**About the Job
Staff ML Engineer (Hybrid – New York, NY)**
💼
Employment Type:
Full-time
📍
Location:
New York, NY (Hybrid, 3 days per week)
💰
Salary:
$200K – $280K
🛂
Visa:
H1B sponsorship available
🕒
Start Date:
ASAP
About the Company
Our client is a
venture-backed AI startup
at the forefront of building intelligent systems that power
LLM-driven search, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
, and
agentic workflows
.
Backed by
Tier 1 investors
, the team is composed of world-class engineers, builders, and operators from top startups and universities. The company is growing rapidly, and this is a rare opportunity to join early and help shape the foundation of their next-generation AI platform.
About the Role
We’re looking for a
Staff Machine Learning Engineer
who thrives at the cutting edge of
large language model applications
. You’ll architect and scale systems that combine
LLMs, embeddings, semantic search, and vector databases
to deliver best-in-class search and reasoning experiences.
This is a highly technical, hands-on role with significant ownership. You’ll collaborate closely with engineering leadership and product teams to design, implement, and optimize ML-powered systems that directly impact users and customers.
**What You’ll Bring
Core Experience**
- 6+ years of hands-on ML engineering experience
- Proven track record building and optimizing semantic search , embeddings , vector stores , or ranking pipelines to drive measurable improvements in relevance and recall
- Experience at a Tier 1 venture-backed startup
- Familiarity with LLM-powered search , RAG implementations , or agentic workflows
- AI-native mindset — you stay current with the latest LLM frameworks, tools, and model releases
- Energy, curiosity, and a user-first mindset
- Top 30 CS degree (e.g., MIT, Berkeley, Stanford) a strong plus.
**Tech Stack
Python | TypeScript | React | LangChain | LangGraph | Terraform | dbt | PostgreSQL | Elasticsearch
Soft Skills & Culture Fit**
- High energy and enthusiasm — someone others love to collaborate with
- Reflective and thoughtful, with a passion for learning and experimentation
- Clear drive or curiosity in a specific domain (e.g., open-source, community, research, or public speaking)
- Strong product sense and empathy for user needs
Interview Process
1️⃣
Submit Candidate
2️⃣
Initial Screen (20–30 minutes)
3️⃣
Technical Screen I (45 minutes)
Systems design interview focused on technical depth
and
product thinking.
We look for alignment with values like
customer obsession
,
continuous improvement
, and
bias for action
.
4️⃣
Technical Screen II (3 hours total)
A 2-hour coding exercise + 45-minute behavioral interview with the
Head of Engineering
.
5️⃣
Final Round (30 minutes)
Confirmatory conversation with the
CEO
.
Why This Role?
If you’re looking to:
✨ Build next-generation intelligent systems powered by LLMs
🚀 Join a high-growth, venture-backed startup in NYC
🧠 Collaborate with brilliant engineers and founders
💡 Push the boundaries of search, reasoning, and AI-driven products
…then this is a role worth exploring.
🚀 Ready to Apply?
If you’re passionate about
AI, search, and intelligent systems
, we’d love to hear from you.
📩
**DM us or tag someone brilliant who should see this.