Founding Forward Deployed Machine Learning Engineer

adaption; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work

Annual travel stipend

Weekly meal allowance

Comprehensive medical benefits

Generous paid time off

Job summary

A tech innovation company in San Francisco is looking for a customer-facing technical expert with strong software engineering and ML skills. You'll tackle customer challenges, implement ML solutions, and guide projects from discovery to deployment. The ideal candidate will have over 4 years of industry experience, particularly with frameworks like PyTorch and TensorFlow. This role encourages adaptability, communication, and ownership while offering flexible work and generous benefits.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of industry experience, including 2+ years in a customer-facing technical role.
• Solid understanding of data modeling and how curation decisions shape model performance.
• Experience training or fine-tuning models using human feedback or other adaptive learning techniques.
• Ability to operate across varied customer environments and tech stacks.

Responsibilities

• Identify high-leverage opportunities in customer problems and data workflows.
• Implement production-grade ML solutions that fill product gaps.
• Develop demos and deliver technical presentations to stakeholders.
• Be a strategic partner from discovery through deployment, accountable for results.

Skills

Software engineering skills

Familiarity with ML frameworks

Excellent communication skills

Understanding of data modeling

Experience with adaptive learning techniques

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

TensorFlow

Job description

About Us

Most AI is frozen in place - it doesn't adapt to the world. We think that’s backwards. Our mandate is to build efficient intelligence that evolves in real-time. Our vision is AI systems that are flexible, personalized, and accessible to everyone. We believe efficiency is what makes this possible - it’s how we expand access and ensure innovation benefits the many, not the few. We believe in talent density: bringing together the best and most driven individuals to push the boundaries of continual adaptation. We’re looking for builders and creative thinkers ready to shape the next era of intelligence.

The Role

You’ll operate at the bleeding edge of our technology and our customers' most consequential problems — simultaneously. You’ll sit across from customers who are trying to fundamentally change how their businesses work, figure out where our platform falls short, and build the ML solutions that close the gap. Then you’ll do it again for the next customer with an entirely different domain, data landscape, and set of constraints. The problems you solve in the field become the product.

Responsibilities

• Find and Unlock Alpha: Go deep on customer problems and data workflows to identify the highest‑leverage opportunities others miss, then build the solutions that capture them.

• Ship What's Missing: When the product doesn't cover it, you do. Identify gaps through hands‑on customer engagement and implement production‑grade ML solutions that fill them.

• Raise the Bar: Develop compelling demos, deliver technical presentations to senior stakeholders, and set the standard for what great looks like across our customer base.

• Own the Outcome: You’re not handing off a deck — you’re a strategic and technical partner from discovery through deployment, accountable for results.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of industry experience, including 2+ years in a customer‑facing technical role.

• Strong software engineering skills and familiarity with ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow)

• Solid understanding of data modeling for training and how curation decisions shape model performance

• Experience training or fine‑tuning models using human feedback, reward signals, or other adaptive learning techniques

• Excellent communication skills and ability to operate across varied customer environments and tech stacks

• A mindset of ownership, curiosity, and a bias toward action
  

Above all, we’re looking for great teammates who make work feel lighter and aren’t afraid to go out on a limb with bold ideas. You don't need to be perfect, but you do need to be adaptable. We encourage you to apply, even if you don't check every box.

Benefits

• Flexible work: In‑person collaboration in the Bay Area, a distributed global‑first team, and quarterly offsites.

• Adaption Passport: Annual travel stipend to explore a country you've never visited. We're building intelligence that evolves alongside you, so we encourage you to keep expanding your horizons.

• Lunch Stipend: Weekly meal allowance for take‑out or grocery delivery.

• Well‑Being: Comprehensive medical benefits and generous paid time off.