Job title: AI Research Engineer
Job type: Permanent
Emp type: Full-time
Salary type: Annual
Salary: USD $250,000.00
Location: San Francisco, CA
Job ID: 35388

Job Description

AI Research Engineer (Document AI + Vision-Language Models)

Stealthy, Hyper-Growth AI Startup

San Francisco – Onsite 3 days/week

$250k base + 0.1–0.4% equity + Visa Support (H1B / TN)

$27.5M Funding

 

This isn’t your typical research gig.

We’re working with a stealthy, fast-growing AI startup that’s redefining how enterprises understand and act on complex documents. Their platform powers 200M+ documents per month, drives 4M+ open-source downloads, and is trusted by Fortune 500 clients across industries.

They’re looking for an AI Research Engineer (3–4 yrs experience) to join the core document understanding team, someone smart, adaptive, and hungry to push the state-of-the-art in document AI. Bonus if you’ve worked on vision-language models, document processing, or agentic AI systems.

 

What You’ll Own:

  • Build & Train Cutting-Edge Models: Vision-language models for document processing, data curation, synthetic data generation, and benchmark creation.

  • Post-Training Excellence: Evaluate and fine-tune base models to meet strict performance and cost benchmarks.

  • Agent Innovation: Iterate on the agent layer atop base models to improve efficiency, accuracy, and usability.

  • Customer Insight: Collaborate with clients (<15% of your time) to translate real-world needs into model capabilities.

  • Experiment & Innovate: Push boundaries of ML research, improve experimentation velocity, and develop novel methods that beat the status quo.

 

What They’re Looking For:

  • Strong ML Foundation: 3–7 yrs in ML engineering or applied research, with experience benchmarking and training models.

  • Document AI / Vision Models: Hands-on experience with document understanding, vision-language, or agentic systems.

  • Python & ML Tools: Proficiency with PyTorch and modern ML frameworks.

  • Early-Stage / Research Pedigree: Startup, academic, or research lab experience (ex-founders welcome).

  • Soft Skills: Scrappy, adaptable, and able to communicate complex technical ideas clearly.

 

Why This Role is Special:

  • Impact at Scale: Build infrastructure powering 200M+ documents monthly, shaping AI workflows for global enterprises.

  • Rapid Growth & Funding: $27.5M raised, aggressively scaling, and actively fundraising—join at the perfect time.

  • Equity & Pay: $250k base + 0.1–0.4% equity, your work grows with the company.

  • Pioneering AI Innovation: Drive cutting-edge research in vision-language models, document AI, and agentic systems.

  • Vibrant Open-Source Community: Engage with 110K X followers, 270K+ LinkedIn followers, and 4M+ monthly downloads.

  • Visa Support: H1B transfers & TN visas available for international candidates.

 

If you want to push the state-of-the-art in document AI, work with cutting-edge models, and see your work used by millions, this is the role for you.