Principal AI Architect / Head of AI / Machine Learning Architect

Jenn Nguyen and Friends; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading AI startup in San Francisco seeks a Principal AI Architect to innovate and implement generative AI systems. This role involves building and fine-tuning LLMs, leading advanced AI projects, and driving AI-powered solutions for financial advisory services in a dynamic startup environment.

Benefits

Meaningful equity

Competitive compensation

Flexible hybrid working environment

Qualifications

• Deep hands-on expertise building and training LLMs.
• Experience at a top AI lab or foundation model company.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of generative AI systems.
• Architect retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines.

Skills

Building and training LLMs

Coding in Python

Building RAG pipelines

Education

PhD in AI/ML

Tools

Python

TypeScript

Job description

Principal AI Architect / Head of AI / Machine Learning Architect

Join to apply for the Principal AI Architect / Head of AI / Machine Learning Architect role at Jenn Nguyen and Friends

Principal AI Architect / Head of AI / Machine Learning Architect

2 days ago Be among the first 25 applicants

Join to apply for the Principal AI Architect / Head of AI / Machine Learning Architect role at Jenn Nguyen and Friends

Principal AI Architect / Head of AI / Machine Learning Architect (LLM Expert)

Compensation: $170,000 $220,000 + meaningful equity

Location: San Francisco (Hybrid, 3 days/week in office)

Remote Options: In-office, hybrid

Employment Type: Full-time or Contract

Who Are We?

Were an early-stage, YC-backed startup (Seed) building AI infrastructure to reinvent how private wealth is created and managed. Our AI-native platform democratizes access to alternative investments think venture capital and private equity making them accessible to a new generation of investors.

We're already live with paying customers and significant revenue. Backed by top-tier investors in fintech, our mission is bold, our team is sharp, and our product is moving fast.

What's In It for You?

Competitive compensation and significant equity upside

Join a profitable, fast-moving startup with paying customers

Work on frontier AI problems with practical, real-world application

Flexible hybrid setup with teammates in SF (3 days/week in office)

Partner with a highly accomplished founding team (ex-Google, Harvard Law, top VCs)

Opportunity to architect AI systems from scratch and push LLMs to their limit

What Will You Do?

You'll lead the design and implementation of our generative AI systems to power a next-gen financial advisor platform. Specifically, you'll:

Build and fine-tune LLMs and multi-modal systems from the ground up

Architect retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines for real-time financial insights

Develop autonomous agent frameworks to manage and analyze portfolios

Apply modern prompting techniques (Tree of Thoughts, Constitutional AI, etc.)

Collaborate cross-functionally with product, design, and engineering teams to ship production-grade AI features

Push the limits of what's possible in AI quickly, creatively, and with scientific rigor

What Will You Need?

Must-Haves

Experience at a top AI lab or foundation model company (e.g. OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic, Google Brain, Meta FAIR)

Deep hands-on expertise building and training LLMs not just API calls

Advanced degree in AI/ML (PhD strongly preferred) from a top-tier university (Stanford, MIT, CMU, etc.)

Proficiency in building RAG pipelines, autonomous agents, and multi-modal systems

Strong coding ability in Python, TypeScript, and relevant ML frameworks

Familiarity with Claude, LLaMA, GPT-4, or similar systems

Willingness to work startup hours (~996 pace in the near term)

Nice-to-Haves

Publications at top-tier AI conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, etc.)

Experience with agentic AI protocols and memory architecture

Prior startup experience or zero-to-one product build

Domain knowledge in financial systems or investment tech

You Are Not a Fit If

You've only used LLMs via APIs (e.g., wrappers around GPT)

Your ML background is limited to computer vision, robotics, or traditional ML

You've had multiple short stints or no recent hands-on model development

You're not open to high-agency, high-velocity startup work

Note

We do not offer relocation support or visa sponsorship at this time.

Principal AI Architect / Head of AI / Machine Learning Architect (LLM Expert)

Compensation: $170,000 $220,000 + meaningful equity

Location: San Francisco (Hybrid, 3 days/week in office)

Remote Options: In-office, hybrid

Employment Type: Full-time or Contract

Who Are We?

Were an early-stage, YC-backed startup (Seed) building AI infrastructure to reinvent how private wealth is created and managed. Our AI-native platform democratizes access to alternative investments think venture capital and private equity making them accessible to a new generation of investors.

We're already live with paying customers and significant revenue. Backed by top-tier investors in fintech, our mission is bold, our team is sharp, and our product is moving fast.

What's In It for You?

Competitive compensation and significant equity upside

Join a profitable, fast-moving startup with paying customers

Work on frontier AI problems with practical, real-world application

Flexible hybrid setup with teammates in SF (3 days/week in office)

Partner with a highly accomplished founding team (ex-Google, Harvard Law, top VCs)

Opportunity to architect AI systems from scratch and push LLMs to their limit

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Engineering and Information Technology

• Industries

  Construction and Education Administration Programs

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