Senior ML Engineer

Waystar, Inc.; Lehi (UT); On-site; USD 95,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive total rewards

Customizable benefits package

Generous paid time off

Paid parental leave

Education assistance opportunities

Free mental health programs

401(K) program with company match

Pet insurance

Job summary

A healthcare technology company in Lehi, Utah is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer to innovate AI systems focusing on Natural Language Processing (NLP). The role involves developing robust data pipelines, fine-tuning language models, and deploying components on Google Cloud. Candidates should have strong experience in ML engineering, especially with LMs, Python programming, and familiarity with GCP. This position offers significant opportunities to impact healthcare technology while working in collaboration with experts in the field.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience in Machine Learning Engineering, focused on NLP.
• Experience with Language Models (LMs), model selection, fine-tuning, and deployment.
• Solid understanding of core NLP techniques, especially Transformers.

Responsibilities

• Develop robust data pipelines for structured information extraction.
• Design and implement fine-tuning strategies on domain-specific datasets.
• Deploy and monitor LMs and agentic components on Google Cloud Platform.

Skills

Machine Learning Engineering

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Python

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

MLOps

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or AI

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Hugging Face Transformers

Job description

ABOUT THIS POSITION

We are seeking a highly skilled and innovative Machine Learning Engineer with a passion for building robust, efficient, and domain‑specific AI systems using Language Models (LMs) and agentic architectures. As a core member of the team, you will be instrumental in developing the entire ML pipeline, from sophisticated data extraction techniques to fine‑tuning specialized LMs and orchestrating their interactions within a multi‑agent framework.

This is a unique opportunity to apply state‑of‑the‑art Generative AI and NLP techniques to a real‑world, high‑impact problem, leveraging the latest research in agentic AI and LMs to deliver economical and powerful solutions.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Data Pipeline & Knowledge Base Construction:

• Design, implement, and optimize robust pipelines for ingesting, parsing, and extracting structured information from complex documents (leveraging OCR, document layout analysis, Named Entity Recognition (NER), and Relationship Extraction (RE)).

• Develop rich, nested JSON schemas for representing structured data and ensure scalable storage.

• Generate and manage high‑quality vector embeddings for efficient retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) within a Vector Database.

• Language Model (LM) Development & Fine‑tuning:

• Research, select, and experiment with appropriate open‑source Language Models (Large & Small) (e.g., Phi‑3, Mistral, Llama, Nemotron‑H families) for specialized tasks.

• Design and execute efficient fine‑tuning strategies (e.g., LoRA, QLoRA, full fine‑tuning) on curated, domain‑specific datasets to achieve precise performance for tasks like coverage determination, code lookups, and policy rule application.

• Explore and implement knowledge distillation techniques to transfer capabilities from larger models to smaller, more efficient LMs.

• Agentic System Design & Implementation:

• Build and maintain the core agentic framework, including the orchestrator that intelligently routes queries and coordinates interactions between various specialized LM tools.

• Develop and integrate "tools" (specialized LMs and external APIs) that perform atomic medical necessity tasks, ensuring strict behavioral alignment and structured outputs.

• MLOps & Deployment:

• Deploy, manage, and monitor LMs and agentic components on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using services like Vertex AI, GKE, Cloud Functions, and Cloud Run.

• Implement robust MLOps practices for continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD), model versioning, and performance monitoring (latency, throughput, accuracy).

• Continuous Improvement & Research:

• Establish effective feedback loops from end‑user interactions and system logs to identify areas for model improvement.

• Curate and expand training datasets, ensuring data privacy (PHI/PII masking) and legal compliance.

• Stay abreast of the latest research in LMs, agentic AI, NLP, and document understanding, applying relevant advancements to our system.

• Collaboration:

• Work closely with subject matter experts, product managers, and other engineers to translate complex requirements into technical solutions and evaluate system performance.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a related quantitative field.

• 3+ years of professional experience in Machine Learning Engineering, with a strong focus on NLP.

• Proven experience with Language Models (LMs), including model selection, fine‑tuning, and deployment.

• Strong proficiency in Python and familiarity with ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face Transformers).

• Solid understanding and hands‑on experience with core NLP techniques and architectures, especially Transformers.

• Experience with cloud platforms, particularly Google Cloud Platform (GCP), including services like Vertex AI, Cloud Storage, and compute services.

• Familiarity with MLOps principles and tools for model serving, monitoring, and pipeline automation.

• Excellent problem‑solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to work independently and collaboratively.

• Active use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and techniques to enhance performance, drive innovation, and improve decision‑making across business functions.

• Ability to leverage AI tools and platforms to streamline workflows, improve decision‑making, and drive innovation.

• Curiosity and adaptability in exploring emerging AI technologies, with a mindset for continuous learning and experimentation.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications):

• Hands‑on experience building or contributing to agentic AI systems or multi‑agent frameworks.

• Direct experience with document processing technologies such as OCR, layout parsing, Document AI, or custom information extraction from unstructured text.

• Experience with Vector Databases (e.g., pgvector, Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant) and RAG architectures.

• Exposure to the healthcare domain, particularly understanding medical terminology, CPT/ICD codes, or regulatory documents.

ABOUT WAYSTAR

Through a smart platform and better experience, Waystar helps providers simplify healthcare payments and yield powerful results throughout the complete revenue cycle.

Waystar’s healthcare payments platform combines innovative, cloud‑based technology, robust data, and unparalleled client support to streamline workflows and improve financials so providers can focus on what matters most: their patients and communities. Waystar is trusted by 1M+ providers, 1K+ hospitals and health systems, and is connected to over 5K commercial and Medicaid/Medicare payers. We are deeply committed to living out our organizational values: honesty; kindness; passion; curiosity; fanatical focus; best work, always; making it happen; and joyful, optimistic & fun.

Waystar products have won multiple Best in KLAS® or Category Leader awards since 2010 and earned multiple #1 rankings from Black Book™ surveys since 2012. The Waystar platform supports more than 500,000 providers, 1,000 health systems and hospitals, and 5,000 payers and health plans. For more information, visit waystar.com or follow @Waystar on Twitter.

WAYSTAR PERKS

• Competitive total rewards (base salary + bonus, if applicable)

• Customizable benefits package (3 medical plans with Health Saving Account company match)

• We offer generous paid time off for our non‑exempt team members, starting with 3 weeks + 13 paid holidays, including 2 personal floating holidays. We also offer flexible time off for our exempt team members + 13 paid holidays

• Paid parental leave (including maternity + paternity leave)

• Education assistance opportunities and free LinkedIn Learning access

• Free mental health and family planning programs, including adoption assistance and fertility support

• 401(K) program with company match

• Pet insurance

• Employee resource groups

Waystar is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We celebrate, value, and support diversity and inclusion. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, marital status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Job Category: Technology/Engineering

Job Type: Full time

Req ID: R2881