Lead ML Engineer (Portugal Based Remote/Hybrid)

Sword Health is on a mission to free two billion people from pain. 

With 67% of members achieving a pain-free life and a 70% reduction in surgery intent, at Sword, we are using AI Care to change lives, and save millions for our 25,000+ enterprise clients across three continents. Today, we hold the majority of industry patents, win 70% of competitive evaluations, and have raised more than $300 million from top venture firms like Founders Fund, Sapphire Ventures, General Catalyst, and Khosla Ventures.

Recognized as a Forbes Best Startup Employer in 2025, this award highlights our focus on being a destination for the best and brightest  talent. Not only have we experienced unprecedented growth since our market debut in 2020,  but we’ve also created a remarkable mission and value-driven environment that is loved by our growing team. With a recent valuation of $3 billion, we are in a phase of hyper growth and expansion, and we’re looking for individuals with passion, commitment, and energy to help us scale our global impact. 

Joining Sword means committing to a set of core values, chief amongst them to “do it for the patients” every day, and to always “deliver more than expected” on behalf of our members and clients.

This is an opportunity for you to make a significant difference on a massive scale as you work alongside 900+ (and growing!) talented colleagues, spanning three continents. Your charge? To help us build a pain-free world, powered by AI, enhanced by people — accessible to all.

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.

Examples of this are projects like “Phoenix” and all the decision support systems that empower our Physical Therapists to provide world-class care to our members

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.

What we would love to see:

• 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.

Portugal - Sword Benefits & Perks:

• Health, dental and vision insurance

• Meal allowance

• Equity shares

• Remote work allowance

• Flexible working hours

• Work from home

• Discretionary vacation

• Snacks and beverages

• English class

Note: Please note that this position does not offer relocation assistance. Candidates must possess a valid EU visa and be based in Portugal.

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.