# Roles

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Roles - ML Teams
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## Summary

* The **Machine Learning Product Manager** is someone who works with the Machine Learning team, as well as other business functions and the end-users.
  * This person designs docs, creates wireframes, comes up with the plan to prioritize and execute Machine Learning projects.
  * The role is just like a traditional Product Manager, but with a deep knowledge of the Machine Learning development process and mindset.
* The **DevOps Engineer** is someone who deploys and monitors production systems.
  * This person handles the infrastructure that runs the deployed Machine Learning product.
  * This role is primarily a software engineering role, which often comes from a standard software engineering pipeline.
* The **Data Engineer** is someone who builds data pipelines, aggregates and collects from data storage, monitors data behavior.
  * This person works with distributed systems such as Hadoop, Kafka, Airflow.
  * This person belongs to the software engineering team that works actively with Machine Learning teams.
* The **Machine Learning Engineer** is someone who trains and deploys prediction models.
  * This person uses tools like TensorFlow and Docker to work with prediction systems running on real data in production.
  * This person is either an engineer with significant self-teaching OR a science/engineering Ph.D. who works as a traditional software engineer after graduate school.
* The **Machine Learning Researcher** is someone who trains prediction models, but often forward-looking or not production-critical.
  * This person uses TensorFlow / PyTorch / Jupiter to build models and reports describing their experiments.
  * This person is a Machine Learning expert who usually has an MS or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science or Statistics or finishes an industrial fellowship program.
* The **Data Scientist** is actually a blanket term used to describe all of the roles above.
  * In some organizations, this role actually entails answering business questions via analytics.
  * The role constitutes a wide range of backgrounds from undergraduate to Ph.D. students.