ABOUT THE ROLE
A well-funded AI/ML platform startup (Series A) based in Mountain View, CA is looking for a Founding Engineer – Machine Learning to build and scale core ML systems from the ground up. You'll join a small, high-velocity team working closely with the founders to establish technical culture, reliable ML pipelines, and measurable product impact. This is a rare opportunity to shape the architecture and direction of ML infrastructure at an early stage.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Build and optimize end-to-end ML pipelines from data ingestion through deployment.
- Implement and fine-tune LLMs, embeddings, and generative models for real-world use cases.
- Develop efficient training and inference systems leveraging distributed compute.
- Partner with data and product teams to translate ideas into measurable ML outcomes.
- Contribute to model monitoring, evaluation, and continual learning frameworks.
- Establish best practices for model versioning, reproducibility, and scalability.
- Move quickly between experimentation and production deployments, balancing research and engineering rigor.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
Required:
- 3–10 years of experience as an ML Engineer, Applied Scientist, or Research Engineer.
- Strong ML fundamentals: data preprocessing, feature engineering, model training, and optimization.
- Proficiency in Python and at least one deep learning framework: PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
- Experience with distributed training/inference and cloud ML infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
- Hands-on experience building end-to-end ML pipelines from data ingestion to production deployment.
- Familiarity with MLOps tooling (e.g., Weights & Biases, MLflow) and model monitoring approaches.
- Comfortable working with large datasets and high-throughput systems.
- Bias for action, ability to work autonomously, and eagerness to build systems from scratch.
- Willingness to work onsite in Mountain View, CA.
Nice to Have:
- Experience with vector databases and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows.
- Experience with continual learning, model monitoring, and evaluation frameworks.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
- Salary: $220,000 – $300,000 USD annually
- Early-stage equity commensurate with a founding engineer role
- Note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this position
LOCATION
Onsite in Mountain View, CA. This is not a remote role.