💡 Why it matters: An AI model that works in a test can fail when real life changes. MLOps (machine learning operations) engineers make sure models are released safely, watched closely and fixed or updated when needed.
🌍 Around the world
- United States: Jobs for software developers are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
💰 What it can pay
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting out
- ₦2M – ₦5M
- Mid-career
- ₦6M – ₦14M
- Senior
- ₦14M – ₦30M
≈ ₦500k – ₦1.2M a month mid-career. Indicative estimate by Incusim.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Closest National Careers Service profile: Software developer. Typical starter to experienced salary. National Careers Service, 2026
🇺🇸 United States
Closest US category: Software developers. Median pay; low and high are the 10th and 90th percentiles.. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
🇨🇦 Canada
Closest Job Bank occupation: DevOps engineer. Hourly wage low/high x 2,080 hours (no national median shown). Job Bank (Government of Canada), 2023-2024
Yearly pay before tax. UK, US and Canada figures come from the official sources named on each card. Nigeria has no official salary survey, so those are our indicative estimates. Real pay depends on the employer, the place, your skills and experience.
🛠️ What you actually do
- Build automatic pipelines that test and release new versions of AI models
- Set up the computers and cloud services that models run on
- Monitor models to spot when their answers get worse over time
- Track which data and code produced each model so results can be repeated
- Fix problems quickly when an AI service slows down or fails
⚡ Skills you'll need
- Programming (often Python)
- Cloud and computer systems
- Problem solving
- Attention to detail
- Teamwork
Get ready at school
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting in IT support, software development or DevOps (the practice of releasing and running software reliably)
- Online courses in cloud and machine learning with hands-on projects
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Software developer or digital degree apprenticeships (study while you work)
- Starting in IT support, software development or DevOps, then moving into machine learning systems
🇺🇸 United States
- Starting in IT help desk, software development or DevOps
- Online courses in cloud and machine learning with hands-on projects
🇨🇦 Canada
- Co-op programs that mix study with paid work placements
- Starting in IT support, software development or DevOps
🗺️ Your path to this career
- 1Learn how computers and networks work, and start coding in Python
- 2Study computer science or software engineering, or build skills through projects and online courses
- 3Practise running small apps in the cloud and automating the steps to release them
- 4Train a simple AI model and set up a pipeline that tests and releases it
- 5Join a software or data team, then specialise in running machine learning systems
⏰ A day in the life
An alert tells you a model that suggests delivery routes has started giving odd results. You compare today's data with the data it learned from and find a changed format. You fix the data step, roll the model back to the last good version and add a check so the team is warned sooner next time.