--- title: 'Head of Machine Learning Engineering at Trainline' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-machine-learning-engineering-trainline-london-h0vx75rtysst' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-18' --- # Head of Machine Learning Engineering at Trainline - **Company:** Trainline - **Location:** London, United Kingdom - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-06-29 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/trainline/ba2ccccc-afcb-456e-ab64-808ecf2a1846/application **Skills:** Python, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, MLOps, DevOps, Cloud Infrastructure, AWS, scikit-learn, NumPy, LightGBM, Pandas, LangChain, LangGraph, TensorFlow, PySpark, Terraform, Docker, Airflow, MLFlow, New Relic > Lead the ML strategy, team, and delivery for Trainline's Core Experience pillar, including search, pricing, and conversational AI. Manage a team of ML Managers and individual contributors, overseeing budget, vendor costs, and operational maturity while driving the adoption of scalable ML systems. ## Job description ## About us At Trainline, our purpose is to [empower greener travel choices, connecting people and places.](https://www.thetrainline.com/terms/sustainability-faqs) Trainline enables millions of travellers to find and book the best value tickets across carriers, fares, and journey options through our highly rated mobile app, website, and B2B partner channels. Great journeys start with Trainline 🚄 We’re Europe’s leading independent rail platform, helping millions of travellers find and book the best-value rail and coach journeys across our app, website and partner channels. Our job is to make the green travel choice the best choice. By building a better train travel experience, we help more people choose rail - creating a positive impact for customers, our business and the planet. We’re a team of more than 1,000 Trainliners from over 50 nationalities, working across London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Edinburgh and Madrid. Now is a brilliant time to join us and help shape the future of travel. Introducing Machine Learning and AI at Trainline 👋 Machine learning and AI are central to how Trainline helps millions of customers make smarter, more sustainable travel choices every day. Our ML models and AI systems power critical parts of the platform - from search and recommendations to pricing intelligence, personalisation, digital marketing, and AI-driven customer support. Our ML teams own the full delivery lifecycle, from ideation through to production. We work closely with stakeholders across the business to expand the reach and impact of ML and AI throughout Trainline. ## The Role This is a senior leadership role sitting within one of Trainline’s most important product areas: Core Experience. This pillar encompasses the products and systems closest to the customer journey - search, pricing, payments, fare intelligence, and conversational interfaces. You will define and lead the ML strategy, team, and delivery across this domain. That means building and scaling ML and AI capabilities that measurably improve the customer experience and drive business outcomes. The work spans traditional ML systems and emerging agentic/LLM-based capabilities. You will lead multiple ML teams through their respective team leads, reporting to the Director of AI & ML. You’ll be accountable for the people (2 ML Managers and ~10 ICs), delivery, and budget across your pillar - including vendor and infrastructure cost management. You’ll work closely with Product, Engineering, Data, Analytics, and commercial stakeholders, combining strategic thinking, technical leadership, and organisational leadership to ensure Trainline continues to ship high-quality, scalable ML systems in production. As a Head of Machine Learning - Core Experience at Trainline you will... 🚄 - Set direction and own the budget. Define the vision, strategy, and roadmap for ML across the Core Experience pillar. Own the pillar’s budget - including cloud infrastructure, vendor costs, and third-party tooling - balancing short-term delivery with longer-term platform investments. - Lead and grow the organisation. Lead multiple teams through their team leads. Coach managers and senior ICs, set hiring strategy, and build a culture of technical excellence, experimentation, and delivery. Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and commercial stakeholders to identify high-value opportunities and raise adoption of ML across the business. - Deliver and operate. Drive delivery across search relevance, payments models, splits and fare optimisation, supply automation, and conversational AI. Ensure your teams ship end-to-end - from prototyping through deployment, monitoring, and iteration. Raise operational maturity by defining SLIs/SLOs, incident management, and on-call practices for ML systems in production. - Shape AI practices and governance. Co-own the operating model for modern AI at Trainline - LLM-based features, agentic systems, evaluation frameworks, and guardrails. Drive improvements in AI governance, data privacy, security, and audit accountability as capabilities scale. We'd love to hear from you if you have...