{"id":872,"url":"https://alion.io/job/character-ai-software-engineer-backendapplied-ml-safety-integrity","title":"Software Engineer, Backend/Applied ML (Safety & Integrity)","company":{"id":36,"name":"Character.AI","domain":"character.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/character-ai","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"D","score":40,"open_postings":13,"ghost_share":1,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Redwood City, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":150000,"max":300000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":300000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"A/B Testing","optional":false},{"name":"Anomaly Detection","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Go","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-01-07T16:24:25Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-01-07","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T15:47:26Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":282,"trust":{"level":"ghost","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale","company_stale"],"days_open":282},"description":"About the role\nWe’re looking for a talented and creative Software Engineer to join our Safety Engineering team at Character.AI! In this role, you will be at the forefront of designing, developing, and scaling robust backend systems and leveraging applied machine learning to tackle critical integrity and safety challenges. You will be architecting and implementing innovative solutions in a key role in addressing the unique safety challenges that come with human-to-AI interaction-bringing your technical expertise to the table as we define industry best practices in this emerging space. This is a high-impact role where you will provide technical leadership, drive innovation, and contribute to the core of our platform's trustworthiness.\nWhat you'll do\nArchitect & Build: Design, develop, and maintain highly scalable, resilient, and performant backend systems that power our integrity and safety features.\n\nLead Complex Solutions: Lead the technical design and implementation of sophisticated backend solutions for detecting, preventing, and mitigating a wide array of integrity risks. This includes traditional issues (e.g., content classification, spam, etc.) as well as emerging threats related to Generative AI (e.g., misuse of generative models, generation of harmful or biased content, etc).\n\nApply Machine Learning: Conceptualize, develop, deploy, and iterate on machine learning models and algorithms to address complex integrity challenges. This includes areas like content classification (including AI-generated content), anomaly detection, risk scoring, behavior analysis, and developing safeguards for Generative AI systems (e.g., robust content filtering, bias mitigation techniques, and output monitoring).\n\nCross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, data scientists, AI researchers, security teams, and operations to define requirements, design innovative solutions, and deliver impactful integrity systems, especially for Generative AI products.\n\nTechnical Strategy & Roadmap: Drive the long-term technical vision and roadmap for backend integrity systems and applied ML capabilities, with a keen eye on addressing Generative AI safety concerns with an alignment with company objectives.\n\nMentorship & Leadership: Provide technical guidance and mentorship to other engineers on the team and across the organization, fostering a culture of engineering excellence.\n\nChampion Best Practices: Advocate for and implement best practices in software engineering, distributed systems design, data engineering, and the full lifecycle of ML model development, including specific considerations for the safety and ethics of Generative AI.\n\nSystem Optimization: Continuously analyze and improve the performance, scalability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of existing integrity platforms and ML models.\n\nStay Current: Keep abreast of emerging threats, new technologies, and advancements in backend engineering, distributed systems, the application of machine learning to trust and safety, and the evolving landscape of Generative AI safety research and mitigation techniques.\n\nWho you are\n8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong emphasis on backend systems development.\n\nBachelor's, Master's, or PhD degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.\n\nProven track record of designing, building, and operating complex, large-scale, and highly available distributed systems.\n\nExpertise in one or more backend programming languages such as Python, Go, Java, or C++.\n\nHands-on experience in applying machine learning techniques to solve real-world problems, specifically with demonstrable experience in addressing integrity, trust, or safety challenges.\n\nSolid understanding of the machine learning lifecycle, including data gathering and cleaning, feature engineering, model selection, training, validation, A/B testing, deployment, and operational monitoring.\n\nExceptional problem-solving abilities, with a knack for tackling ambiguous and technically challenging problems.\n\nProven ability to work in a fast-paced development environment and deliver timely results.\n\nStrong communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.\n\nYou will be a great fit if:\nYou care deeply about Trust & Safety and see it as a value-add to the business\n\nPrior experience in a dedicated Trust & Safety, Integrity, or Risk engineering team.\n\nContributions to open-source projects or publications in relevant fields.\n\nExperience leading large, cross-cutting technical projects.\n\nAbout Character.AI\nCharacter.AI empowers people to connect, learn and tell stories through interactive entertainment. Over 20 million people visit Character.AI every month, using our technology to supercharge their creativity and imagination. Our platform lets users engage with tens of millions of characters, enjoy unlimited conversations, and embark on infinite adventures.\nIn just two years, we achieved unicorn status and were honored as Google Play's AI App of the Year-a testament to our innovative technology and visionary approach.\nJoin us and be a part of establishing this new entertainment paradigm while shaping the future of Consumer AI!\nAt Character, we value diversity and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. As an equal opportunity employer, we firmly uphold a non-discrimination policy based on race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability. Your unique perspectives are vital to our success.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5594,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["LLM & Generative AI","Conversational AI","Foundation Models"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-01-07T16:24:25Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":5,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.194,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":282,"expected_fill_days":37,"reasons":["conf:3","stale_co","ghost","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":300000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/character-ai-software-engineer-backendapplied-ml-safety-integrity","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/character-ai-software-engineer-backendapplied-ml-safety-integrity.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-17T16:07:35Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":21986,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-18T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":36},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=36"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcharacter-ai-software-engineer-backendapplied-ml-safety-integrity"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcharacter-ai-software-engineer-backendapplied-ml-safety-integrity"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcharacter-ai-software-engineer-backendapplied-ml-safety-integrity"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/character-ai-software-engineer-backendapplied-ml-safety-integrity\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcharacter-ai-software-engineer-backendapplied-ml-safety-integrity"}]}