AI maturity
advanced
Head of AI/ML
Technical Lead, Applied AI (Forward Deployed)
Mistral · Artificial Intelligence / Foundation Models · 📍 Montreal
Mistral AI needs a hands-on technical lead in Montreal to own complex enterprise AI deployments end-to-end — writing critical code, leading Applied AI engineers, and serving as the senior technical face to Mistral's most strategic customers.
Company stage
scale-up
Source
lever
Key responsibilities
- Deliver critical code on complex customer projects as a hands-on IC while leading a team of Applied AI Engineers
- Lead pre-sales technical discussions, translating enterprise requirements into Mistral-powered solutions
- Design and implement complex AI systems including fine-tuning, RAG pipelines, agentic workflows, and custom LLM applications
- Mentor Applied AI Engineers and establish best practices for GenAI deployment across industries
- Drive innovation by tracking emerging AI trends and feeding customer insights back into product and research roadmaps
Requirements
- Deep hands-on engineering capability — must write and own production AI code, not just manage
- Experience deploying LLM-based systems (RAG, fine-tuning, agentic workflows) in enterprise environments
- Ability to lead and mentor technical teams in a fast-paced, customer-facing context
- Strong communication skills to interface with both technical and business stakeholders during pre-sales and delivery
Signals
- ⚠ No salary or compensation range posted
- ⚠ Role blends IC delivery with team leadership and pre-sales — scope may be overloaded
- ⚠ Montreal posting for a Paris-headquartered company with no stated Canada office — reporting lines and local support unclear
- ✓ Mistral AI is a top-tier frontier model company with strong VC backing and enterprise momentum
- ✓ Role has clear strategic mandate: owning most complex enterprise customer relationships
- ✓ Hands-on coding expectation signals genuine respect for IC work at leadership level
- ✓ Direct collaboration with research and product teams offers outsized influence on roadmap
- ✓ Growing global footprint (France, US, UK, Germany, Singapore) signals real scale