Senior AI Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 1, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 15, 2026.
About the company
Our client is a fast-growing software company.
The role
Raydar is recruiting for this role on behalf of our client. Lead the applied AI work for a software product, covering model integration, data flows, quality measurement and release. This is a hands-on engineering position in production code, and the person hired will be among the first engineers shaping technical direction.
What you'll do
- Own the full lifecycle of AI-driven features, from design through deployment and ongoing support.
- Create automated quality checks ahead of feature work so that model changes are validated before release.
- Tune response times and running costs so the system performs well under real usage volumes.
- Investigate unclear product issues and pinpoint whether the cause lies in the model, the data or the interface, then fix it.
- Release to production every week and track how changes behave with live users.
- Set early architectural direction that the platform will build on for years.
- Act as the go-to colleague for model-related issues across the team.
Requirements
What we're looking for
- Degree in Computer Science, ideally from a highly ranked university.
- Solid practical programming ability in Python for backend AI and ML services.
- Track record of creating evaluation tooling for language models that detected quality regressions.
- Prior delivery of an AI or ML feature that real users depended on in production, beyond prototypes or internal demos.
- Background at an organization known for a demanding engineering standard.
- Experience at a growth-stage startup, ideally one with venture investors.
Bonus points
- Publicly visible technical contributions such as open-source projects, publications or personal builds.
- Hands-on experience with machine learning or model tuning.
- Familiarity with e-commerce or marketplace products.
Benefits
Compensation and benefits
- Base salary: USD 200,000 to 400,000 per year
- Equity
Location and work model
- San Francisco, CA, United States
- On-site
- Full-time