Software Engineer, Applied AI

State Affairs is the nation’s leading news and policy intelligence platform focused on state governments. We combine nonpartisan coverage of Statehouses across the country alongside state government data and AI-native tools into a singular platform. 

We inform and empower decision makers, policy professionals and citizens through our award-winning journalism and data - delivering profound insights to help our customers decode and act on state politics and  policy. We’re building a category-defining business that will reshape America as we strengthen visibility into what’s happening and why at the state level.

We are hiring a Software Engineer, Applied AI to join our team located in Washington, DC.

As the Software Engineer, Applied AI, you will:

• Deliver machine learning solutions by designing and developing models for complex web applications while ensuring adherence to best practices and architectural standards
• Develop next generation algorithms to understand visual and textual content along with user interactions on the platform
• Create classification models that include text, image, and videos along with developing supervised and semi-supervised models that scale to hundreds of millions of sources and their content.

Essential Qualifications for this position include:

• Master’s degree or PhD in computer science, engineering, or related field
• Professional work experience in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and machine learning algorithm development
• Knowledge of cloud-based infrastructure, such as AWS, for machine learning based application development
• Knowledge of various AI/ML concepts such as computer vision, image processing, statistical modeling/inference, data mining, natural language processing (NLP), prompt engineering, graph/geometric deep learning, large language models (LLM), and generative AI
• Ability to operate a Vector Database 
• Ability to program in TypeScript and Python
• Ability to pre-train and fine tune large language models including recent generative set models

Preferred Qualifications for this position include: 

• Prior professional work experience as a software architect or in a technical leadership position
• Knowledge of security best practices and compliance standards
• Prior professional work experience in a start-up organization 

This is an onsite work opportunity and our teams operate from the Washington, DC office (located at L and 15th St. NW) five (5) days per week. State Affairs offers a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package to employees.

The annual salary range for this role as it is posted is $165,000 - $250,000 for candidates working from the State Affairs office in Washington, DC. The final job level and annual salary will be determined based on the education, qualification, knowledge, skills, ability, and experience of the final candidate(s), and calibrated against relevant market data and internal team equity.  Benefits listed in this posting may vary depending on the nature of your employment with State Affairs. 

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future company sponsorship.

State Affairs is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit and business needs.  State Affairs does not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic in accordance with federal, state, and local law.

State Affairs is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as they go through our job application and interview process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [email protected]

By submitting your application, you affirm the content contained therein is true and accurate in all respects. Please note that prior to employment, State Affairs will obtain background checks for employment purposes that may include, where permitted by law, the following: identify verification, prior employment verification, personal and professional references, educational verification, and criminal history. For certain roles, further background checks covering additional information and activities may be initiated.

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