Senior Machine Learning Engineer I

Axon; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 151,000 - 241,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Base salary + stock

401k match

Paid time off

Medical, Dental, Vision

Learning & Development

ERGs

Wellness programs

Snacks in office

Job summary

Axon is seeking a seasoned Machine Learning Engineer to join a new team building agentic video and multimodal reasoning systems. You will own the end-to-end systems and infrastructure turning research into reliable AI capabilities that protect lives.

You will work alongside researchers to build data pipelines, training and evaluation infra, and scalable inference/serving stacks, with a focus on security, privacy, and performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical field such as CS/engineering/physics/math.
• 7+ years of software engineering experience with large-scale distributed platforms.
• Experience across ML lifecycle: data pipelines, training, evaluation, model serving.
• Experience with video or multimodal data at scale.
• Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Cloud infrastructure experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) and container orchestration.
• Strong problem-solving, design, and collaboration with scientists, engineers, and PMs.
• Excellent communication and teamwork with cross-functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end systems and infrastructure for multimodal video models in production.
• Design data/ingest pipelines for large-scale video/multimodal corpora.
• Build training/evaluation infra and automated, reproducible measurements.
• Develop inference/serving systems for real-time/batch workloads.
• Build vector search, orchestration, and agentic reasoning infrastructure.
• Ensure platform security, privacy, and responsible design.
• Set technical direction and mentor other engineers.

Skills

Python

Distributed systems

ML lifecycle

Cloud infrastructure

Team mentorship

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics or equivalent

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

AWS

GCP

Azure

Kubernetes

Job description

At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other.
Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

Join Axon and be a Force for Good.

At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other.
Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

Your Impact

We are seeking a seasoned Machine Learning Engineer to join a new team building agentic video and multimodal reasoning systems. As a senior engineer on this team you will own the systems and infrastructure that turn cutting‑edge research into safe, reliable, and scalable AI capabilities — supporting our company’s mission to accelerate justice, protect truth, and save lives.

Working shoulder to shoulder with research scientists, you will build everything that stands between a promising model and a production system operating on video and multimodal data at scale: the data and ingest pipelines, the training and evaluation infrastructure, the inference and serving stack, the retrieval and orchestration layers behind agentic reasoning, and the reliability, security, and privacy guarantees that Axon’s customers depend on. Scientists define the models and the metrics; you build the platform that lets them move fast and lets those models ship.

At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long‑term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

What You’ll Do

Location: Seattle, WA

Reports to: Tom Faulhaber, Director of Software Engineering, AI

• Own end to end the systems and infrastructure that take multimodal and video models from research prototype to reliable, scalable production.
• Design and operate data and ingest pipelines for large‑scale video and multimodal corpora — storage, processing, labeling, and retrieval.
• Build and scale training and evaluation infrastructure, and turn scientists’ evaluation methodology into automated, reproducible measurement systems.
• Build inference and serving systems for real‑time and batch multimodal workloads, optimizing latency, throughput, and cost.
• Build the retrieval, indexing, and embedding infrastructure (vector search at scale) and the orchestration and tool‑use plumbing behind agentic reasoning over video and multimodal data.
• Ensure the platform is secure, privacy‑preserving, and responsible by design.
• Set technical direction for the team’s systems, raise the engineering bar, and mentor other engineers.

What You Bring

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics or an equivalent highly technical field.
• 7+ years of software engineering experience and a proven track record of architecting, operating, and maintaining large‑scale distributed platforms in production.
• Deep experience building systems across the ML lifecycle: data pipelines, training and evaluation infrastructure, model serving and inference at scale, and production monitoring.
• Experience with large‑scale data systems handling video or other high‑volume, high‑dimensional multimodal data.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and proficiency in Python, along with familiarity with ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Hands‑on experience operating cloud infrastructure at scale (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including distributed systems and container orchestration.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills and the ability to dive into system architecture, design, performance metrics, code, test plans, project plans, deployments, and operations.
• Strong communication skills and comfort partnering closely with scientists, engineers, and product managers.

Nice to Have

• Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or an equivalent highly technical field.
• Experience building video processing or video understanding pipelines at scale.
• Experience with retrieval systems, vector search, and RAG infrastructure.
• Experience serving foundation models, or building agentic systems and LLM tool‑use orchestration.
• Familiarity with responsible AI, de‑identification, and privacy‑preserving techniques.

Benefits that benefit you

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work.

Location: This role is based out of our Seattle, WA office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in‑person collaboration and ask that team members work onsite Tuesdays through Fridays, with the flexibility to work remotely on Mondays, unless there is an approved workplace accommodation. We believe that connection fuels innovation, and our in‑office culture is designed to foster meaningful teamwork, mentorship, and shared success.

Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit https://www.axon.com/careers.

Base Pay Range: $150,750 USD - $241,200 USD

Don’t meet every single requirement? That's ok. At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long‑term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. We are also committed to building diverse teams that reflect the communities we serve.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they check every box in the job description. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Important Notes

The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all duties, responsibilities, skills, efforts, and working conditions associated with this job. The job description may change or be supplemented at any time in accordance with business needs and conditions.

Some roles may also require legal eligibility to work in a firearms environment.

We collect personal information from applicants to evaluate candidates for employment. You may request access, deletion, or exercise other CCPA rights at [e-mail] or via ourAxon Privacy Web Form. For more information, please see the Your California Privacy Rights section of ourApplicant and Candidate Privacy Notice.

Axon’s mission is to Protect Life and is committed to the well‑being and safety of its employees as well as Axon’s impact on the environment. All Axon employees must be aware of and committed to the appropriate environmental, health, and safety regulations, policies, and procedures. Axon employees are empowered to report safety concerns as they arise and activities potentially impacting the environment.

We are an equal opportunity employer that promotes justice, advances equity, values diversity and fosters inclusion. We’re committed to hiring the best talent — regardless of race, creed, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances — and empowering all of our employees so they can do their best work. If you have a disability or special need that requires assistance or accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email [e-mail]. Please note that this email address is for accommodation purposes only. Axon will not respond to inquiries for other purposes.