Applied AI & Optimization Engineer - Planning & AI Edge

Firestorm; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision plans

401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Equity grants

Unlimited PTO

Generous holiday calendar

Job summary

Firestorm is building the next generation of uncrewed aircraft and the advanced manufacturing systems that deliver them at speed. As an Applied AI & Optimization Engineer, you will own the algorithms behind the planning workbench and simulation engine, and you will lead integration of open-source and custom LLMs into the platform's AI assistant for cloud, air-gapped, and on-edge contexts.

Based at our Headquarters in San Diego, CA, you will collaborate with manufacturing engineering, quality,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in CS/engineering.
• 5+ years of engineering with applied optimization, OR/ML systems.

Responsibilities

• Own optimization algorithms for planning workbench and simulation engine.
• Design analytics layer: defect trends, yield analytics, throughput modeling.
• Lead AI assistant integration: evaluate and deploy open-source or custom LLMs for cloud, air-gapped, and on-edge contexts.
• Productionize optimization and ML systems with full-stack and infra engineers.
• Partner with domain experts to ground models in operational constraints.
• Evaluate build-vs-buy decisions across libraries, tooling, and vendors.

Skills

Python

Optimization

MILP/Constraint Solvers

OR-Tools

Applied Math

Productionizing ML

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

MILP solvers

Constraint solvers

LLM deployment

Job description

Firestorm is building the next generation of uncrewed aircraft and the advanced manufacturing systems that deliver them at speed. As an Applied AI & Optimization Engineer, you will own the algorithms behind the planning workbench and simulation engine, and you will lead integration of open-source and custom LLMs into the platform's AI assistant for cloud, air-gapped, and on-edge contexts.

Based at our Headquarters in San Diego, CA, you will collaborate with manufacturing engineering, quality,