205K / Canada CA$170K – CA$255K + Equity

Company

Sardine is a leading agentic risk platform focused on fighting financial crime and automating fraud and AML operations.

What you will do

• Own data ingestion layers using streaming (Pub/Sub, Beam, Flink) and batch pipelines (Python, Airflow, Spark).
• Build and evolve a feature platform with sub-second serving budgets and strict correctness disciplines.
• Productionize ML models (XGBoost, LightGBM) using Vertex AI and Kubeflow, including automated retraining and monitoring.
• Engineer risk signals for KYC, AML, and identity verification from multi-vendor data sources.
• Design entity resolution and graph data to link customers and devices across the network.
• Implement data governance, including field-level encryption and regional data residency.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience building production data and ML systems with ownership of both pipelines and models.
• Proficiency in Python, SQL, and distributed frameworks such as Spark, Beam, or Flink.
• Hands-on experience with GCP stack (BigQuery, Dataflow, Vertex AI) or AWS equivalents.
• Depth in ML engineering: feature stores, gradient-boosted trees, and drift detection.
• Domain experience in fraud, risk, payments, or KYC.
• Must be based in the United States or Canada.

Nice to have

• Experience with customer-facing ML and model explainability for regulatory review.
• Background in high-growth B2B SaaS as an early data/ML hire.

Culture & Benefits

• Generous cash and equity compensation with early exercise options.
• Remote-first culture with a flexible work-from-anywhere approach within designated regions.
• Flexible paid time off, year-end break, and a one-time home office setup stipend.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
• 4% matching in 401k / RRSP for US and Canada based employees.
• Monthly meal and social meet-up stipends, plus annual learning and wellness budgets.