Staff Machine Learning Engineer, AI Generation Engine

About SandboxAQSandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors.We are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders.At SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.The OpportunityThe AI Generation Engine (SAIGE) team is responsible for rapidly designing, prototyping, and validating AI-first SaaS products that leverage SandboxAQ’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) and emerging agentic frameworks. The team operates at high velocity, bridging cutting-edge AI research and production-grade software to unlock new use cases across the company.SandboxAQ's AI Generation Engine (SAIGE) team is seeking a highly accomplished Machine Learning Engineer to take ownership of the end-to-end ML lifecycle, from initial data exploration and model development to scalable production deployment. This role is central to designing and rapidly building AI-first products that incorporate Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) and sophisticated agentic frameworks.We are looking for a hands-on engineer who is passionate about owning the entire lifecycle of model development. This requires significant industry experience in bringing machine learning models from conception and experimentation to production and deployment in a robust, scalable manner, including (but not limited to): Data Acquisition and Curation, Infrastructure, Pre-Training, Evaluations, and Fine-Tuning. This person will be one of the founding engineers to join the SAIGE team and will be the bridge between cutting-edge AI concepts and functional, real-world MVPs.As a Machine Learning Engineer on the SAIGE team, your primary goal will be to rapidly iterate on different potential solutions to build and evaluate new models, focusing on speed and tangible outcomes. You'll be part of a diverse team consisting of software engineers, ML experts, products managers and user experience researchers, where they will play a key role in efficient and effective enablement of the cutting-edge technologies being developed at SandboxAQ.Key ResponsibilitiesDesign, construct, and manage robust data pipelines for the training, validation, and continuous retraining of Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) and agentic frameworks.Develop, implement, and rigorously test novel ML models and algorithms, defining appropriate metrics to ensure model performance aligns with high-level product objectives.Lead the effort in cleaning, transforming, and engineering features from complex and large-scale datasets to optimize LQM performance and predictive accuracy.Conduct deep analysis of model behavior, performance, and failure modes, tuning hyper-parameters and optimizing model architecture for efficiency, speed, and accuracy in a production context.Collaborate closely with AI researchers, product managers, and SWEs to translate high-level business objectives into actionable ML development and deployment roadmaps.Champion and enforce exceptional engineering standards for code quality, system efficiency, and security in a prototyping environmentDrive technical execution with high autonomy, making critical design and implementation decisions independentlyEssential Skills & ExperienceBS in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent field of study8+ years of postgraduate experience in software developmentExperience developing highly-available, performant, scalable ML systems, including large-scale data processing pipelines.Strong expertise in Python (including the ML stack: PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, NumPy, Pandas)Long, successful history of driving the full ML lifecycle: from initial data exploration and hypothesis testing to architecture, model training, evaluation, and production deployment.Deep proficiency in MLOps and software best practices, including CI/CD for ML, experiment tracking (e.g., Weights & Biases, MLflow), automated testing, and version control for both code and datasets.Highly Desired Skills & ExperienceMS or PhD in Software Engineering, Computer Science or equivalent experienceFinancial simulation or technical experience, risk simulationEquivalent experience includes tech leadership in a complex space, driving technical design and execution cross-collaboratively across multiple teams and organizationsExperience with scalable software development on cloud computing platforms (e.g., GCP, AWS)Why Join Us?We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial well-being, and life outside of work.Compensation: Competitive base salary, performance-based incentives or bonuses (where applicable), and equity participation.Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions, retirement savings with company matching, paid parental leave, and inclusive family-building benefits.Work-Life Balance: Flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements that enable sustainable performance.Career Development: Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.SandboxAQ Welcomes AllWe are committed to fostering a culture of belonging and respect, where diverse perspectives are actively sought and valued. Our multidisciplinary environment provides ample opportunity for continuous growth - working alongside humble, empowered, and ambitious colleagues ready to tackle epic challenges.Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.Accommodations: We provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures for open roles. If you need such an accommodation, please let a member of our Recruiting team know.Read: Guidance for candidates on using AI Tools in interviews