Founding Applied AI Engineer

Applied AI EngineerLos Angeles, CA | On-Site 5 Days per Week | Relocation Assistance AvailableOur client is an early-stage engineering software company developing an advanced platform that helps organizations integrate and validate complex machine-control systems. The team is applying frontier AI capabilities to high-impact physical-world applications across industrial and autonomous systems.About the RoleAs the first dedicated Applied AI Engineer, you will define and build the company’s approach to AI agents, LLM-based workflows, model adaptation, and intelligent engineering automation. You will own technical architecture from concept through production, partnering closely with a small, highly technical team to turn emerging AI capabilities into reliable systems for complex real-world workflows.ResponsibilitiesArchitect and implement scalable AI-agent and LLM-based workflows for engineering and systems-integration use cases.Design deep integrations, agent harnesses, tool-use patterns, and evaluation frameworks for production AI systems.Apply classical machine learning techniques - including statistical modeling, regression, optimization, and supervised or unsupervised learning - alongside modern generative AI approaches.Fine-tune, post-train, and evaluate specialized models for domain-specific workflows and performance requirements.Build information-processing, semantic indexing, search, and retrieval capabilities that support intelligent agent behavior.Establish technical direction for model selection, orchestration, observability, reliability, and scalability.Work independently in a fast-moving environment, translating ambiguous technical opportunities into concrete, high-quality software systems.Qualifications2+ years of software engineering experience with hands-on work in applied AI, deep learning, or machine learning systems.Strong software engineering and computer science fundamentals, including experience designing and shipping production systems.Practical experience building with LLMs, agentic systems, specialized models, computer vision, or related AI technologies.Experience applying machine learning concepts to real implementations, not solely research or experimentation.Familiarity with model fine-tuning, post-training, optimization methods, or evaluation approaches.Experience with large-scale information processing, semantic or quantitative indexing, search, or distributed systems.Ability and willingness to work on-site in Los Angeles five days per week.Authorization to work in the United States without employer visa sponsorship.Preferred SkillsExperience at a high-growth applied AI, robotics, hardware, or AI-infrastructure company.Academic or professional background in computer science, mathematics, machine learning, or a related technical discipline.Experience building systems that use tools, agent orchestration, reinforcement learning, or domain-specific model adaptation.Familiarity with Python, PyTorch, and AI evaluation or observability tooling.Experience operating in an early-stage startup environment with substantial autonomy and ownership.Demonstrated record of rapid growth, technical leadership, or solving difficult problems independently.Pay range and compensation packageBase salary of $220,000–$320,000, with flexibility for exceptional candidates. Early-stage equity. Relocation assistance. High ownership over the company’s AI technical direction. Direct collaboration with a small, experienced engineering team. Fast, streamlined interview process.