Job Description
Recruiting from Scratch is a talent firm that focuses on placing the best candidates for our clients.
Job Details
- Title: Machine Learning Research Engineer
- Location: San Francisco, CA
- Company Stage: Series B
- Office Type: Onsite, 5 Days a Week
- Salary Range: $250,000 – $300,000 + Equity
Company Overview
Our client is a fast-growing, venture-backed startup transforming enterprise customer support through advanced AI agents. With $100M in funding and partnerships with leading tech brands, they are pioneering conversational AI. Backed by top-tier investors and founded by serial entrepreneurs, they build autonomous systems that handle complex support tasks with high accuracy and human-like responsiveness.
What You Will Do
As the first dedicated Machine Learning Research Engineer, your responsibilities include:
- Designing and conducting experiments to improve model performance
- Fine-tuning open and closed source LLMs to improve accuracy and instruction following
- Evaluating, deploying, and monitoring models in production
- Collaborating with product and engineering teams to integrate ML solutions
- Defining the roadmap for model improvement and R&D
- Operating autonomously with full ownership of the ML stack
Ideal Candidate Background
Candidates should have:
- 4+ years in ML/AI engineering or applied research
- Proven success from concept to production
- Experience with fine-tuning LLMs (e.g., GPT, LLaMA, Claude, Mistral)
- Familiarity with various model architectures (open and closed source)
- Background as a machine learning engineer
- CS degree from a top-tier university
- Experience at top tech/AI companies (e.g., Meta, Google, Nuro)
- Ability to work independently
- Enthusiasm for in-person collaboration in SF
Preferred Qualifications
- Publications or open-source contributions in ML/AI
- Experience with reinforcement learning or agentic behavior modeling
- Familiarity with vector databases, embeddings, and RAG
- Startup experience or ability to thrive in autonomous roles
Compensation and Benefits
- Base Salary: $250,000 – $300,000
- Equity: Competitive and meaningful
- Visa Sponsorship: Available for qualified candidates
- Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, generous PTO, in-office perks, and collaboration with top AI minds.
Job Highlights
Qualifications
- Thrive in early-stage, high-impact environment
- 4+ years ML/AI engineering or research
- Successful project deployment
- Experience fine-tuning LLMs
- Familiarity with diverse model architectures
- Background as a machine learning engineer
- Top-tier CS degree
- Experience at top tech/AI companies
- Independent work capability
- In-person collaboration enthusiasm
Benefits
- Salary: $250,000 – $300,000 + Equity
- Equity: Competitive and meaningful
- Visa Sponsorship: Yes
- Comprehensive benefits package
Responsibilities
- Onsite, 5 days/week
- Lead efforts in training and deploying LLMs
- Conduct experiments to improve models
- Fine-tune models for accuracy and understanding
- Deploy and monitor models
- Collaborate closely with product and engineering teams
- Define research and development roadmap
- Maintain full ownership of ML stack