Engineering Manager, Machine Learning and Data Science

Engineering Manager, Machine Learning and Data Science

sennder HQ Berlin

Machine Learning

In office

Full-time

Sennder is redefining road logistics. As Europe’s leading digital freight forwarder, we are building a smarter, faster, and more sustainable future for freight, powered by a single, unified platform that already runs our entire business. We are moving from a decade of growth through acquisition to a company that is outcome-driven, outward-focused, and AI-native by design.

Logistics is one of the best possible use cases for AI, and unlike most of our peers, we own the full loop: the platform, the operations, and the data connecting them. That closed feedback loop is a compounding advantage most competitors can’t replicate. This role exists to turn that advantage into sennder’s sharpest edge in margin, cost, and service, because AI will give us that edge if we lead, or become a risk if we lag.

As the Engineering Manager for our Machine Learning & Data Science team, you will lead a highly talented group of Data Scientists and ML Engineers tackling some of the most complex operational challenges in logistics. This is a dynamic, high-impact role where you will guide the strategic direction of our applied AI initiatives, while partnering closely with our Staff ML Engineer who owns the core technical architecture and technical leadership.

You will champion a culture of excellence that balances rigorous engineering standards with the rapid delivery of business value.

Rather than just focusing on the "how" and the metrics of delivery (such as velocity, predictability, and engineering quality), you will be fundamentally driven by the "why"—ensuring your team’s output consistently translates into measurable business outcomes that drive real margin and efficiency gains for the company. You will partner tightly with our AI Lead Product Managers to shape a high-ROI roadmap and collaborate closely with our Data & AI Platform (MLOps) team to ensure seamless deployment.

Ultimately, your job is to create an inspiring, high-trust environment where top-tier engineers are empowered to build transformative AI products.

• People Leadership & Culture: Manage, coach, and support a high-performing team of Data Scientists and ML Engineers. Foster a highly motivating, inclusive team spirit, creating an inspiring workplace where engineers feel empowered, challenged, and psychologically safe to innovate.
• AI Adoption & Transformation: Champion our journey toward becoming a fully AI-native business. You will drive AI adoption within the department and beyond, continuously exploring how foundational models and agents can be leveraged to bring our internal workflows and internal products to the next level.
• Technical Enablement: Maintain a deep connection to the technical reality of your team. While your primary focus is on people and roadmap execution, you will dive into the codebase during your ramp-up and occasionally contribute to tooling or non-critical path initiatives. You will use this context to seamlessly unblock your engineers and support the Staff Engineer's architectural vision.
• Delivery & Execution: Drive agile execution and operational excellence. Guide the team in transitioning R&D prototypes into robust, scalable, production-ready ML systems, maintaining a high bar for engineering quality and predictability.
• Roadmap & Business Value: Partner tightly with Product Managers to ruthlessly prioritize the backlog. Focus the team on initiatives with clear, measurable ROI, perfectly aligning technical possibilities with sennder's strategic commercial goals.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with your Staff ML Engineer to navigate deep technical challenges, and…