Applied AI Engineer, Creative Experiences

Pika; Iowa; On-site; USD 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Pika is seeking a creative, hands-on AI researcher to turn models into engaging experiences. You will combine image, video, audio, and language models to build workflows, demos, and features that drive growth and revenue.

This role is goal-driven, open to full-time hires and interns, emphasizing rapid experimentation, strong judgment, and fast execution from idea to delivery with clear documentation for reuse.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building with generative AI models, APIs, or creative workflows.
• Strong prototyping and coding skills: connect tools, debug a pipeline, and deliver an end-to-end experience.
• Creative, entrepreneurial mindset with good judgment on what makes output compelling and shareable.
• Curiosity across modalities and quick learning of new models/tools.
• Ownership and comfort with tight timelines; prioritize and ship.
• Clear link between technical choices and the intended user or business outcome.

Responsibilities

• Find promising opportunities by tracking new models, tools, formats, and trends to drive audience, traffic, or revenue.
• Build end-to-end multimodal workflows by combining models, APIs, and tools into usable demos, assets, or product experiences.
• Choose the right scope for research; test quickly using lightweight fine-tuning when beneficial.
• Deliver frequently with short iterations; balance research, quality, cost, and delivery time.
• Create shareable demos and outputs for social launches and growth activities; posting isn't required.
• Learn from results using feedback and signals to refine or stop ideas.
• Make workflows reusable with documentation so the team can reproduce and build on them.

Skills

Generative AI

Prototyping

End-to-end demos

Coding skills

Experimentation

Product mindset

Fast execution

Tools

LoRA fine-tuning

Job description

Open to full-time hires and interns.

About the role

At Pika, we're looking for a creative, hands-on AI researcher who can turn the latest models, APIs, and emerging ideas into compelling experiences people want to try and share. You'll combine models across image, video, audio, and language to build workflows, demos, and features that bring people to Pika and contribute to revenue growth.

This is a goal-driven applied research role, open to both full-time hires and interns. You'll take ideas from an initial opportunity through experimentation, implementation, and delivery, then use feedback and results to decide what to improve next. Strong creative judgment, resourcefulness, and fast execution are central to the role.

What you'll do

• Find promising opportunities. Stay close to new models, tools, creative formats, and cultural trends. Identify ideas with a clear audience, use case, and potential to drive interest, website traffic, or revenue.

• Build end to end. Combine existing models, APIs, and tools into working multimodal workflows. Own the path from a rough concept to a usable demo, creative asset, or product experience.

• Choose the right amount of research. Test practical approaches quickly. Use lightweight LoRA fine-tuning or targeted post-training when it meaningfully improves the result and fits the project's time budget.

• Deliver frequently. Work in short iteration cycles, set a clear scope for each experiment, and get strong first versions out quickly. Make thoughtful trade-offs between additional research, output quality, cost, and time to delivery.

• Create work ready to share. Produce compelling demos and creative outputs that the team can use for social media, launches, and other growth efforts. Personally posting on or managing social channels is not required.

• Learn from results. Use audience response, product feedback, and relevant traffic or revenue signals to decide which ideas to refine, expand, or stop.

• Make successful work reusable. Leave working workflows, examples, and concise documentation so the team can reproduce and build on what you deliver.
  

What we're looking for

• Hands-on experience building with generative AI models, APIs, or creative workflows, with examples of work you have taken from idea to a working result.

• Strong prototyping and coding skills: you can connect tools, debug a pipeline, and make an end-to-end experience work.

• A creative, entrepreneurial mindset and good judgment about what makes an output compelling, useful, and worth sharing. You enjoy the pace and resourcefulness of a hackathon: testing ideas quickly and getting a working result into people's hands.

• Curiosity across modalities and the ability to learn unfamiliar models and tools quickly.

• Ownership and comfort with tight timelines: you can prioritize, simplify an approach, and recognize when shipping and learning is more valuable than further polishing.

• A clear connection between technical choices and the intended user or business outcome.
  

Helpful experience

• Experience as a startup founder or early-stage startup team member, or actively building and testing startup ideas.

• Hackathon wins or standout hackathon projects that demonstrate rapid prototyping, resourcefulness, and end-to-end execution.

• LoRA fine-tuning, lightweight model adaptation, or other targeted post-training.

• Combining image, video, audio, or language models in a single workflow.

• Building creative demos, interactive prototypes, or AI experiences that reached real users.
  

What success looks like

You deliver a steady stream of compelling, usable experiments; turn the strongest ideas into repeatable workflows; and use each release to learn what attracts users and contributes to Pika's growth. Success depends on the quality, speed, and impact of what you deliver.