Founding ML/AI Engineer - Audio Intelligence & Aviation AI Co-pilot Platform

ML/AI Founding Engineer

Job Description
ML/AI Founding Engineer

Employment Type: Full-time

Work Mode: On-site

Location: San Francisco, CA

Compensation: $170K - $220K + Competitive Equity

Openings: 1 Vacancy

About this Role
We are looking for a Founding ML/AI Engineer with 4-7 years of experience to own the entire intelligence layer at an AI co-pilot platform for pilot training. You'll be a hands-on builder who can architect and ship production ML systems from the ground up, working with messy multimodal data (cockpit audio, avionics telemetry, ATC comms) in a safety-critical domain.

We need someone who is deeply fluent with modern AI tools, comfortable operating with high autonomy, and excited to grow into a technical leadership role as we scale from seed to Series A. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in audio ML, NLP, or speech processing and thrives in a fast-moving startup where you ship first and iterate relentlessly, and has relevant domain experience in aviation or defense technology.

Key Responsibilities

Building and refining audio intelligence pipelines

Speaker diarization
Speech-to-text
Cockpit audio separation where overlapping speakers (pilot, instructor, ATC) make extraction extremely challenging

Developing ML systems for automated flight debriefs

Maneuver detection
Performance scoring
Safety event classification using telemetry and audio data

Architecting the AI reasoning layer

Synthesizing avionics data, audio, and contextual aviation knowledge into coherent debrief narratives


Building evaluation frameworks and feedback loops

Continuously improving model accuracy against real-world CFI assessments

Shaping the technical direction of the ML stack

Full ownership from data ingestion through production inference
Founding AI/ML hire with end-to-end responsibility

Compensation & Benefits
Salary: $170K - $220K
Competitive equity
Early-stage founding equity (seed stage, with plans to raise Series A soon)
Visa sponsorship available

Work Arrangement
Full-time position
On-site: 5 days per week in San Francisco, CA

Tech Stack
Python
PyTorch
LLMs
Claude/Opus
Speech-to-Text
Speaker Diarization
Audio ML
NLP
Time-Series Analysis
RAG
Prompt Engineering
AWS
Kubernetes
Cursor
Claude Code
Multimodal AI
MLOps

Industry
AI
Defense
Education
EdTech
Transportation

Seniority
4–7 years of experience in production ML/AI engineering, with a focus on audio/NLP and some architectural leadership.

Requirements
Required Experience
Work Experience
Shipped production ML systems (not research/papers)
End-to-end systems development as well as application-layer ownership
Worked at an early-stage startup (0-to-1 building)
Architectural leadership experience
Domain-specific experience in aviation
Founding ML Engineer experience

Education
BS/MS in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field
Top CS program (Stanford, MIT, CMU, etc.)

Required Skills
Hard Skills
Deep expertise in NLP, speech, or audio ML
Proficient with LLMs (RAG, fine-tuning, prompt engineering)
Heavy user of AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code)

Additional Requirements
Available to start immediately (no long notice periods)

Traits to Avoid
Pure researcher with no production deployment experience
Not using AI tools or resistant to AI-augmented workflows


Why Candidates Should Join?
This company builds the intelligence layer for pilot training by capturing cockpit audio and avionics data to generate automated flight debriefs. The platform is already deployed at major aviation training institutions and within the U.S. Air Force.

This is a founding ML/AI role within a small team that has already raised significant seed funding and is targeting a Series A raise this year, offering substantial equity upside and the opportunity to develop real aviation domain expertise.

You will own the entire ML stack end-to-end, including:

Audio diarization
Speaker separation
Maneuver detection
Debrief generation
Compensation includes a competitive salary and meaningful founding equity in San Francisco.