Creative Technologist

Shields Group; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Shields Group seeks a seasoned photographer with strong skills in portrait work and generative AI to lead the visual direction of client images. You will shape lighting, color, and composition while translating creative vision into robust generative pipelines and workflows.

The role combines photography, AI tooling, and product quality, with ownership over aesthetic outcomes and scalable improvements. Remote not offered; on-site at Los Gatos, CA.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in photography, retouching, or related field.
• Photographer's eye with a portfolio featuring portraits.
• Hands-on generative AI experience required.
• Experience shipping visual effects or AR/filters at scale is a plus.
• Ability to preserve identity in edited images.
• Clear aesthetic POV on beauty and portraits.
• Technical fluency and ability to automate creative workflows.

Responsibilities

• Set the aesthetic bar for generated portraits and avoid identity drift.
• Build and maintain node-based generative pipelines and prompts.
• Develop structured reviews to measure improvements in output.
• Launch new visual styles in collaboration with engineering.
• Translate user insights into improved creative experiences.

Skills

Photography

Retouching

Generative AI

Portrait photography

Creative vision

Lighting/Color/Composition

Code literacy

Tools

ComfyUI

Job description

Los Gatos, CA | On-site 3-4 Days/Week | Full-Time | 5+ Years of Experience

About the Company

Shields Group Search is partnering with an innovative, venture-backed AI startup that's transforming everyday photos into portraits people love. The company's mission is simple: create beautiful portraits that remain unmistakably true to the person in them.

Launched in July 2026, the company has already surpassed 20,000 downloads and is backed by top Silicon Valley VCs. Its founding team brings experience from TikTok, Meta, etc, combining deep expertise in consumer technology, AI, and creative products.

About the Role

You'll be the creative vision behind the images our client creates. You have a strong point of view on lighting, skin, color, composition, and style, along with the technical skills to translate that vision into generative pipelines that deliver consistently excellent results for everyone.

This is a highly hands-on role at the intersection of photography, creative technology, and generative AI, with significant ownership over the quality and aesthetic direction of the product.

What You'll Do

• Set the aesthetic bar. Define what makes an image edit exceptional and recognize where flattering enhancements begin to compromise a person's identity.
• Build generative pipelines. Design and maintain node-based workflows, model selections, prompts, and LoRAs that power the platform's images.
• Make quality reviewable. Develop structured comparisons, evaluations, and review processes to measure improvements in generative output.
• Ship new looks. Curate, test, and launch new visual styles in close collaboration with engineering.
• Stay close to users. Understand what people want from photos of themselves and translate those insights into better creative experiences.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of professional experience in photography, retouching, visual effects, generative imaging, or a closely related creative or technical field.
• A photographer's eye. Experience in portrait photography, retouching, or a serious creative practice, supported by a portfolio showcasing work with people.
• Hands-on generative AI experience. Proven experience building with ComfyUI or comparable node-based tools, along with hands-on work using image and video generation models.
• Experience shipping effects at scale. Background creating filters, avatars, lenses, or AR effects used by real consumers, ideally at Instagram, TikTok, Snap, or a comparable platform.
• A strong instinct for identity preservation. Ability to evaluate two images and clearly articulate why one no longer accurately resembles the original person.
• A clear point of view on beauty and aesthetics. Intuitive understanding of what people want from portraits of themselves, combined with the ability to explain why particular edits and creative decisions work.
• Technical fluency and resourcefulness. Enough coding experience to move quickly, including experience using AI coding tools to automate and streamline creative workflows.

Strongly Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with LoRA training and identity-preserving image generation techniques.
• Experience designing or conducting structured quality reviews and evaluations of generative AI outputs.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with SwiftUI or iOS UI development, mobile UX, and prototyping.
• Experience with video generation.
• An established audience or following for your creative work.

What We Value

Our client values ownership, a startup mindset, and a genuine passion for helping people feel seen.

The ideal candidate combines exceptional creative taste with the ability to clearly articulate their decisions, execute quickly, and take initiative wherever the business needs support.

You'll thrive here if you're comfortable operating in an early-stage environment, enjoy solving ambiguous creative and technical challenges, and want to make a meaningful impact on a rapidly growing consumer AI product.

Location & Work Requirements

• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Experience: 5+ years