Senior Machine Learning Engineer / Applied Researcher

Title: Senior Machine Learning Engineer / Applied Researcher

Location: San Jose, CA

Salary: $250K-$300K

A cutting-edge AI startup is hiring a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to help build and advance their core machine learning systems. The company is continuing to expand its platform and is looking for a strong engineer who can contribute both to research exploration and hands-on model development. This is a startup environment where engineers take real ownership over their work, collaborate closely with leadership, and play a direct role in how the platform evolves as the company scales.

This role blends applied research with hands-on development, with roughly 30% focused on reading and publishing research and 70% focused on building production ML systems. You will develop and improve models across areas such as deep learning, LLMs, reinforcement learning, and emerging multimodal systems while translating research insights into production implementations. Engineers in this role own end-to-end initiatives, working on new problem domains and building systems from 0 to 1 while helping guide technical direction for the broader team.

Experience

• 5+ years of experience in Machine Learning, Applied Research, or similar roles
• MS or PhD in Computer Science, or related technical fields
• Strong Python experience building and implementing ML models
• Experience with Deep Learning frameworks and modern LLM systems
• Experience reading and publishing research papers and/or translating research into production systems
• Exposure to Multimodal systems, AI Safety or Red Teams, Reinforcement Learning, or similar advanced ML techniques a plus

Benefits

• Equity
• Bonus Structure
• Paid Time Off
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Opportunity to create lasting impact within a growing organization
• Hybrid working schedule

Oscar Associates Limited (US) is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.