Staff ML Engineer: Autonomous AI for Real Estate SaaS

Appfolio; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 200,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

AppFolio is hiring a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to own the ML strategy and execution for Realm-X Leasing Performer, driving production-grade, observable, and continuously improving systems. You will work at the intersection of applied ML, agent systems, and leasing domain expertise with Leasing Engineering, Voice & Agents, and Research ML to scale prototypes into reliable customer-ready capabilities.

This role blends product impact with infrastructure reliability, shaping how the Leasing

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in developing and scaling web-based applications, preferably in a SaaS environment.
• Systems thinker with an ability to design for long-term platform leverage.
• Production-grade ML infrastructure experience with measurable business impact.
• Domain curiosity about leasing workflows and real estate processes.
• Ambiguity tolerance and ownership mindset to drive outcomes.
• Collaborative and low-ego approach across ML, product and engineering.
• Reliability focus: SLOs, observability, on-call readiness.

Responsibilities

• Own ML strategy across Leasing products, shaping the technical vision.
• Lead architecture for autonomous AI agents powering Realm-X Leasing Performer.
• Translate research into shipped capabilities with production readiness.
• Define evaluation metrics and experimentation to monitor model quality.
• Set patterns and best practices for ML tooling, prompt design, and RAG.
• Ensure production discipline including reliability, cost efficiency, and safety.

Job description

AppFolio is hiring a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to own the ML strategy and execution for Realm-X Leasing Performer, driving production-grade, observable, and continuously improving systems. You will work at the intersection of applied ML, agent systems, and leasing domain expertise with Leasing Engineering, Voice & Agents, and Research ML to scale prototypes into reliable customer-ready capabilities.

This role blends product impact with infrastructure reliability, shaping how the Leasing