Forward-Deployed Applied AI Engineer

Pika; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Pika is seeking a technically strong, client-facing AI researcher to translate customer feedback into tangible models and workflows that solve real business needs. You will work directly with clients to define problems, adapt models, and build supporting workflows for deployment.

In this revenue-driven role, you will deliver measurable outcomes, communicate clearly, and drive independent execution while collaborating with the team to close engagements and renewals.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience fine-tuning or post-training generative AI models.
• Strong coding and practical ML skills: implement experiments and build workflows.
• Excellent listening and communication skills to explain technical work to clients.

Responsibilities

• Understand client needs and translate feedback into a clear problem and success criteria.
• Fine-tune and post-train models for real use cases and prepare evaluation criteria.
• Build workflows around models, connecting APIs, tools, and steps into deployable solutions.
• Iterate quickly with clients, sharing results and focusing on impact and delivery speed.
• Communicate options clearly, set expectations, and maintain client trust with Pika.
• Own execution and coordinate with the team, raising risks early when needed.
• Deliver for deployment with reproducible workflows and handoff documentation.
• Help close client engagements by demonstrating value and supporting commitments.

Skills

Fine-tuning GenAI

ML pipelines

Python coding

Client-facing

Communication skills

Independent ownership

Experimentation

API integration

Tools

APIs

Workflow tooling

Job description

Pika is seeking a technically strong, client-facing AI researcher to translate customer feedback into tangible models and workflows that solve real business needs. You will work directly with clients to define problems, adapt models, and build supporting workflows for deployment.

In this revenue-driven role, you will deliver measurable outcomes, communicate clearly, and drive independent execution while collaborating with the team to close engagements and renewals.