Founding Engineer - Machine Learning

Clera

$220K — $300K *
Enterprise Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 3 to 10 years of experience in ML engineering or related fields.
  • Proficiency in Python and a major ML framework (PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX).
  • Strong understanding of ML fundamentals like data preprocessing and optimization.
  • Experience with distributed systems and cloud ML infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure).
  • Familiarity with MLOps tools like Weights and Biases or MLflow.
  • Ability to work independently on debugging ML systems.
  • Experience in AI data or frontier model companies is a plus.

Responsibilities

  • Build and optimize end-to-end ML pipelines.
  • Implement and fine-tune large language models and generative models.
  • Develop training and inference systems using distributed compute.
  • Collaborate with data and product teams to create measurable ML impact.
  • Contribute to model monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
  • Establish best practices for model versioning and reproducibility.

Benefits

  • Equity participation in the company.
  • Opportunity to shape technical culture as a founding engineer.
  • Autonomy in project work and decision-making.
  • Ability to work on cutting-edge AI applications and technologies.
Full Job Description
About the Role

This is a founding-team ML engineering role at an early-stage AI data and services company, where you will build and scale core machine learning systems from the ground up. You will bridge research and production engineering, shipping models that directly serve frontier AI labs and enterprises, while shaping the technical culture and infrastructure of a fast-growing team.
What You'll Do
  • Build and optimize end-to-end ML pipelines, from data ingestion through to deployment.
  • Implement and fine-tune LLMs, embeddings, and generative models for real-world applications.
  • Develop efficient training and inference systems leveraging distributed compute.
  • Partner with data and product teams to translate ideas into measurable ML impact.
  • Contribute to model monitoring, evaluation, and continual learning frameworks.
  • Establish best practices in model versioning, reproducibility, and scalability.
What We're Looking For
  • 3 to 10 years of experience as an ML Engineer, Applied Scientist, or Research Engineer, with seniority appropriate for a founding-engineer role.
  • Proficiency in Python and at least one major ML framework: PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
  • Strong grasp of ML fundamentals, including data preprocessing, feature engineering, model training, and optimization.
  • Hands-on experience with distributed systems, cloud ML infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure), and MLOps tooling such as Weights and Biases or MLflow.
  • Comfort working with large datasets and high-throughput systems.
  • Ability to debug ML systems independently, without relying on AI coding assistants.
  • Background at an AI data, labeling, or frontier model company is a strong plus.
  • Bias for action, autonomy, and genuine excitement about building something from scratch.
Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $220,000 to $300,000 USD annually, plus equity. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.
Location

On-site in Mountain View, California, United States.

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