Manager, Applied Machine Learning
Date: Jul 29, 2025
Location: LAKE FOREST, IL, US, 60045-5202
Company: Grainger Businesses
Work Location Type: Hybrid
About Grainger:
W.W. Grainger, Inc., is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom. At Grainger, We Keep the World Working® by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with products and solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships. Known for its commitment to service and award-winning culture, the Company had 2024 revenue of $17.2 billion across its two business models. In the High-Touch Solutions segment, Grainger offers approximately 2 million maintenances, repair and operating (MRO) products and services, including technical support and inventory management. In the Endless Assortment segment, Zoro.com offers customers access to more than 14 million products, and MonotaRO.com offers more than 24 million products. For more information, visit www.grainger.com.
Compensation
The anticipated base pay compensation range for this position is $157,300.00 to $262,200.00.
Sponsorship: This position is not elegible for any form of OPT sponsorship now or in the future. Individuals requiring OPT sponsorship should not apply.
Rewards and Benefits:
With benefits starting on day one, our programs provide choice and flexibility to meet team members' individual needs, including:
- Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment and 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing.
- 18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees (accrual prorated based on employment start date) and 6 company holidays per year.
- 6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
- Employee discounts, tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
- Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.
For additional information and details regarding Grainger’s benefits, please click on the link below:
https://experience100.ehr.com/grainger/Home/Tools-Resources/Key-Resources/New-Hire
The pay range provided above is not a guarantee of compensation. The range reflects the potential base pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. Individual base pay compensation will depend, in part, on factors such as geographic work location and relevant experience and skills.
The anticipated compensation range described above is subject to change and the compensation ultimately paid may be higher or lower than the range described above.
Grainger reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion at any time, consistent with applicable law.
Position Details:
Grainger's GTG ML team seeks a seasoned Manager of Applied AI/ML to drive cutting-edge AI/ML solutions. Leveraging state of the art AI and ML techniques to develop and deploy Keepstock solutions to meet customers’ inventory management needs.
Chicago, IL is the preferred location, but we will also consider candidates who are remote.
You Will:
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Lead a team of exceptionally talented AI/ML scientists design, build, monitor, and maintain processes to address Grainger’s needs.
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Lead and implement high level of rigor in ML projects
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Actively mentor and guide team members as a technical leader in areas of expertise.
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Share your knowledge and expertise with team members, fostering an environment of learning and growth within the broader team
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Utilize a broad array of technologies and techniques including traditional ML., Deep Learning, LLMs, VLMs, Fine-tuning, Prompt optimization to enhance the way Grainger manages KeepStock inventory.
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Work closely with other ML, engineering, product teams to design and develop AI/ML solutions for scale and integrate your models into Grainger's platforms.
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Work backward from customer use cases, design, implement, and deploy ML models that solve the use cases at scale.
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Represent the ML team in broader discussions and liaise with the ML Operations, ML Engineering, Product, and other partners for successful execution of ML projects.
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Lead and contribute to strategic planning and direction of our ML initiatives, ensuring they align with business objectives and drive high value
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Keep abreast of the latest developments in machine learning and related technologies, applying cutting-edge methodologies to your work.
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Demonstrate and present concepts, designs, applications, project deliverables to organization and business partners.
You Have:
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Minimum of 5 years of experience, ideally with 1-2 years in a leadership role, in the industry delivering ML solutions
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PhD degree in a field such as Applied Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience
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Experience building and leading a high-impact team.
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Experience with time-series forecasting, anomaly detection, statistical modeling.
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Experience with ML and deep learning frameworks such as scikit, PyTorch, Tensorflow, Huggingface
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Experience deploying scalable AI/ML solutions in a business context
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Experience building, deploying, monitoring, maintaining production ML systems
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Experience model quantization and deployment on model servers such as Triton
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Experience building models and pipelines with data platforms such as AWS Sagemaker, Databricks
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Experience deploying models into the cloud with tooling like Docker & Kubernetes
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Ability to effectively communicate technical solutions to engineering teams and business audiences
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Experience automating data augmentation and refresh using Airflow and Bash Scripting
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Bonus: experience with GIS systems
We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
We are committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible work environment that includes both providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the application and hiring process as well as throughout the course of one’s employment, should you need a reasonable accommodation during the application and selection process, including, but not limited to use of our website, any part of the application, interview or hiring process, please advise us so that we can provide appropriate assistance.
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