Founding ML Research Engineer

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Founding ML Research Engineer in USA new

Clera
Full time
Email

USA
10/16/2026
Report

San Francisco, CA

Responsibilities

Build evaluation harnesses using model judges, human preference data, and regression tests to guide release decisions.
Post-train models through supervised fine-tuning, preference tuning, and distillation, then deploy them to production.
Develop model routing across smaller and frontier models to balance answer quality, latency, and cost.
Improve agent performance on websites without APIs, including navigation, sign-in, checkout, and escalation decisions.
Identify and address prompt injection, data leakage, and other risks through adversarial testing and evaluations.
Advance agent memory, retrieval, tool selection, and decisions about when the agent should act or ask for help.
Review real conversations and convert findings into evaluation and model improvements.
Help set technical direction and grow the team as part of the founding team.

Requirements

At least 4 years of ML or software engineering experience at an AI lab, AI product company, or similar organization.
Hands-on experience fine-tuning or post-training LLMs and deploying the results to production.
Experience designing evaluations used by teams to make product release decisions.
Background in at least one of LLM red teaming, browser or computer-use agents, model routing, or production agents with tools and persistent memory.
Strong Python skills and experience with ML training and evaluation tools.
TypeScript experience in a product codebase.
A hands-on founding-team approach and interest in setting technical direction and helping grow the team.

Benefits

Salary range of $200,000 to $300,000 USD annually.
On-site role in San Francisco, California.
Visa sponsorship is not available.

Salary: $200k - $300k/yr

Clera

Clera harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to match high-growth startups with exceptional talent, streamlining the entire headhunting process. This innovative approach simplifies the job search for candidates while providing startups with access to a curated pool of skilled professional...

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