Senior Research Engineer

Biorce

$120K — $145K *
Healthcare
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Degree in Computer Science with a focus on Machine Learning or equivalent experience
  • 5+ years working directly on AI/ML-powered systems
  • Full exposure across modern AI stack including LLM APIs and prompt engineering
  • Experience in designing evaluation frameworks for ML systems
  • Solid understanding of ML fundamentals and operational trade-offs
  • Proven track record of shipping AI user-facing features end-to-end
  • Experience integrating LLM APIs and debugging model behaviors

Responsibilities

  • Design, prototype, and ship AI-specific product features
  • Build automated pipelines for prompt and context optimization
  • Maintain evaluation frameworks and golden datasets
  • Monitor model quality, latency, and production cost
  • Integrate platform capabilities into end-to-end product experiences
  • Implement safety checks and guardrails for AI features
  • Debug complex issues in model behavior and unexpected outputs

Benefits

  • Dynamic international work environment fostering collaboration and diversity
  • Work with top talent united by a shared purpose
  • Equipped with a MacBook for productivity
  • Comprehensive benefits package for employee well-being
  • Medical, dental, and vision benefits starting first month post-hire
  • Hybrid work model for work-life balance
  • Company events to celebrate achievements
  • Pet-friendly office environment
Full Job Description
About the role

Following our successful expansion into the U.S. and continued growth across Europe, we are seeking a Senior AI Engineer to help drive our AI Open Source function from our Austin, Texas hub.

Reporting directly to our Head of AI, this person will play a critical role acting as an embedded guardrail inside our product squads catching AI-specific issues in real product context and holding the line on quality through the evaluation frameworks and optimization tooling they build.

This is not a general full-stack or product engineering role, you'll live in the AI layer full-time: prompts, agents, retrieval, evaluation, and model behavior, embedded inside product squads building an AI-powered product that is transforming how clinical trials are run. You'll move fast, prototype early, and help set technical direction for how our embedded AI Engineers work, mentoring more junior teammates along the way. This is an exciting opportunity to join a fast-paced biotech AI startup at an early stage of its growth, as we continue expanding our US presence.

Who We're Looking For

Someone who considers themselves an AI engineer first, not a full-stack engineer who picked up AI. This person brings a scientific, hypothesis-driven approach to improving AI systems, as comfortable defending quality tradeoffs with data as building the feature itself. They're energized by direct customer impact, are fast learners comfortable with incomplete information, and thrive switching between multiple projects while enjoying helping others grow.

Key Responsibilities

  • Design, prototype, and ship the AI-specific parts of product features, prompts, agents, tool integrations, and retrieval
  • Build and refine tool-calling and multi-step agent workflows for product-specific use cases
  • Design and maintain evaluation frameworks and golden datasets for our AI systems
  • Build automated pipelines for prompt and context optimization
  • Monitor and improve model quality, latency, and cost in production, diagnosing regressions using evals and telemetry
  • Integrate platform and model capabilities into end-to-end product experiences
  • Design and implement guardrails, safety checks, and fallback behavior for AI features in production
  • Debug complex issues in model and agent behavior, from prompt/tool-call traces to unexpected outputs
  • Evaluate and apply retrieval-augmented generation, fine-tuning, and other techniques where they fit a product need
  • Partner closely with product and design to translate user needs into AI-driven technical solutions
  • Provide fast, direct feedback to the Platform and AI Scientist teams based on real-world AI usage patterns
  • Mentor junior AI Engineers and help set technical standards for AI-specific work across product initiatives


Must-haves

  • Degree in Computer Science, with a specialization or concentration in Machine Learning (or equivalent depth gained on the job)
  • 5+ years of experience working directly on AI/ML-powered systems, this is not a generalist role
  • Full working exposure across the modern AI stack: LLM APIs, prompt engineering, agent frameworks, tool calling, RAG/retrieval, embeddings, and evaluation practices
  • Experience designing or running evaluation frameworks and automated prompt-optimization pipelines for ML or LLM-based systems
  • Solid grounding in core ML fundamentals (model behavior, training vs. inference, failure modes) even if your day-to-day is applied rather than research
  • Experience integrating LLM APIs and reasoning about their operational tradeoffs (latency, cost, context limits, failure modes)
  • Track record of shipping AI-powered, user-facing features end-to-end
  • Experience designing and implementing guardrails or safety checks for AI systems
  • Comfort debugging model and agent behavior, not just application code
  • Experience mentoring or leading other engineers


Nice-to-Haves

  • Experience fine-tuning or adapting models for a specific product use case
  • Background working directly with customers (e.g., consulting, embedded product engineering, or similar roles)
  • Experience in healthcare, biotech, or another regulated industry
  • Experience in a regulated or high-stakes domain


Why Join Us?

  • A dynamic work environment with an international team, where collaboration and diversity thrive.
  • Work alongside top talent, united by a shared purpose and committed to making a real impact.
  • Get equipped with a MacBook to enhance your productivity and work experience.
  • Benefits package designed to support you and your family's overall well-being.
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance options beginning on the first of the month following hire.
  • Hybrid work model offering flexibility to balance your professional and personal life.
  • Company events to celebrate achievements and enjoy time together.
  • Our office is pet-friendly! You'll likely be greeted by a few wagging tails upon arrival.


By submitting this application, I agree that my personal data will be collected, processed, and retained by the company solely for the purposes of managing and assessing my candidacy.

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