Lead ML Engineer (Portugal Based Remote/Hybrid)

Who we are:Each year, 2 billion people across the world are limited by physical pain. By helping people live without pain, they are free to do the things they love most with the people they love—and never miss a moment. This is what we do. We create and design new technologies to solve one of the biggest problems in healthcare: taking care of our Physical Health. Sword Health is the world’s fastest growing digital musculoskeletal (MSK) care provider on a bold mission to free two billion people from acute, chronic, and post-surgical physical pain . Our customers include some of the most progressive Fortune 100 and 500 companies, as well as over 160+ other established businesses across the world.       The Sword program allows members to complete a personalized physical therapy program from the comfort of home, with continued support and supervision from one of our talented SWORD specialists. Sword’s personalized care is more effective than traditional standards of care, and has proven to deliver best-in-class clinical results. Since breaking into the market less than two years ago, Sword has worked with insurers, health systems, and employers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia to make high quality musculoskeletal care accessible to everyone. This is an opportunity to join Sword during a time of hyper growth and expansion. After our recent $2bn valuation, we’re excited to continue accelerating our impact by scaling with high caliber people with passion, commitment and energy to create and deliver technologies, services and products that drive human progress forward.    We welcome you to join our mission, to make a difference on a grand scale and play a pivotal role with a global team at Sword– working alongside great people pioneering novel products and cutting edge technologies.  



The main goal of the AI Team is to leverage AI and ML to provide high-quality clinical care at unprecedented levels of personalization and scale. In this regard, in close collaboration with the clinical team, we develop ML-powered features that identify the best course of action for each patient at any given moment or circumstance whilst employing a holistic perspective but also contemplating any relevant nuance. We also work on ensuring the overall experience is as close as possible to a 1:1 session with a Physical Therapist and thus play a crucial role in enabling the AI Care provided by Sword.
Some examples of the work we did so far include a decision support system for managing clinical prescriptions, a classification system that identifies people in need of assistance, and a system that enhances the Physical Therapist context when communicating with the patient. To achieve this, we work with tabular and text data using a combination of classical methods and more recent models (such as LLMs).
As for the near future, our focus will be on taking the degree of personalization and human touch of our AI care to a whole new level by leveraging the most recent developments in the Generative AI field.

What you'll be doing:

• Lead a team of 1-3 ML Engineers by assigning tasks, overseeing the team’s work, and ensuring the attainment of the set goals;
• Own the performance review and provision of feedback on your team’s elements;
• Contribute to designing, building, evaluating, shipping, and improving Sword’s products by hands-on AI/ML development;
• Foster an inclusive and diverse work environment that empowers individuals;
• Work alongside the Product, Data & Engineering Teams to define and implement AI/ML-powered features for internal and external users;
• Share your knowledge and experience of how to build ML systems;
• Help grow the AI/ML function by defining and promoting best practices.

What you need to have:

• 5+ years of professional experience in Machine Learning;
• Previous experience in building and leading a team, nurturing team morale, and supporting the career growth of team members;
• Experience leading and owning complex and ambiguous projects from ideation to completion/maintenance;
• Hands-on experience implementing and maintaining production machine learning systems;
• Solid experience in SQL and Python as well as experience developing production software;
• Experience providing technical oversight and mentoring colleagues;
• Ability to learn quickly and dive deep into new problems and fields;
• Ability to communicate concepts clearly and interface with both technical and non-technical stakeholders;
• Ability to prioritize and solve issues according to the team’s direction and goals.

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience working in a fast-paced environment and wearing different hats;
• Experience building data processing pipelines;
• Experience using cloud platforms like GCP or AWS.

To ensure you feel good solving a big Human problem, we offer:

• A stimulating, fast-paced environment with lots of room for creativity;
• A bright future at a promising high-tech startup company;
• Career development and growth, with a competitive salary;
• The opportunity to work with a talented team and to add real value to an innovative solution with the potential to change the future of healthcare;
• A stimulating environment with room for creativity;
• A flexible environment where you can control your hours (remotely) with unlimited vacation;
• Access to our health and well-being program (digital therapist sessions);
• Remote or Hybrid work policy.

The hiring process:

• 30-minute call with the recruiter;
• 30-minute call with an initial screener;
• 1 take-home assignment (to be delivered within 1 week);
• 1h general skills and working principles interview;
• 1h leadership and people management interview;
• 1h mindset and cultural fit interview.

*Please note that this position does not offer relocation assistance. Candidates must possess a valid EU visa and be based in Portugal.
US Sword Benefits:Comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance Equity Shares401(k)Discretionary PTO PlanParental leave
US Sword Perks:Flexible working hoursRemote-first CompanyInternet Stipend for remote workingPaid Company HolidaysFree Digital Therapist for you and your family
Portugal - Sword Benefits:Health, dental and vision InsuranceMeal AllowanceEquity Shares
Portugal - Sword Perks:Remote Work AllowanceFlexible working hoursWork from homeUnlimited VacationFree Digital Therapist for your familySnacks and BeveragesEnglish Class
SWORD Health, which includes SWORD Health, Inc. and Sword Health Professionals (consisting of Sword Health Care Providers, P.A., SWORD Health Care Providers of NJ, P.C., SWORD Health Care Physical Therapy Providers of CA, P.C.*) complies with applicable Federal and State civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of Age, Ancestry, Color, Citizenship, Gender, Gender expression, Gender identity, Gender information, Marital status, Medical condition, National origin, Physical or mental disability, Pregnancy, Race, Religion, Caste, Sexual orientation, and Veteran status.