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Founding AI/ML Engineer

$125k - $200k

David Joseph & Company

Job Description

Job Description

San Francisco, CA · New York City, NY · On-site · Full-time Compensation: $125,000–$200,000 + 0.3%–1% equity

About the Company

Our client helps law enforcement search evidence and solve crime. Police and prosecutors across the US use it to accelerate investigations into homicides, cold cases, and other major offenses by reducing digital evidence overload. The founding team includes engineers who have built national-scale government systems before, and the product is live with paying agency customers.

Founded 2025 · 1–10 people (Seed) · Industry: Public safety / law-enforcement AI

The Role

An early engineer role building the client's AI backbone — processing massive video, audio, and text datasets to surface investigative leads across backend infrastructure and applied ML.

Tech stack: Python, FastAPI, LangChain, PyTorch; LLM/VLM inference; distributed backend infrastructure.

Requirements
  • 4–6+ years of engineering experience, ideally 2+ in applied ML
  • Strong Python backend plus ML-ops familiarity (FastAPI, LangChain, PyTorch, etc.)
  • US work authorization and willingness to undergo an FBI background check
  • Deep technical communication skills — can explain systems and trade-offs clearly
  • Production experience deploying LLMs/VLMs or custom ML inference pipelines
  • Solid knowledge of scaling backend infrastructure (need not be an expert)
Nice to Haves
  • Built secure, distributed backend systems (Python/Go/TypeScript)
  • Demonstrated curiosity across both infrastructure and model-level work
  • Worked on real-time or high-throughput data systems
  • Prior early-stage or mission-driven startup experience
  • Combined SWE and data-engineering experience
Why Join
  • Mission with real weight: bring technical excellence to public safety, accelerating major-crime investigations for US police and prosecutors
  • Founding-level ownership: shape the AI backbone end to end, from data-flow design to production deployment, with a meaningful founding equity stake
  • Serious backing and traction: well-backed, with live deployments and paying agency customers already in production
Details
  • Location — San Francisco, CA · New York City, NY
  • Work policy — On-site
  • Compensation — $125,000–$200,000 + 0.3%–1% equity
  • Visa sponsorship — Not available; US work authorization required (FBI/CJIS clearance sponsored)
  • Employment type — Full-time
Vacancy posted 5 days ago
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