Founding AI/ML Engineer

Founding AI/ML Engineer Location: New York, NY or San Francisco, CA (Hybrid – 3 days onsite) Employment Type: Full-Time Compensation: $125,000 – $200,000 base + 0.3% – 1% equity + bonus About the Company Our client is building advanced AI systems that help law enforcement agencies search digital evidence and accelerate investigations. Their platform processes large-scale video, audio, and text datasets to surface investigative leads quickly and accurately. Backed by leading venture investors and already serving live, paying customers, the company is entering a high-growth phase. The founding engineering team includes experienced builders of national-scale systems, and this role will be instrumental in shaping the technical foundation of the platform. The Opportunity This is a founding-level engineering role with significant ownership and impact. You will design, build, and scale the core backend infrastructure and applied machine learning systems that power the platforms intelligence layer. You will work across infrastructure and model deployment, building secure, distributed systems in highly sensitive environments. Key Responsibilities Design and scale backend infrastructure for AI-driven systems Build and deploy applied ML systems in production Architect retrieval pipelines and integrate LLM and VLM technologies Process and manage high-volume multimodal datasets (video, audio, text) Develop secure distributed systems that meet strict compliance standards Own end-to-end deployment from architecture through production Required Qualifications 3+ years of engineering experience (4–6+ preferred) 2+ years of hands-on applied ML experience Strong backend development skills in Python Experience with ML Ops frameworks such as FastAPI, LangChain, PyTorch Proven track record deploying production-grade ML systems U.S. work authorization (no visa sponsorship available) Willingness to undergo FBI or CJIS background clearance Preferred Experience Built secure distributed systems using Python, Go, or TypeScript Experience across both infrastructure and model-level implementation Worked on real-time or high-throughput data systems Successfully shipped ML systems in production environments Ideal Candidate Profile You are comfortable operating in early-stage environments and thrive in zero-to-one builds. You combine strong backend engineering fundamentals with real-world ML deployment experience and understand the security and compliance requirements of sensitive data systems. Benefits & Perks Competitive base salary ($125K–$200K) Meaningful founding-level equity (0.3%–1%) Performance bonuses 3% 401(k) contribution (no employee match required) Full health and dental coverage Unlimited PTO Free lunches and dinners Gym reimbursement Sponsored FBI/CJIS clearance Well-funded, fast-growing team with strong technical leadership