Forward Deployed AI Engineer

Role Description As a Forward Deployed AI Engineer at Sardine, you will act as the crucial bridge between our state-of-the-art AI capabilities and our clients' most complex fraud, compliance, and complex workflow challenges. You will operate with high levels of ownership, embedding directly with our clients to understand their unique operational pain points, scope the requirements, and then roll up your sleeves to build the solution. You will not just be analyzing data; you will be architecting, training, and deploying custom AI agents and intelligent workflows into production environments. This role demands the technical rigor of a seasoned data scientist and the strategic, client-facing acumen to drive a project from conception to deployment. If you thrive at the intersection of client consulting, advanced machine learning, and hands-on engineering, this is the role for you. What you’ll be doing Embed directly with clients to gather requirements, translating ambiguous operational challenges into concrete technical architectures and delivering high-impact, AI-driven solutions with extreme ownership. Train and deploy custom AI agents to prevent fraud and automate complex fincrime workflows across a diverse portfolio of use cases. Utilize advanced prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and rigorous evaluation frameworks to continuously optimize AI agent performance, ensuring high accuracy, safety, and reliability. Champion an AI-first approach across internal teams and client engagements, demonstrating the tangible business impact of advanced machine learning interventions. Establish and evolve our AI risk metrics, the supporting datasets, and the evaluation pipelines used to measure the causal impact of deployed agents. Collaborate tightly with internal engineering and product teams to scale custom models into production, ensuring seamless integration and optimized operational performance. Qualifications 5+ years of experience in Data Science or Applied AI Proficiency in Python and SQL for complex data manipulation, pipeline building, and model integration. A creative, critical thinker with a "get-things-done" mentality, who thrives autonomously and is obsessed with delivering measurable business value. Exceptional ability to own the end-to-end solution lifecycle, including the ability to comfortably translate ambiguous client challenges into concrete requirements and deliver the final product. Benefits Generous compensation in cash and equity Early exercise for all options, including pre-vested Work from anywhere: Remote-first Culture Flexible paid time off and Year-end break Health insurance, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents - US and Canada specific 4% matching in 401k / RRSP - US and Canada specific MacBook Pro delivered to your door One-time stipend to set up a home office — desk, chair, screen, etc. Monthly meal stipend Monthly social meet-up stipend Annual health and wellness stipend Annual Learning stipend