Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This Manager of Technical Staff role sits at the intersection of applied AI and enterprise SaaS, where model capability becomes a product surface rather than a research artifact. With a mandate tied to “Sovereign AI,” the work reflects a growing segment of the ecosystem: deploying frontier models in ways that align with public sector and regulated-enterprise constraints, including security and jurisdictional requirements. The in person Toronto setup also signals close coupling between leadership, research iteration, and production delivery.
From a SaaS career perspective, the position offers leverage in two durable areas: translating cutting edge modelling into reliable, scalable services, and building the operating rhythm for teams that ship platform level AI. Managing scientists and engineers while collaborating across modelling, forward deployed engineering, and solutions architecture mirrors how modern AI SaaS organizations bridge R&D and customer facing implementation. Experience here tends to transfer to other AI platform, infrastructure, and applied ML leadership tracks.
This role best fits a leader who stays technically engaged while setting direction, and who is comfortable with open ended problem spaces where literature, experimentation, and engineering trade offs all matter. It will resonate with professionals motivated by high stakes deployment contexts and cross functional alignment, rather than narrowly scoped product increments.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
Who are we?
Our mission is to scale intelligence to serve humanity. We’re training and deploying frontier models for developers and enterprises who are building AI systems to power magical experiences like content generation, semantic search, RAG, and agents. We believe that our work is instrumental to the widespread adoption of AI.
We obsess over what we build. Each one of us is responsible for contributing to increasing the capabilities of our models and the value they drive for our customers. We like to work hard and move fast to do what’s best for our customers.
Cohere is a team of researchers, engineers, designers, and more, who are passionate about their craft. Each person is one of the best in the world at what they do. We believe that a diverse range of perspectives is a requirement for building great products.
Join us on our mission and shape the future!
Why this role?
This role is hands-on and research-driven. You will design and implement novel research ideas, ship state of the art models to production, and maintain deep connections to academia and the government. You’ll dive into the latest literature on LLMs, experiment with frontier models, and lead a team of talented engineers and researchers to build scalable, production-ready solutions. At Cohere, we blend engineering and research seamlessly—everyone contributes to both, depending on their interests and organizational needs. We provide access to world-class compute resources, data, and talent to ensure you can do your best work.
Note: This role is in-person in Toronto only.
As the Manager for the Sovereign AI Modelling team, you will:
Manage a team of scientists and engineers, fostering a culture of high-performance, innovation and continuous learning
Stay up-to-date with the latest research in LLMs and related fields
Lead scalable strategies to train frontier models
Collaborate with cross-functional teams across modelling, forward-deployed engineering, and solutions architecture
You may be a good fit if you have:
A PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field, with publications in top-tier venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP)
Deep expertise in LLMs, with a strong understanding of the latest research and trends
Prior experience managing a team of engineers and/or scientists
Strong software engineering skills, with proficiency in Python and PyTorch, TensorFlow, or similar frameworks
Experience with distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and scalable architectures
Excellent communication and organizational skills, with the ability to lead and motivate a team
A proactive, self-motivated mindset, with a passion for solving ambitious, open-ended problems
Canadian citizenship and eligibility for security clearance (required for this role).
If some of the above doesn’t line up perfectly with your experience, we still encourage you to apply!
We value and celebrate diversity and strive to create an inclusive work environment for all. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to providing equal opportunities. Should you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please submit an Accommodations Request Form, and we will work together to meet your needs.
Full-Time Employees at Cohere enjoy these Perks:
🤝 An open and inclusive culture and work environment
🧑💻 Work closely with a team on the cutting edge of AI research
🍽 Weekly lunch stipend, in-office lunches & snacks
🦷 Full health and dental benefits, including a separate budget to take care of your mental health
🐣 100% Parental Leave top-up for up to 6 months
🎨 Personal enrichment benefits towards arts and culture, fitness and well-being, quality time, and workspace improvement
🏙 Remote-flexible, offices in Toronto, New York, San Francisco, London and Paris, as well as a co-working stipend
✈️ 6 weeks of vacation (30 working days!)
