Backend/ML Engineer
$150,000–$200,000 year
On-siteSanta Clara, California, United States
Job Summary
Build and iterate on backend APIs and data pipelines for AI/ML-powered proof-of-concept projects, moving fast from idea to working prototype. Integrate third-party AI services and models including LLMs, embedding models, vision, and speech technologies across product domains. Work directly with stakeholders to understand project goals, identify requirement gaps, and document decisions clearly. Set up evaluations across AI providers, collect results, and summarize findings to guide technical and product decisions. Contribute ideas to early-stage product discussions and document technical findings for broader team visibility. Juggle multiple concurrent workstreams while communicating progress and blockers proactively. This contract-to-full-time role requires 3–7 years of software engineering experience and strong written communication skills.
Required Qualifications
- 3–7 years of experience in software engineering
- Experience building and deploying REST APIs (FastAPI, Flask, or similar)
- Familiarity with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or similar)
- Working knowledge of SQL and at least one non-relational data store
- Comfortable working from loosely defined requirements and moving forward without waiting to be told
- Clear written communicator; can explain technical findings to a non-engineering audience
- Self-directed — raises blockers early and communicates status without being asked
Desired Qualifications
- Experience with ML model evaluation or comparing outputs across AI providers
- Familiarity with embedding-based search, recommendation, or personalization
- Experience writing technical specs or findings for handoff to other teams
- Exposure to data ingestion from third-party APIs
- Has shipped something end-to-end independently — side project, open source, or otherwise
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