Founding AI/ML Engineer / Startup / $500k+ / NYC

Founding AI/ML Engineer / (LLMs / RAG / Agentic Systems) / NYC / $500k+ EquityWe’re hiring for a world class team at one of the fastest growing & most innovative next-gen aerospace AI companies in North America. They're building LLMs, RAG & high-performance AI systems to power mission-critical operations in defence & space.Only the top 0.1% of America's AI Engineers can do this. If you’ve built real mission critical LLM systems that can’t fail - this could be your next move.The RoleYou’ll own & scale a RAG-driven AI system powering critical aerospace operations. Expect to tackle retrieval quality, latency bottlenecks, & eval-driven fine-tuning head-on for the most innovative & exciting real-time systems in Aerospace today. This is full production ownership - from architecture to metrics.You should have experience with:Deploying LLM-based systems at scale (Llama, Mistral, GPT-4, Claude)Retrieval optimisation - hybrid search (BM25 + vector), reranking, cachingEvaluation - recall@k, precision@k, groundedness, hallucination metricsFine-tuning (LoRA/QLoRA), RAG architecture, LangChain / LlamaIndexTooling: Hugging Face, Weaviate/Pinecone, FastAPI, PyTorch, Redis, PostgresMonitoring inference, eval automation, & continuous improvement loopsBonus:IoT or Hardware integration or real-time systems experience exp.Ideal background:CS or Applied ML degree from a top-tier universityProven 0-1 experience in a fast-moving AI startup, or Defence related companyYou’ve shipped reliable GenAI systems under pressureDegree in Computer Science from a top-tier universityPrior experience in high-performance teams (0-1, startups)You’ve shipped real systems - not demosYou’ll be expected to:Own the LLM pipeline end-to-end – retrieval → evaluation → fine-tuningImprove accuracy, grounding, and eval metrics continuouslyMake architecture decisions for scale, reliability & speedCollaborate directly with founders & domain expertsStack:Python / PyTorch / LangChain / Transformers / FastAPI / Hugging Face / Weaviate / Redis / Postgres / Docker / KubernetesOffer:Up to $500,000+ base salary + equityHybrid in NYCTight-knit, high-output teamHigh ownership, real impact, flat structureInterview Process:1) Technical Deep Dive2) Technical Assessment or Live Pairing3) Panel focused on mindset & team fitEqual OpportunityWe're hiring for an Equal Opportunity Employer.If you’ve shipped real GenAI systems, thrive under pressure, and want to see your models power live aerospace systems - this is where theory meets orbit.TL;DR - Senior AI Engineer (NYC, On-site)Build & scale production-grade GenAI systems from 0 to 1Own and improve RAG pipelines - accuracy and latency matterDeep experience with LLMs, LangChain, Hugging Face & real deploymentsMust have shipped working GenAI products, not just prototypesIdeal: startup DNA, top-tier CS degree, fast execution mindset$500K base + equity*All our new jobs are posted here 1st:linkedin.com/in/sufyanbashir/