🔍 - Significant experience building and leading production ML teams, including managing through team leads (manager-of-managers) - Strong track record of shipping ML systems that deliver measurable business or customer impact, across problem types such as ranking, recommendation, forecasting, optimisation, or real-time decisioning - Deep understanding of the full ML lifecycle and strong software/platform instincts - you know what it takes to run reliable ML at scale – including MLOps tooling and practices - Experience raising operational standards: SLIs/SLOs, monitoring, incident management, and production reliability - Budget ownership, including infrastructure cost management and vendor oversight - Comfortable operating at both strategic and technical levels, with strong stakeholder and communication skills - Experience hiring, mentoring, and developing technical talent at multiple levels ## Nice to have 😍 - Experience with AWS cloud infrastructure - Experience with cross-functional delivery in product-led organisations - Experience deploying conversational and agent-based systems in customer-facing products - Experience in travel, transport, marketplaces, or similarly complex digital platforms Our technology stack 💻 - Python and associated ML / DS libraries (scikit-learn, NumPy, LightGBM, Pandas, LangChain/LangGraph, TensorFlow, etc.) - PySpark - AWS cloud infrastructure: EMR, ECS, Athena, etc - MLOps / DevOps: Terraform, Docker, Airflow, MLFlow - Monitoring and evaluation platforms including New Relic and Braintrust More information: Enjoy fantastic perks like private healthcare & dental insurance, a generous work from abroad policy, 2-for-1 share purchase plans, an EV Scheme to further reduce carbon emissions, extra festive time off, and excellent family-friendly benefits. We prioritise career growth with clear career paths, transparent pay bands, personal learning budgets, and regular learning days. Jump on board and supercharge your career from day one! We're operating a hybrid model and ask that Trainliners work from the office a minimum of 60% of their time over a 12-week period. We also have a 28-day Work from Abroad policy. Our values represent the things that matter most to us and what we live and breathe everyday, in everything we do: - 💭 Think Big - We're building the future of rail - ✔️ Own It - We focus on every customer, partner and journey - 🤝  Travel Together - We're one team - ♻️ Do Good - We make a positive impact We know that having a diverse team makes us better and helps us succeed. And we mean all forms of diversity - gender, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, nationality and diversity of thought. That's why we're committed to creating inclusive places to work, where everyone belongs and differences are valued and celebrated. Interested in finding out more about what it's like to work at Trainline? Why not check us out on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/trainline/), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/lifeattrainline/) and [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-Trainline-EI_IE249203.11,20.htm)! ## About Trainline ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Trainline is Europe’s leading independent rail platform, enabling travelers to search, book, and manage rail and coach tickets across 40+ countries via its website and mobile app. - **Entity Type**: Public (London Stock Exchange: TRN; FTSE 250 & FTSE4Good Index constituent) - **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom (with offices in Edinburgh, Barcelona, Milan, and Paris) - **Founded**: 1999 (by Virgin Group, originally a phone-based ticketing service) - **Founders**: The company was founded by the Virgin Group; current leadership includes CEO Jody Ford (joined 2024) ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Online travel & ticketing; rail technology; mobility services - **Target customers**: B2C (individual travelers) and B2B (rail and coach operators via Trainline Solutions) - **Mission or purpose statement**: “We’re building the world’s number one rail platform, giving people a simpler, greener travel experience.” The company is anchored in environmental sustainability — empowering people to make greener travel choices. ## Products & Services - **[Trainline Consumer App/Website]**: A multi-channel platform (iOS, Android, web) allowing users to search, compare, book, and manage rail and coach tickets across 270+ carriers in 40+ countries. Features include live journey planners, eTickets, PriceBot (lowest fare alerts), and carbon footprint tracking. Over 125 million visits per month and 350+ searches per second. - **[Trainline Solutions]**: A B2B segment offering white-label ticketing, data, and technology services to rail and coach operators, including APIs, retailing tools, and customer analytics. - **[Platform One]**: The proprietary technology infrastructure powering all Trainline services across markets. - **[‘I Came By Train’ Initiative]**: A sustainability campaign promoting rail over air/car travel, with customer tools like ‘My Sustainability Story’ and ‘Super Routes’ for CO2 tracking. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (public company; market cap fluctuates). Annual Report data available via LSE filings. - **Key Metric**: Annual Net Ticket Sales exceeded £5 billion (as of latest reports); International segment reached £1 billion in ticket sales. