Founding ML Engineer

Runtime Entertainment is building software that makes hobbies more engaging and exciting. Our flagship product, Card.ai , uses proprietary deep learning and computer vision to inspect trading cards and predict professional grading outcomes — bringing transparency to a process that's historically been inconsistent and opaque. We're a small, founder-led team looking to bring on our first dedicated ML hire to help take Card.ai (and future products) to the next level.

The Role

As our Founding ML Engineer , you'll work directly with our founder to design, train, and ship the computer vision models that power our core product. This is a high-ownership role — you won't just be implementing someone else's spec, you'll be shaping our ML architecture, data pipelines, and model strategy from an early stage.

What You'll Do

• Design, train, and iterate on deep learning / computer vision models that detect card defects (surface wear, edge damage, centering, corners, etc.) and predict grading outcomes
• Build and maintain data pipelines for image ingestion, labeling, augmentation, and model evaluation
• Work in Python across the ML training stack, integrating with our Firebase backend for cloud storage and data sync
• Collaborate with our Flutter-based front-end app to ensure smooth, low-latency model inference for end users
• Continuously improve model accuracy, generalization, and performance as our dataset grows
• Help set technical direction and best practices as a founding technical hire

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience
• Strong Python skills, especially in an ML/deep learning context (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, or similar)
• Solid grounding in computer vision fundamentals (image classification, object detection, defect/anomaly detection, etc.)
• Comfort working with cloud storage/backend systems (Firebase or similar)
• Startup mindset: self-directed, comfortable with ambiguity, excited to own problems end-to-end

Nice to Have

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field
• Experience with Flutter or mobile app development
• Personal interest in trading cards (TCG) or card collecting/grading — not required, but a big plus given our product space

Why Join Us

• Be a foundational technical hire at an early-stage company with a clear, working product already in market
• Direct influence over ML architecture and roadmap
• Work on a genuinely novel application of computer vision to a passionate hobbyist community
• Close collaboration with the founder and a small, fast-moving team

NOTE: Compensation is equity-based at first. We are currently raising our first round of funding which will allow this role to transition into an monetary + equity-based role once the funding round is complete.

To apply: Click on the Easy-Apply button and follow the prompts.

To Fast-track your application, send Nathan Rogers a message on LinkedIn or email ***email_hidden***.