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Initially backed by Virgin Group; now publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange. No single controlling investor disclosed. Key rail partners include 270+ operators globally (e.g., SNCF, Renfe, Trenitalia, UK train operators). - **Growth Signals**: Europe’s most downloaded rail travel app; 93% of UK consumer transactions via mobile; 70% of International consumer transactions via app; growing headcount (c.990 people from ~60 nationalities); joined FTSE 250 shortly after IPO; net-zero targets approved by Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). ## Competitive Advantages - **Scale & Data Moat**: Over 125 million monthly visits and 350 searches/second provide massive user behavior data for route optimization, pricing algorithms, and demand forecasting. - **Multi-Country Regulatory & Integration Expertise**: Deep integration with 270+ rail/coach operators across highly fragmented European rail markets — a strong barrier to entry. - **Sustainability as Brand Differentiator**: First tech company with SBTi-approved net-zero targets; carbon comparison tools embedded in UX (“87% less CO2 than air travel”). This aligns with growing consumer and regulatory push for greener transport. - **Cross-Channel Dominance**: High mobile adoption (93% UK/70% International app transactions) combined with strong web presence. - **Recurring Model via B2B Solutions**: Trainline Solutions provides stickiness with operators beyond the consumer marketplace. ## Strategic Focus - **International Expansion**: Growing non-UK markets (e.g., Spain, Italy, France) — international segment hit £1bn ticket sales. - **Modal Shift Marketing**: Driving rail vs. air/car through initiatives like ‘I Came By Train’ and sustainability features. - **Technology & Personalization**: Investing in AI/ML for dynamic pricing, journey optimization, and personalized recommendations via Platform One. - **Sustainability Leadership**: Continued investment in carbon tracking features and SBTi-aligned net-zero roadmap. - **B2B Growth**: Scaling Trainline Solutions to onboard more operators and geographies. ## Why Work Here - **Culture & Values**: Four core values — “Think Big,” “Own It,” “Travel Together,” “Do Good” — shape culture. Emphasis on innovation, accountability, inclusion, and positive environmental impact. - **Flexible/Hybrid Work**: Hybrid policy requiring 60% minimum in-office over 12-week period; plus a 28-day “Work from Abroad” policy per year. - **Benefits**: 25 days annual leave + 2 extra days over festive period + option to buy 3 extra days; Bupa health & dental cover; gym discount; Employee Assistance Programme; income protection; global share incentive plan; Perkbox discounts; enhanced parental leave; fertility and parental bereavement coaching. - **Diversity & Inclusion**: 55+ nationalities, c.990 employees. Active employee-led networks: Women in Leadership, Gender Equality Network, Ethnic Diversity Network, Rainbow Train (LGBTQIA+), Sunflower (accessibility), Parents & Carers. - **Career Development**: Personal learning budget; digital learning platform (Learning Express); workshops and development programmes; internal mobility encouraged; transparent pay bands; promotion windows twice a year (~10% of employees promoted annually). - **Office Locations**: Modern offices in London (HQ), Edinburgh, Barcelona (tech hub with sunny terrace), Milan, Paris. Perks include free breakfast, pool tables, event spaces, stocked drinks fridges, and outdoor BBQs in some locations. - **Impact**: Opportunity to work on a platform with 125M+ monthly visits, driving modal shift and reducing carbon emissions. ## Sources 1. [trainlinegroup.com/careers/en/who-we-are/](https://www.trainlinegroup.com/careers/en/who-we-are/) 2. [trainlinegroup.com/careers/en/](https://www.trainlinegroup.com/careers/en/) 3. [trainlinegroup.com](https://www.trainlinegroup.com/) 4. [trainlinegroup.com/careers/en/life-at-trainline/](https://www.trainlinegroup.com/careers/en/life-at-trainline/) 5. [trainlinegroup.com/careers/en/how-we-hire/](https://www.trainlinegroup.com/careers/en/how-we-hire/) ## Other roles at Trainline - [Machine Learning Engineering Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-engineering-manager-trainline-london-a6af185x9ssm) — London, United Kingdom - [Head of Financial Control - Management Accounting 6 Month Fixed Term Contract](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-financial-control-management-accounting-6-month-fixed-term-contract-n1mcycsypnfx) — London, United Kingdom - [People Operations Advisor](https://feeny.ai/job/people-operations-advisor-trainline-london-ge700fahqeet) — London, United Kingdom - [iOS Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ios-engineer-trainline-london-q6t7b0bnx4dj) — London, United Kingdom - [Senior Product Security Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-security-engineer-trainline-london-81gr131jjcvb) — London, United Kingdom - [Junior Machine Learning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/junior-machine-learning-engineer-trainline-london-zfkef3ng8g4v) — London, United Kingdom - [Head of Group Reporting](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-group-reporting-trainline-london-st419r2ns4fz) — London, United Kingdom - [Android Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/android-engineer-trainline-london-sdwhdpjvk9c5) — London, United Kingdom - [Senior Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-platform-engineer-trainline-london-1x390fxkm7e0) — London, United Kingdom - [Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/platform-engineer-trainline-london-sw955n28k9jc) — London, United Kingdom